did you know that Orange County Choppers is still on the air with new episodes? But, it seems only in the UK

Orange County Choppers Originals – which aired in the U.S. on Discovery Channel, Discovery Turbo TV, Discovery+, and Discovery GO after launching in February – is the latest chapter in the motorbikes franchise that began in 2002 with American Chopper and is based around the Orange County Choppers custom bikes business. 

A second season has been ordered, with 12 episodes.

The series shifts the focus to his workshop in Florida, where he reunites with some of the original team while introducing fresh talent. It also delves into his personal life, highlighting his charity work and passion for animal welfare and rescue on his hobby farm.

Hearst’s Gray said: “Orange County Choppers has everything we look for in great factual entertainment: big builds, strong characters and plenty of heart. With Paul Sr. back at the centre of the story, we’re excited to bring this new chapter to UK audiences.”

Orange County Choppers Original sees Teutul Sr.’s team design and build one-of-a-kind motorcycles for charitable causes, with each episode following them through engineering challenges, tight deadlines, and unexpected setbacks, culminating in auctions or raffles to raise funds and awareness.

https://deadline.com/2026/09/orange-county-choppers-original-hearst-networks-uk-1237142892/

following the same recipe of "Oh no! We're out of time!" "Oh no, we have a dead line!" this won't have a single new thing to bring to the show

so what was the reason the pilot tried to kill the co-pilot on the airline flight from the UAE to Israel? I'm guessing, it was to use the Boeing 737 to crash into Tel-Aviv like the muslims did to NYC (and Wash DC) on 9-11 - but was this a long term sleeper agent? Or recently converted extremist?

A pilot stabbed his co-pilot aboard a plane headed to Israel on Wednesday with 174 people on board, using a standard crash axe, like the above example

The pilot is an Omani citizen and is being interrogated to learn the motive. I bet the answered get tortured out of him in less than a week. I also predict, like the Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi, who entered the Saudi consulate to obtain marriage/divorce paperwork and was ambushed, strangled, and dismembered by a 15-member team of Saudi operatives.... not that you'd forgotten

the co-pilot was able to reach the door and open it so he could be rescued, passengers rushed to help him, and he lived.

Passengers struggled to open the cockpit door, but what made it difficult was the pilot himself — he had been stabbed and was on the other side of the door

When passengers went into the cockpit they saw the pilot who had initiated the attack trying to crash the plane, he wasn’t sitting in the pilot seat, trying to stabilize the plane, he was trying to jam the equipment.

Israeli officials also praised the stabbed pilot, identified as Indian national Captain Smit Machchhar, for his actions in opening the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to rush in, secure the cockpit and prevent the plane from crashing. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/middle-east/flight-dubai-tel-aviv-diverted-emergency-alert-rcna600628

This attempted murder prompted Israel to scramble jets in case it was not a singular isolated situation, and was instead one of many, like 9-11

Aviation experts were surprised the plane didn't crash because the extreme descent was so brutal that some of the rudder was destroyed, ripped off the tail. 

https://apnews.com/article/israel-saudi-arabia-dubai-emergency-landing-fd1835479898f2f944792913af7cbce6

https://www.wsj.com/world/flydubai-co-pilot-used-crash-ax-in-attack-says-u-a-e-88554e9a

 The suspect is Omani citizen Hamam al-Hammami, multiple sources from three agencies briefed on the investigation and a diplomat in the Middle East told NBC News. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that al-Hammami had "previously been banned from flying by Oman over concerns he had adopted radical ideological views."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/flydubai-pilot-attacked-captain-cockpit-092546096.html

Ray Dausman designed the engine for the Blue Flame which set the land speed record at Bonneville in 1970, and is cerrently serving as an adviser for Project Blackbird, to break the current land speed record.

Others working on Project Blackbird include Nathan Marks, who assisted with NASA’s Lucy mission whereby a spacecraft visited asteroids connected to Jupiter. Purdue University Aeronautics and Astronautics Professor Carson Slabaugh is also helping as are a number of Purdue students.

Project Blackbird aims to create a vehicle which would go at least 800 miles per hour. If successful, the project would also bring the land speed record back to the United States, with the current record of more than 763 miles per hour held by Great Britain in a vehicle driven by former British Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green.

