Big Boy's Coming, Part One

And when this monster first departed eastbound for Union Pacific service, the date on the calendar was Dec. 7, 1941. Within hours, before it even made it west through the Mohawk region of New York, America would enter World War II.

Big Boy soon became part of that wartime effort, hauling massive freight and military trains across the American West with a kind of raw power the world had never seen before.

Big Boy existed for one purpose: brute-force mountain railroading.

The steep grades between Ogden, Utah, and Cheyenne, Wyo., once required two — sometimes three — locomotives and multiple crews to drag freight trains over the mountains. Then Big Boy arrived and changed everything.

One locomotive. One crew. One unbelievable machine.

When introduced, 4014 delivered more than 6,000 horsepower at the drawbar — a staggering figure that still rivals locomotives today. Many modern diesel locomotives top out around 4,400 horsepower. Railroads like the UP experimented with larger diesels over the years, but many of those engines had a nasty habit of destroying themselves under heavy load, essentially launching pistons out the top of the engine and the locomotive body as well. 

Big Boy simply kept pulling. And what a machine it remains.

Locomotive and tender together stretch nearly 133 feet long. Fully loaded with fuel and water, Big Boy weighs an astonishing 1,951,500 pounds. Its famous articulated frame allows the giant locomotive to bend through curves despite its massive size. The iconic 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement — four leading wheels, two sets of eight enormous drivers, and four trailing wheels — helped make Big Boy one of the most formidable locomotives ever placed on rails.

Naturally, feeding a beast like this required fuel on an equally heroic scale.

In its original configuration, Big Boy carried 28 tons of coal, and climbing the mountain grades that were its home, often consumed nearly 75% of that supply. Even so, the giant proved more efficient than the multiple locomotives it replaced. Today, Union Pacific fires 4014 with oil rather than coal, eliminating the need to constantly source massive amounts of fuel during long excursions.

After retiring in December 1961, Big Boy 4014 sat silent for more than half a century at the RailGiants Train Museum in Pomona, Calif. Railfans spent decades dreaming that one of the original Big Boys might someday steam again.

Union Pacific made that dream real.

In a historic restoration effort, 4014 returned to Cheyenne, where crews painstakingly brought the giant back to life in time to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Now, as America approaches the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, Big Boy is once again crossing the country — and for the first time in roughly 85 years, this steam giant is heading this far east.

That makes it more than a train visit.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

This is living American history in motion.

It’s thunder.

It’s steel. 

It’s fire and steam and raw mechanical power.

It’s the spirit of American industry roaring back to life.

And when Big Boy 4014 rolls into town, you don’t just see it.

You feel it.

Here’s a quick peek at 4014 as it came into Ames, Iowa, yesterday:

Here’s the remaining schedule, courtesy of Union Pacific:
 
Today:

Tomorrow, it will be at the West Chicago Metra stop. UP advises that you need to ride Metra to get there, as there will be no parking available at the event site.

On Thursday, June 4, it is scheduled to leave at 8 a.m. CT and will arrive at South Holland, Ill., at about 8 a.m. There’s no public access at this stop.

From there to Argos, Ind., at the South Michigan Street crossing, leaving at 3:00 p.m.

From there to Ft. Wayne, Ind. on June 6. This is a private Norfolk Southern Event, so no public access.

Big Boy will leave Ft. Wayne at 9 a.m. the following morning, bound for Continental, Ohio, and getting there at about noon.

It will blow through Fostoria’s Iron Triangle at about 2:15 p.m. on June 7. This is also an NS company event, but there are YouTube Live cameras that will be broadcasting it.

Big Boy is running within a few miles of me here, so you can imagine I'll be trackside with my radio scanner going.

At the moment, the schedule has Big Boy running up to Buffalo, and then down the NS Buffalo line through New York’s Southern tier, including Letchworth State Park and the Genesee River Bridge therein. From all accounts, it'll be a little nutty in the park that day.

Watch this space; I’ll keep you updated.

Or if you'd like to track Big Boy's location yourself, UP has a site that lets you do that.

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