Union Pacific Big Boy

34fordy said:
There has always been something magical to be around a steam locomotive! When I was a kid the roundhouse was just 1/4 mile away and the tracks just down the hill. My brother and I spent a lot of time down there. We had to keep an eye out for the "cinderdick" and his Dalmatian dog. All railroad property is off limits. When a steam engine is sitting on the track waiting to work it is almost like a huge animal breathing, farting, yearning for the task ahead. It is quite similar to a team of horses eager to start pulling a plow. The last regular steam engine use in Fort Dodge was about 1955 when I was 10 years old. Whenever we went to see Grampa and Gramma we took the train. I don't believe there were ribbon rails at that time and it was a constant humming of the clickity-clack that you could hear as you moved along. I could never understand how people could sleep or read as my eyes were glued out the window even at night. Although this is not Ford related it is so very enjoyable as it brings back memories of another time that will be no more! I feel so lucky to have lived in those times. I do have a yearning and a love of pictures in the early 1900's when my Dad lived. When he was 10 in 1905 a few cars were just coming around. I can only imagine how exciting that would have been for me!
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This is such an interesting thread!!……thanks for starting it CJ!……the post above by 34fordy is so well written it had me feeling I was right there….hearing the engine breathing…feeling the excitement of it staring off…it makes a great read on a rainy Sunday…..Thanks guys!!…………Mark
 
cjshaker said:
Glennpm, those Shay's look like they have not been sitting all that long. I've always had a fondness for them, having been built just a few miles from me by the Lima Locomotive Works, and their very unique geared drive system. Riding them to the top of Bald Knob Mountain in Cass, WV is also very unique for railroading, having several switchbacks, and the steepest grade east of the Mississippi. A very enjoyable time, and quite different than your typical flat, straight line rides. While they have a relatively easy life now, they still work hard getting up those grades. I can only imagine them having tons and tons of wood loaded, and how hard they worked then.


The amount of work, dedication and love that goes into restoring a steam engine is just amazing. Standing next to one as it lives and breathes, is just as amazing, at least to me. I'm so very thankful for the guys that do it, and the guys that do the same thing with vintage aircraft.
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We had a B-17 in Fort Dodge 15 or 20 years ago. I took a short flight over our town. Standing on the ground as they start the individual engines just gives me shivers. There are usually a few revolutions of belching black smoke before coming to life and you get to see it happen four times. I think we engine lovers were born with something very special in our DNA. Possibly a little confusing to "normal" folks but so rewarding, huh?
 
cjshaker said:
Glennpm, those Shay's look like they have not been sitting all that long. I've always had a fondness for them, having been built just a few miles from me by the Lima Locomotive Works, and their very unique geared drive system. Riding them to the top of Bald Knob Mountain in Cass, WV is also very unique for railroading, having several switchbacks, and the steepest grade east of the Mississippi. A very enjoyable time, and quite different than your typical flat, straight line rides. While they have a relatively easy life now, they still work hard getting up those grades. I can only imagine them having tons and tons of wood loaded, and how hard they worked then.


The amount of work, dedication and love that goes into restoring a steam engine is just amazing. Standing next to one as it lives and breathes, is just as amazing, at least to me. I'm so very thankful for the guys that do it, and the guys that do the same thing with vintage aircraft.
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Wonderful engineering. I'd love to take that ride in Cass, WV.

I was into HO gauge model railroading and have a Shay model. I could never get it to run consistently without binding. My plan had been to add it to a layout I had or to model another based on White Mountain NH historical narrow gauge logging using the Shays.

Yes, several of the Shays were in excellent restored condition. I don't know if they got any extensive exercise outside of the barn.

Glenn
 
34fordy said:
We had a B-17 in Fort Dodge 15 or 20 years ago. I took a short flight over our town. Standing on the ground as they start the individual engines just gives me shivers. There are usually a few revolutions of belching black smoke before coming to life and you get to see it happen four times. I think we engine lovers were born with something very special in our DNA. Possibly a little confusing to "normal" folks but so rewarding, huh?
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That is the absolute truth. I love the old vintage radial engine aircraft. I've been lucky enough to fly in a B-17 (Sentimental Journey), a B-24 (Diamond Lil), a Ford Tri-Motor and an old Waco open cockpit bi-plane. I put up a full flight video of the Tri-Motor on YouTube.

Listening to each engine start, one at a time, is just music to my ears. The open exhaust really gives you a feel for the power they put out when they run them up to speed, and the choppy idle just gives me chills.


I don't have any pictures or video of the B-24 because it was before the time of cell phones, but here's a few shots of the others. I must say, that open cockpit Waco was the most thrilling. The pilot wanted me and the wife to put on headphones so he could talk to us. I tried to be nice when I said NO, I wanted to listen to the engine and the wind. I don't think he understood :)


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OK, one thing has been bothering me about the information published about the Big Boy 4014 tour from Sacramento (April) to Philadelphia (7/4/26). Everything is saying that this is the first time Big Boy 4014 has crossed the Mississippi since it was built in 1941.

OK, then how did I see it when it came through Northern Illinois in September 2024? Anyone need to ask AI to see a map?

Ken
 
Kens 36 is correct.
There was an American Heartland Tour in 2024, but never past Illinois.
Which is east of the Mississippi River.
 
Kens 36 said:
OK, one thing has been bothering me about the information published about the Big Boy 4014 tour from Sacramento (April) to Philadelphia (7/4/26). Everything is saying that this is the first time Big Boy 4014 has crossed the Mississippi since it was built in 1941.