The Blue Flame, with driver Gary Gabelich, went more than 622 miles per hour in Oct 1970

Dausman said a scale model of the vehicle should be completed soon, with it to be tested in a wind tunnel in Florida.

When the vehicle is actually constructed, it will be built in Lafayette. Plans are to test it at Alvord Desert in Oregon.

https://www.inkfreenews.com/2026/09/30/rochester-man-part-of-future-land-speed-record-effort

congrats to Brandon McNulty! the new UCI Road World Championship, team USA's first World Championship road race victory in 33 years and the biggest win of his career.

An American hadn’t won the World Championships since 1993, and McNulty hadn’t won a race in the entire 2026 season.

Team USA's collective performance was a thing of beauty, a rare victory of pure teamwork. That began with patience. The team correctly calculated that France, Mexico, and Belgium would do a ton of work patrolling the front of the race early, and they let Bruno Armirail shred himself and waited as every one of del Toro's teammates burned themselves out early. Team USA's Kevin Vermaerke told Escape Collective, “The Montreal circuit does its own selecting, so there was no point spending bodies to control it." With 90 kilometers remaining, the USA correctly calculated that someone was going to try and blow the race up, winnowing the big group that had ridden at the front as France and Mexico burnt rider after rider.

The Americans didn't take the bait. Instead, they watched with growing confidence as their biggest rivals all drained themselves. Eventually, van der Poel's insistence on dropping anyone who wouldn't work with him and del Toro's feverish series of accelerations coagulated the group.

It was the perfect moment to attack, and everyone knew it. But who could have gone at that point? Maybe Evenepoel or Pidcock, though they'd be followed. The Americans were the freshest, and in perfect position to pull off the solo raid they'd been waiting all day for. Jorgenson went first, only for del Toro to respond and bring him back. McNulty attacked moments later, when del Toro was still recovering, and the group looked at each other as the Arizonan was given what would turn out to be a fatal gap. He had 33 kilometers to bring it home, a long solo for the rainbow bands.

McNulty wouldn't have gotten away if not for Jorgenson's looming presence. Jorgenson and Simmons (to a certain extent) were both far fresher than anyone else in the elite front group, so everyone knew that chasing McNulty, theoretically the least threatening of the trio, would mean setting up one of the others for a move. Team USA was making everyone dance to their tempo.

 "It does become like this game of, 'Okay, you're gonna catch me, but you're gonna be completely fucked,'” U.S. team director Mike Creed told EC. “Your fault for chasing me. You make the person pay for chasing you."

Various attempts were made to chase, with Jorgenson hot on the heels of anyone who tried to ride away from the group. McNulty started to falter on the final trip up the Camillien-Houde, and it seemed he'd be caught a few times. Evenepoel had a go, Pidcock and Seixas tried something and got within a few seconds, and Pidcock and Giulio Ciccone came very close before their fragile partnership dissolved. It did so under pressure of Jorgenson. He more or less forced them to choose between handing McNulty the title or handing it to him. They opted for passivity, and now Brandon McNulty is a most unlikely world champ.

This isn't so much because of his talent, but more so because of his role. McNulty is a domestique, usually gutting himself to set Pogacar and del Toro up, putting in massive shifts at the front of hard races and riding in minutes later, after one of his superstar teammates has won. His victory represents a collective triumph for the USA. Jorgenson and Simmons each could have raced differently and been in with real chances to win, yet they sacrificed probably their only real chances to become world champ to make sure McNulty got the win. Only one rider can wear the rainbow bands, but it took everyone to make Brandon McNulty a champion.

https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/power-analysis-how-brandon-mcnulty-won-worlds

https://defector.com/team-usa-won-brandon-mcnulty-a-world-championship-with-a-tactical-masterclass

https://www.wsj.com/sports/brandon-mcnulty-world-championships-road-cycling-eff060b8

https://www.teamusa.com/profiles/brandon-mcnulty-993205

instead of doing something constructive and progressing towards a permanent solution, instead, Texas Gov. Abbott declared a statewide disaster on Monday over soaring diesel prices to get cheaper farm diesel legal for commercial road use

The 30-day disaster declaration, which can be extended indefinitely, allowed Abbott to lift some restrictions on commercial transportation, which he said will alleviate some of the elevated costs. Diesel fuel is used in farming and commercial shipping, so elevated fuel prices are passed through to consumers in the form of higher costs for goods at the grocery store. 

