Union Pacific - Building America! With "Living Legend" 844 as a backdrop, and flanked by local dignitaries and senior UP Management, UP Chairman and President Lance M. Fritz addresses a crowd of several thousand, assembled in the yard adjacent to Ogden's Union Station on the eve of the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad. On May 9th, 2019, UP staged a sort of Golden Spike re-enactment of their own in downtown Ogden, the closest remaining UP terminal to Promontory Summit. Playing the roles of the Jupiter and the 119 this day were Big Boy #4014 and Northern #844, which faced each other nose-to-nose in the final ceremony. I listened to Chairman Fritz' remarks on this day in Ogden, and the next day up at Promontory, and I thought he did an excellent job, not only representing his company, but also in putting some perspective on the importance of both the original event, and the celebration of the sesquicentennial. It's not often that corporate brass addresses public gatherings this large, but the boss out-shined the politicians on this day, at least in my humble opinion. All-in-all, UP and its people put on a first-class show over the two-week period with the "Great Race to Ogden" and with the ceremonies marking the 150th anniversary of the Golden Spike.
