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UP 4014 Big Boy Steamer


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This huge locomotive rolled through Atoka, Oklahoma and other towns yesterday and though miserably hot it was worth seeing.  However, without the great chuffing and clouds of steam it just didn’t seem the same because its been converted to burn fuel oil.

 

My question is : does a conversion to diesel mean diesel electric?  Or is it using fuel oil to heat water to generate steam?

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The Union Pacific "Big Boy" stops here tomorrow morning for a bit. I plan on seeing it, and also "chasing it" down the way for a while. It is in Ft. Worth today, on display, and will spend the night there, and start this way in the morning. 

I can't wait. :lol: 

They have another "Big Boy", in a museum, up north of Dallas. 

The largest steam locomotive in the world. :FlagAm:  It is nothing less than awesome, and majestic. It's like a living thing. 

If anyone has a chance to see it, it is awesome, and worth the trip to see it. ;)

You can watch and find out more about it, and how it was restored, by going to youtube.

You can also get on-line and check out it's route on this year's tour of the USA. They did not make a tour last year, but this year they did. :lol:

From Cheyenne, Wyoming, to a city (perhaps) near you. :FlagAm:

 

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3 hours ago, Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795 said:
6 minutes ago, Waxahachie Kid #17017 L said:

The Union Pacific "Big Boy" stops here tomorrow morning for a bit. I plan on seeing it, and also "chasing it" down the way for a while. It is in Ft. Worth today, on display, and will spend the night there, and start this way in the morning. 

I can't wait. :lol: 

They have another "Big Boy", in a museum, up north of Dallas. 

The largest steam locomotive in the world. :FlagAm:  It is nothing less than awesome, and majestic. It's like a living thing. 

If anyone has a chance to see it, it is awesome, and worth the trip to see it. ;)

You can watch and find out more about it, and how it was restored, by going to youtube.

You can also get on-line and check out it's route on this year's tour of the USA. They did not make a tour last year, but this year they did. :lol:

From Cheyenne, Wyoming, to a city (perhaps) near you. :FlagAm:

 

At Frisco, TX

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A  Locomotive was moved from its display site this morning in Gainesville, Ga.       It was quite interesting to see how it was placed on a self-propelled trailer ......

 

th?id=OIP.J0lWDNXeVldzy-74oFU2nwHaFj&w=200&h=149&rs=1&qlt=80&o=6&dpr=1.58&pid=3.1

The engine was renumbered 209 and is believed to be the one of the two engines that pulled the last steam powered train on the Athens-Gainesville line in 1959. Once the engine stopped in Gainesville, its fire was dropped and the engine along with a baggage car and caboose were placed on a side track and decommissioned

 

Engine 209 moves to new home on the Midtown Greenway | AccessWDUN.com

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I was there the day they took her out of the train museum in Pomona, CA to haul her to Wyoming for refurbishment.

 

I felt sorry for her being belittled by having to be towed by diesels.  Just humiliating.  I'm glad she's back in service.  I also remember UP Big Boys running up and down from Wyoming to the UP yard in Ogden, Utah when I was a kid.  That whistle moaning through the canyon was one of the greatest sounds I ever heard.

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9 hours ago, Waxahachie Kid #17017 L said:

The Union Pacific "Big Boy" stops here tomorrow morning for a bit. I plan on seeing it, and also "chasing it" down the way for a while. It is in Ft. Worth today, on display, and will spend the night there, and start this way in the morning. 

I can't wait. :lol: 

They have another "Big Boy", in a museum, up north of Dallas. 

The largest steam locomotive in the world. :FlagAm:  It is nothing less than awesome, and majestic. It's like a living thing. 

If anyone has a chance to see it, it is awesome, and worth the trip to see it. ;)

You can watch and find out more about it, and how it was restored, by going to youtube.

You can also get on-line and check out it's route on this year's tour of the USA. They did not make a tour last year, but this year they did. :lol:

From Cheyenne, Wyoming, to a city (perhaps) near you. :FlagAm:

 

I remember seeing that locomotive while my dad was driving by when we visited Dallas 1964 or 65. I went and saw it up close before they were to move to Frisco, TX. That was back around 2010? I don't remember the last time I was in Dallas.

 

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Big Boy No. 4014

 

Twenty-five Big Boys were built exclusively for Union Pacific Railroad, the first of which was delivered in 1941. The locomotives were 132 feet long and weighed 1.2 million pounds. Because of their great length, the frames of the Big Boys were "hinged," or articulated, to allow them to negotiate curves. They had a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, which meant they had four wheels on the leading set of "pilot" wheels which guided the engine, eight drivers, another set of eight drivers, and four wheels following which supported the rear of the locomotive. The massive engines normally operated between Ogden, Utah, and Cheyenne, Wyo.

There are seven Big Boys on public display in various cities around the country. They can be found in St. Louis, Missouri; Dallas, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Denver, Colorado; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Big Boy No. 4014 was delivered to Union Pacific in December 1941. The locomotive was retired in December 1961, having traveled 1,031,205 miles in its 20 years in service.  Union Pacific reacquired No. 4014 from the RailGiants Museum in Pomona, California, in 2013, and relocated it back to Cheyenne to begin a multi-year restoration process. It returned to service in May 2019 to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad's Completion.

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I got to see the Big Boy this morning, since it stopped here for about fifteen minutes. I have seen, and even ridden, the Union Pacific Challenger, before, but I have been waiting, and hoping, that they would restore a Big Boy, and send it on tours. I got my wish. One more item to cross off my bucket list. 

 

I must say, the folks in the locomotive cab must have had arm cramps, by the time they got down here. No one would wave at you. Oh well..

 

It must be nice to have a job like that...that brings so many folks out to see and to enjoy. It is an awesome sight. Drones flying over, airplanes, convoys of cars following it. People, that lived close to the tracks, running out to see it, and to wave. Seeing the children's faces as that huge locomotive came slowly around the bend, then blowing the whistle. 

I think my grandson wet his pants. I'm pretty sure I did. :blink:

 

I remember once  when I was a child, I heard an old man comment, when the steam locomotive, we were watching, started chugging off, and when they blew the whistle. He said: "don't call to me now...I'm too old to go with you". I remember that comment to this day, and it is as sad as it was when I first heard it. Sadder still, since I am an old man now, as well. 

 

I would like to thank Union Pacific Railroad :FlagAm: for their efforts in restoring, and touring, the Big Boy, and also all the other steam locomotives they operate. Not only them, but all the folks that restore, maintain, and tour steam locomotives. 

They don't have to do this, but they do. Thank you.  :FlagAm: 

 

From seeing how many folks came out to see it, Union Pacific has thousands upon thousands of adoring fans. I talked to one guy this morning, that had gone to Ft. Worth yesterday to see it on display, since it spent the night there. He said there must have been at least 100,000 people there to view it.  

Those steam locomotives are like a living thing. 

 

 

 

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A buddy of mine sent me these two images he took yesterday just south of Dallas.  He said they wouldn't let him get any closer.

I'd love to climb all over that locomotive and check it out!

JKdBJI.jpg

 

X8fTPU.jpg

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