 The declaration expands the use of dyed diesel on Texas roads, suspends Texas Low Emission Diesel rules to the limit the federal government authorizes and raises the allowable weight for fuel, agricultural and timber loads. The governor also requested the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to waive federal ultra-low sulfur diesel requirements to boost supply.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/abbott-declares-disaster-texas-over-184756546.html

GM's CEO Mary Barra Made $48.2 Million in 2025, nearly 3x Ford's CEO yet is ranked as only the third-highest-paid automotive CEO

 https://www.autoblog.com/news/gms-mary-barra-made-48-2-million-in-2025-nearly-three-times-as-much-as-fords-ceo

70 motorcycles from the 20th Century Cycles motorcycle collection/free museum of Billy Joel is coming to auction at no reserve at the inaugural Rétromobile New York, on Friday, Nov 20 and Saturday, Nov 21

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a73903938/billy-joel-classic-motorcycle-collection-auctioned

https://www.theautopian.com/billy-joel-will-be-closing-his-free-motorcycle-museum-this-fall-and-selling-off-over-75-motorcycles-check-them-out/

GM is launching what it calls the "GM Automotive Service Technicians 30 Under 30" program, which places a spotlight on technicians that started out at a young age, and aims to encourage others to follow the same sort of career path.

 Those that wish to nominate a current GM technician can do so - so long as they're under the age of 30 - or techs can put their own name in the hat for potential recognition.

GM will contact the selected techs later this year, and in January, will announce the winners publicly. 

The techs will receive some swag including a custom Packout toolbox, a special service jacket, AI glasses for diagnostics, and professional tools. They'll also be recognized for a number of things - customer service, ongoing education, leadership, and willingness to mentor others. Essentially, they'll be ambassadors for GM, too.

“Service technicians are on the front lines of innovation as our vehicles become more complex,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “With the GM Automotive Service Technicians 30 Under 30 program, we will recognize exceptional young talent and foster a robust pipeline of skilled service technicians to support both the industry and this important part of the business for years to come.”

https://fordauthority.com/2026/09/gm-follows-ford-in-addressing-technician-shortage-with-new-program

license plate readers make up a lot or articles in the news now a days... and the federal govt, including senators and the DOJ

A bipartisan pair of senators are pressing the head of Department of Justice to provide guidance to state and local law enforcement agencies to prevent the misuse of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) as backlash against the technology grows across the country.

In a letter sent Monday, Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) urged Attorney General Todd Blanche, urging him to issue the guidance and disclose details about any DOJ use of ALPRs.

An investigation by The Washington Post found that more than 50 officers had been accused, charged with or convicted of misusing Flock or other license plate readers to spy on exes or romantic interests.

The lawmakers’ letter was sent just two days before the Senate’s Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism hosts a hearing on Flock’s “nationwide AI surveillance network.”

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/6103655-warnock-britt-demand-flock-oversight

The CEOs of major surveillance technology companies, including Flock Safety, did not attend a Senate hearing called by Sen. Josh Hawley to examine the proliferation of their products, which have come under scrutiny for potential breaches of privacy.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/09/23/flock-axon-senate-hearing-josh-hawley.html

a Senate Judiciary subcommittee examined how the company's data is secured, searched, and shared.

Flock's network of privately owned and operated cameras and its nationwide database have drawn bipartisan concern over the past several months. Beyond mass surveillance concerns, critics have pointed to incidents of false positives, cooperation with federal agents on immigration enforcement, and even tracking women seeking abortions across state lines.

Alasdair Whitney, a witness from the Institute for Justice, told the committee that the organization cataloged more than 240 incidents of ALPR misuse, including officers tracking current and former partners. In Norfolk, Virginia, he wrote in his opening testimony, no one audited hundreds of thousands of searches until a lawsuit forced the city to. In a Virginia survey of agencies after the state passed limits on ALPR use, many agencies admitted they weren't following the law, and nearly a third didn't respond at all.

Whitney also cited a California department that found that most of its stolen-vehicle and felony alerts over two years were due to misread plates. Later in the hearing, Whitney described what he called "side door" access to Flock's database, in which federal agents ask local officers to run searches that state law would not allow federal agencies to run directly.

