Chasing
Trains----Big and Little
BIG Boy
If you are of an age, and a lot of us are,
to remember the huge steam locomotives of the late 1930’s to
mid 1950’s get yourself a copy of the February 2014 issue of
Trains Magazine. Note Pages 4 and 62-63.
These references indicate that the largest
of these monsters is on the way to a return to the land of the
living!
Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 # 4014 has been
removed from its display site in Los Angeles and is on its way
to the UP shops on Cheyenne to be rebuilt and restored to
service.
4014 will join UP 4-8-4 # 844 and 4-6-6-4
# 3785 in excursion and special train service
The “Big Boy “ nickname is alleged to come
from an employee in the erecting shop who chalked the words on
the smoke box door of # 4000 the first of the class.
These engines were important to keeping
UP’s mainlines fluid during and after WW11.
Some brief statistics;
Builder- American Locomotive Co., 1941
Length over couplers 132’ 10 “
Total weight 1,208,750 lbs
Drawbar horsepower 6000
To speed 70mph
Pressure 300 psi
From American Locomotives 1900-1950 by
Edwin Alexander
This is possibly the biggest deal in
Railfan news since the freedom train of 1976
Stay tuned!! Bill Baldwin