An unusual plan came together yesterday afternoon that resulted in finding this benchmark! We had been hearing for months about the cross-country tour of the Union Pacific #4014 Big Boy locomotive. After a western tour in the spring, it was to make the trip from Wyoming through the midwest and to the east coast, passing through our area and stopping for two weeks at Steamtown before moving on to Philadelphia for July 4. We knew that a big hullabaloo was planned for nearby Nicholson, with its magnificent viaduct that the train would be traveling over. In spite of how much we would have loved to see it, we had no interest in getting involved with the tens of thousands of other people who would also visit Nicholson that day. So we didn’t think we would even end up seeing the locomotive … until we were talking about it yesterday, and realized that we could probably catch a glimpse of it anywhere along its route between Nicholson and Scranton. This led to a few quick map explorations and ideas. One of these ideas was to stand at the Waverly Road bridge in Glenburn and try to view the train as it passed beneath the bridge. I couldn’t help thinking how cool it would be if there were a benchmark on the bridge and I could somehow get a photo of the benchmark with the locomotive in the background. When I checked the Street View and happened to spot an obvious benchmark on the northern corner of the bridge wall, our decision was made. We arrived at the site just after 8:00 this morning, even though the train wasn’t expected to pass by until well after 10:30am. With how popular this locomotive has been all across the country, we knew that any and all possible viewing areas would be busy. We weren’t surprised to see four guys already set up on the bridge with tripods and cameras. Not wanting to park in the surrounding neighborhood, we parked at a former church along the Trolley Trail, just a short distance to the west, and walked up the steep hill to the bridge. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long to figure out that the benchmark photo idea wouldn’t work. The bridge wall was much higher than I’d expected, for one thing, so there wasn’t a good angle from which you could see the mark and the tracks beneath. Not to mention the extreme dynamic range between the benchmark on the bridge, which was gleaming white in the sun, and the railroad tracks down in the deeply shaded gully. People began to accumulate, and we were seeing license plates on vehicles from New England states and Florida. Yes, people drove that far to see the locomotive! Before long the bridge was a busy place. It was a sunny day, but not too hot, so we were mostly comfortable as we waited.