Witnesses at the hearing warned against treating Flock as the only target. Jordan said Axon and Motorola are rolling out the same kinds of features Flock is being criticized for.

https://mashable.com/tech/flock-senate-hearing-mass-surveillance

At least 14 cities and counties have shut off more than 900 Flock cameras since state funding was rescinded in late August, and more are scheduled to decide their next steps in the coming weeks. Larger cities like Houston and Dallas shuttered grant-funded cameras while leaving much of their networks in operation, while Plano, Robinson and Kendall County were among those that ended their Flock contracts entirely.

As of late August, there were an estimated 13,000 Flock cameras across Texas, according to DeFlock, an anti-surveillance watchdog that uses verified crowdsourcing to map the locations of Flock cameras.

Abbott withdrew state funds for the cameras in August as The Texas Tribune prepared to publish an investigation exploring how a small state agency had directed at least $30 million to help cities, counties and law enforcement agencies pay for more than 3,200 Flock cameras across Texas.

That support from the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority had been set to continue into 2027, with $10.9 million earmarked to help local agencies afford subscriptions for more than 2,600 Flock cameras, a Tribune review of approved grants found.

https://www.texastribune.org/2026/09/24/texas-flock-cameras-state-funding-local-cities-counties-reaction/

Boeing is supporting Liberty University and it's planned educational pavilion around the last U.S.-registered DC-8 in flying service at Lynchburg Regional

 https://avweb.com/aviation-news/last-us-dc-8-gets-permanent-home-liberty/

Brightline could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to address more than $1 billion in debt as early as this week

The prospect of bankruptcy has been considered significant since the company released financial statements earlier this year in which its auditor, Ernst & Young, said there was “substantial doubt” the company could “continue as a going concern” [see “Brightline finances create ‘susbstantial doubt’ …,” Trains.com, May 4, 2026]. The company has deferred bond payments several times since while seeking a way to address some $5.5 billion in long-term debt [see “Brightline defers bond payments …,” Trains.com, June 16, 2026.

Brightline West, the sister company’s effort to build a high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area, would not be part of the bankruptcy proceeding involving Brightline in Florida.

https://www.trains.com/pro/passenger/intercity/brightline-could-be-near-bankruptcy-filing-news-report/

new about oil and gas

Commercial crude stockpiles grew by 3 million barrels to 426.4 million barrels, pushing U.S. inventories 2% above the five-year average.

Gasoline stocks dropped 1.7 million barrels and distillates fell 400,000 barrels, leaving distillate supplies 12% below historic norms.

Crude futures rallied despite the build, with Brent climbing to $101.40 and WTI reaching $92.00 amid strong overall demand at 20.6 million bpd.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/EIA-Reports-3M-Barrel-Crude-Build-as-Distillate-Stocks-Fall-12-Below-Average.amp.html

Smaller supply due to closed refineries means higher demand and higher fuel prices... leading into winter heating oil purchases raising profits

Click that link if you want to keep up with oil supply information

Putin blew up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border Saturday morning, in what seems to have been an assassination attempt on former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, former CIA chief David Patraeus, and security advisers from several European Union states.

the train on it's way back from a security conference in Kyiv was also carrying former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Somehow, the security staff had a 15 minute warning

https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews/posts/the-former-uk-pm-said-i-dont-know-what-warped-logic-drove-putin-to-blow-up-a-sta/1597211152442871

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-09-13/russian-drone-hits-train-near-ukraine-poland-border

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy5zg41dkqwo

https://albaniandailynews.com/news/russia-hits-ukrainian-train-shortly-after-boris-johnson-and-top-european-officials-leave-station

https://www.npr.org/2026/09/14/g-s1-143140/russian-drone-ukrainian-train

Deputy Dumbass Carlos Ramos, was relieved of duty following a video showing him tailing a driver too closely, for a LONG time. The Galveston County Sheriff, Jimmy Fullen, called the officer's actions "inappropriate, unacceptable, and inconsistent with the department's standards,"

Hooray for dash cam, and to all asshole cops that think they are immune to punishment for their daily asshole behavior, here's notice... the day is coming faster than you think. 

