www.trainweb.org/pgrs

Established 1994

Pittsburgh Garden Railway Society
C/O Ann Celento
312 Hawthorne Street
Canonsburg PA, 15317

February 2014 Newsletter
 

Calendar
From the President's Desk Trips
Chasing Trains - Big and Little What's Cookin'
Photos Tech Tips
Upcoming Train Shows & Events Video of the Month
   

Financial Report (password required)

Membership Roster (password required)

Chasing Trains - Big and Little

 

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