Prairie:  Thanx much for posting that great movie.  About four years ago my wife and I stopped at Promontory on our way from SLC to Yellowstone.  We had a chance to see and photograph those two engines, which really looked to be great and, as far as I could tell, accurate replicas.  (Except for certain safety features such as air brakes instead of the original steam or vacuum.)  They run them out every day, move them back and forth up to the track completion area and truly provide an historic experience for people to visit.

It was all the more significant to me because on May 10, 1969, 1oo years to the minute after the original golden spike ceremony, several friends of mine and I were there to witness the centennial celebration.  They said, at the time, that there were about 20 times more people that were there in 1969 than there had been in 1869.  Took lots of photos and started buying books about the building of the transcontinental and so I made a return about 40 years after my first trip.  In 1969, the two replicas were not even thought of, as yet, and the two engines that were there were two former Virginia and Truckee engines that had been brought out from Hollywood for the occasion and fixed up to look a bit like the #119 and the Jupiter.

If any of you have not been to Promontory, as yet, you really owe it to yourselves to include such a visit among your railroad experiences.  You can get an idea of how desolate that area in Utah really is; you can even drive on some of the former right of way of the famous line.  It's a wonderful experience and you and your families would profit from it.

Paul Fischer

I've been wanting to get out there when they do the re-enactments.  I will use my vintage 1880s tailboard camera and vintage 1865 Voigtlander lens, shooting dry plates.  I think it would be fun!

Kent in SD

A band called Railroad Earth has a song about the Jupiter & the 119.These guys are friends of mine from NJ and play all across the country. Check them out  with this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uy1dXoSaGE&feature=related

You are welcome. And thanks for sharing your experience. So many places to see and so many train excursions to be enjoyed. Coming to this site has made me realize that life is short and that one has to experience it to the fullest when possible. 

Thanks also to all in this thread! We look forward to the photos.

Prairie

I hope this post will stay on the site so it can be refered to often.  Who said they can,t build steam engines anymore.  The  specs on these engines are way better than the original coming as close as 7/1000  on the intregal cast cylinders.  Also the zero problems they have had with the engines as spoken by the guy in charge of the project.  They run everyday since built and no problems encountered is amazing.

They operate. They don't run.

This was the Jupiter replica at Promontory in 1978.

That's a V&T engine--not a replica of Jupiter.

I know it is originally V&T but it was being used to represent Jupiter at that time (1978). You want to nitpick word meanings, again? I have to take flak for sharing my photo? 

Definitely a cool photo.

I'm simply differentiating the engine in your picture with the engine that's there now--which is, in fact, a replica.