The footage, filmed by another driver, showed the officer dangerously close to a driver, without operating lights and sirens. The deputy was also seen swerving with the driver, preventing other drivers behind them from passing by.

"As soon as she passed, he just swept over into her lane right behind her, and he rode her bumper the entire way," she said. "It was like harassment, and purposefully abusing his power just because she passed him."

Officials said the deputy tailed the driver for an extended period. It is unclear why the deputy was following the driver.

The Galveston County Sheriff's Office identified the deputy as Carlos Ramos.

According to records from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, Ramos has been with the sheriff's office since 2018.

https://abc7.com/story/galveston-county-sheriffs-deputy-fired-seen-video-tailing-car-preventing-traffic-passing-texas-officials-say/19857620/

major gas chains, including Walmart and 7-Eleven have been using AI software to collude and keep pump prices artificially high, and a new federal lawsuit by California will prove it (but I bet they settle out of court to avoid conviction)

The case tests California’s updated antitrust law, which now treats algorithm-driven common pricing as potential price-fixing, amid statewide gas averaging $5.46 a gallon and growing scrutiny of corporate pricing tactics.

Kalibrate’s program, according to the lawsuit, encourages gas stations to upload private price data. The company’s AI-powered software, called Kalibrate Fuel Prices, then uses the data to recommend prices in real time, promising in its marketing materials to help gas companies “squeeze out profit.”

“The quintessential image of price fixing is a secret deal made between competitors over cigars in a smoky back room,” attorneys wrote in the complaint. “But as technology has advanced, so too have the mechanisms available to competitors to fix prices without the cigars, the smoke, or even the room.”

The lawyers represent two firms that include staff members who worked at the Federal Trade Commission during an era of bolstered antitrust enforcement

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-07-01/lawsuit-over-gas-prices-tests-clarification-to-states-antitrust-law

https://www.reuters.com/business/bp-marathon-7-eleven-walmart-sued-allegedly-using-ai-boost-california-gas-prices-2026-06-22/

By the way, the price of gas isn't the only thing that California is #1 in more than one thing, it's also the highest price of  electricity in the lower 48. It turns out that when you have made an effort for decades to prevent nuclear reactor powered generation stations from operating, and haven't worked at increasing hydro dam numbers, and are in a drought over and over, that prevents the few dams from getting enough water to run the generators, and done nothing to capitalize on your oil reserves by having state owned refineries. How the hell is California not as affluent as any other oil producing state (looking at Alaska)? Do we GIVE the oil to the oil companies? Or just let them take it, and profit from it? 

I think we're 1st, or 2nd, in cost of living, and cost of rent, and cost of homes, and cost of car insurance. 

So, yeah, we're number one. Yippeeeeee

Sidebar, 

The cost of gas is going up, so, why is the price of oil dropping? Not just a little, but the lowest in 44 years

https://x.com/puckrin/status/2102064335397003420

some idiot construction crew were digging alongside an Amtrak rail line in New Jersey, and not consulting the city about what was underground... they hit the main fiberoptic line, 400 individual fibers, and stopped flights at New York's three major airports: Newark, JFK and LaGuardia

According to Verizon: a fiber-optic cable running alongside an Amtrak rail line in New Jersey. "Construction contractors working in the area dug up and cut our cable," the company said. 

 By early afternoon, FlightAware counted 681 flights affected. Some departures had resumed at JFK and LaGuardia by 1:30 p.m., while Newark appeared to remain grounded. 

The FAA has not yet said whether the JFK and LaGuardia stops were caused by the same problem. 

 A Philadelphia controller shared the cause of yesterday's equipment outage with waiting pilots.

FAA administrator Brian Bedford told reporters that the primary circuit into that air traffic control facility, which carries in and out data, failed Monday morning. 

Then, the agency discovered that the backup fiber optic line had been severed somewhere between New Brunswick and Newark, New Jersey.

 Amtrak said that the fiber cut did not involve one of its crews. "This incident occurred on New Jersey Transit property and involved a New Jersey Transit contractor. Questions regarding the outage and related work should be directed to New Jersey Transit," a spokesperson said.

https://www.kcra.com/article/faa-ground-stop-newark-philadelphia-jfk-lga/73824525

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1046725525027712&set=a.100311819669092 

https://www.facebook.com/AviationCircle

the one mistake criminals make, is getting caught at random because they were doing something stupid, like getting a parking ticket. This story has a similar idiotic loose thread / achilles heel - tinted windows!

