UMTravels

Not AS early a morning, but we need to be in Boulder City by 11am – and it’s half an hour away, and we need to shit/shower/shave and get some breakfast (leftover pork loin scrambled with eggs).

Our mission today? Be the Engineer on an 80-ton General Electric Locomotive emblazoned with “Jackass and Western“. Jackass as in Jackass Flats, part of what was/is the Nevada Proving Grounds. It turns out that you can become an “Engineer For An Hour” at the Nevada Southern Railroad Museum in Boulder City.

I’d passed this place a couple of times and checked out the “static” displays of cars and engines – but since it’s only open on the weekends that doesn’t work for me. But the “Engineer For An Hour” takes place during the week with a couple of weeks’ notice.

I’d booked it months ago (but didn’t call back and confirm), and showed up with Rache to be told the guy before me cancelled so they just wiped the schedule. Luckily he was able to rustle up an Engineer and a Brakeman so we could go out and play.

This is the engine I requested (they have four to choose from, but one is in the paint shop at the moment) – an 80-ton General Electric switching locomotive that was used to move nuclear rockets around the testing ground. Maybe I should have brought my Giger counter!

We also got a tour of their shop as well since they suddenly had to power up one of their four…

That is a purpose built shop – and NICE! This is the engine that’s in the paint shop at the moment, but usually available to run the circuit:

Time to learn how to drive this thing!

And because we all love a good video, thanks Rache for the above picture AND the killer video:

Alas – after an hour, and almost 20 miles (out, back, out, back), it was time to go – sigh:

But we got certificates!

We had to correct the year, but…it was a hell of a lot of fun. Thank you Rache for letting me drive – you did look a little worried at some points.

After all the excitement we also went through a couple of cars they had on display, along with a 40-ton GE Locomotive – the little brother of the one I drove.

We headed back to the condo for lunch – Revenge Of The Chicken, Round Three – chicken noodle soup. The first night of the chicken, after dinner I’d stripped the carcass (doesn’t that sound dirty!) of the meat (for omelets and salads over the next days) and made stock from the bones. Today I added vegetables, the leftover chicken and these cool rustic noodles, and lo and behold – soup!

And used up some of the sour cream!

Yum! And time for another nap because there is dinner to make tonight – bacon wrapped filets, baked potatoes, and yes, salad. Tonight was a red wine which I’ve totally forgotten the name, and apparently I didn’t take a picture of the bottle, but looking at it, guessing an Argentine Cabernet Sauvignon. And we hauled the patio table in to eat on – should have done that the first night.

This is our last night at the condo – tomorrow we are off to The Strip.

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