Police stopped a silver 2025 Honda Accord with out of state plates (California) driven by Gagandeep Singh for tinted side and rear windows on Interstate 80 in Union County Penn.  They discovered approximately $215,000 in gold bars and nine gold coins hidden under seats and in socks.

Ajaypreet Singh, 22, and Gagandeep Singh, 24, of Elk Grove, Calif., scammed victims out of $1.2 million by posing as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents

When they contacted the victim, police said he identified Gagandeep Singh and Ajaypreet Singh as the two men who picked up the gold he was coerced into purchasing.

The suspects were in contact with the victim for three months and coerced him to purchase approximately $1 million in gold and silver coins to provide to them to avoid arrest

https://www.pennlive.com/crime/2026/09/two-california-men-charged-after-215k-in-gold-bars-found-during-pa-traffic-stop.html

https://www.abc27.com/pennsylvania/1-2-million-in-gold-defrauded-in-fake-ice-agent-scam-in-union-county

https://www.northcentralpa.com/regions/northumberland/alleged-gold-bar-scammers-impersonate-federal-agents-to-extort-victims/article_6b6dcae7-986c-4985-a9db-9c28daf13b52.html

the U.S. House of Representatives just passed a bill mandating the presence of AM radio in all new vehicles, and as standard equipment - it can't be some ad-on option or subscription-based feature.

the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act - isn't law just yet.

It still has to make it through the Senate, and clear the Commerce Committee.

If it does successfully pass through the Senate, that bill would then have to be signed off by the President.

If all of that happens, the Department of Transportation (DoT) would have one year to write a final rule, and then two years would pass before it takes effect for major automotive manufacturers

Those that build fewer than 40,000 vehicles annually for the domestic market would have four years or more to comply. 

However, automakers who sell vehicles without AM radio would also have to justify its absence in the meantime.

https://fordauthority.com/2026/09/us-house-passes-bill-mandating-am-radio-for-all-vehicles

What's the point? The last two major catastrophes in the country, 9-11 and Covid didn't use any public broadcast to help citizens, and in fact, the govt actively suppresses information every chance it gets, as much as it can, for as long as possible. 

EG assassination of JFK, Pentagon Papers, Iran Contra, NSA mass surveillance post 9-11 (every cell phone, every GPS (car/truck/plane/phone), Monica Lewinsky, Epstein's murder, Jack Abramoff, Chappaquiddick, Wikileaks, Hurricane Katrina... hell, I just learned of the Union Pacific scam last week

So, do we need an AM radio in new cars? Nope. We don't/won't need it. If shit hits the fan, the govt isn't going to be honest about it for decades, no city can evacuate, none even has a plan, or place to go. When catastrophic things occur (annually or more often) FEMA consistently screws it up (can't transport water, ice, trailers, meds, etc) 

In another historic first, Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 will take to the rails this November for a limited holiday tour in support of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Nov. 21 from Cheyenne to Denver, it's first-ever holiday tour (thank you George!)

The public is being offered a rare chance to purchase tickets for the holiday tour and ride in vintage passenger cars pulled by Big Boy as it travels from Cheyenne to Denver. 

 The trip will support the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America and include a donation from Union Pacific’s Community Ties Giving Program. 

Ticket sales for patrons of the Union Pacific Railroad Museum will begin Oct. 16. Any remaining tickets will be available to the general public Oct. 19.

https://www.up.com/press-releases/heritage-steam/big-boy-holiday-tour-260917

Now that gas/diesel is at a record high price, the FMCSA announced a nationwide waiver of Hours of Service (HOS) rules for the transportation of motor fuels will be in place until December 16

“The Agency grants this waiver in anticipation of the need for greater hours-of-service flexibility for motor carriers transporting fuel during the last weeks of the summer and most of the fall if the demand for fuel increases above the levels experienced earlier in the year,” FMCSA said in its announcement.

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trucks-hauling-fuel-get-hos-waiver-for-3-months

It seems to me there is no greater demand based on the month, or time of year, but instead, this is a way for oil companies to make more money while the profits are the highest.