OK, then how did I see it when it came through Northern Illinois in September 2024? Anyone need to ask AI to see a map?

Ken
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Ken, you are right, it did go into Illinois, but no further, and I believe that was the only time it happened. I suppose the claim of 'first time east of the Mississippi' is just a bit of semantics, referring to its first trip back to the eastern part of the U.S., although it is 99.5% accurate about the first time east of the Mississippi.:) I have a friend in southern Illinois who went to see it when you referenced.
 
Big Boy went thru our little town (Alexandria NE.) a couple times as we are on the UP mainline from North Platte to some place in Kansas. Never stopped, just slowed down so everyone could get a good look. Made the ground tremble. Amazing piece of history.
 
cjshaker said:
Ken, you are right, it did go into Illinois, but no further, and I believe that was the only time it happened. I suppose the claim of 'first time east of the Mississippi' is just a bit of semantics, referring to its first trip back to the eastern part of the U.S., although it is 99.5% accurate about the first time east of the Mississippi.:) I have a friend in southern Illinois who went to see it when you referenced.
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I'm not sure how it is semantics. I've been around a good long time and the Mississippi has always been in roughly the same place. If it crossed in 2024, it crossed. Chicago is 150+ miles east of the Mississippi. You don't have to travel to Philadelphia to cross the river.;)

Ken
 
I went for a flight on the B29 a year or two back, unbelievable.
I have been to Wendover where the crews trained in WW2 and seen the Enola Gay in the museum in Washington, so at Christmas I will see where the bomb went off in Japan,
Lawrie
 
The 1st time I went to Bonneville salt flats,Wendover, about 85 or so, there was alot of buildings left from the ww2 base. It was very windy, we had planned to camp in a tent, but winds were crazy so we went to the old base and camped in a hanger!
 
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At Point Defiance park around 1968 inTacoma Wa., thay had a complete logging camp from the 1920's on display called Camp 6 .It was very cool to us as pre teen kids. The crown jewl of it was the ride around a loop of track behind a still opporating Shay that had been used right there in the Cascade mountains.I went back to see it many years later but it was no longer there and Camp 6 was closed, Sad. Tim
 
Kens 36 said:
I'm not sure how it is semantics. I've been around a good long time and the Mississippi has always been in roughly the same place. If it crossed in 2024, it crossed. Chicago is 150+ miles east of the Mississippi. You don't have to travel to Philadelphia to cross the river.;)

Ken
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It's been to St. Louis and at that time it crossed the Mississippi River and ran through Southern Illinois, in Dupo, IL and south on UP tracks. Same for the UP 844 and the UP 3985 when they still owned it.


I had the opportunity when I was younger to ride behind the UP 3985, Frisco 1522 and the N&W J611. Thanks to my grandfather. The same man who got me interested in early Fords. I feel that at age 46 now, I was fortunate enough to be on the tail end of some pretty unique experiences back in the mid 1980's though mid 1990's as a kid. A lot of excursion service was shut down to do insurance cost and high cost of maintenance.
 
I'm a lifelong steam locomotive enthusiast, largely because my grandfather was a locomotive engineer with the Canadian Pacific Railway from 1905 to 1955. About a year ago, I had the opportunity to follow the remarkable journey of CP 2816, The Empress, as it traveled across the United States as part of the Final Spike Steam Tour a historic transcontinental trip from Calgary to Mexico City and back.
To commemorate the merger that created Canadian Pacific Kansas City, the beautifully restored 1930 steam locomotive completed an extraordinary 10,000-mile, 76-day journey linking Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
My grandfather often told me that the 2800 series locomotives were his absolute favorite engines to operate. As a young man, I spent countless hours listening to stories from his 50 years as a "hoghead," and those memories remain some of my most treasured.
For anyone who appreciates steam railroading, this documentary captures the scale and significance of this epic adventure:
Final Spike Steam Tour Documentary https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M0SUPeQc_dI&ra=m

It's well worth a watch for any steam rail fan.
 
Growing up in Connecticut with the American Flyer toy train assembly plant in the neighbor hood I was hooked on trains. Starting with some plywood building my first train layout in the basement I spent lots of hours watching AF steam locomotives smoke and chug chug along. As a kid I knew about the Bigboy and the Union Pacific that railroad was so much bigger than the New Haven railroad that I grew up admiring.
Fast forward to adult hood my first viewing of the 4014 was in Pomona Californian 2006 we had just arrived at the LA Roadsters club fathers day event held at the Fairplex. My wife and I drove our ARDUN powered Deuce roadster across the country from CT to attend the fathers day event. Upon entering the event you drive by a railroad museum in the Fairplex parking lot its called the Rail Museum of giants at the time I had no idea this museum existed. There it was 4014 a real life Bigboy and another giant a Southern Pacific 2-12-2 along with a number of other engine's a true surprise.
Now when word came out about 4014 being restored we all waited for the next steps in the project. Luck once again strikes the weekend the engine rolled out of Pomona was the same weekend the Grand National Roadster was taking place at the Fairplex. We get to see the engine once again.

Third time seeing 4014 was the best its the first year after the restoration was completed. The UP has the engine stopping along the railroad for the public to see from Cheyenne to Nebraska and return. Our yearly journey West to race our Ford flathead powered race car at Bonneville takes place the same weekend the Bigboy is stopping at the 7th street railroad crossing in Kearney Nebraska. Day two on our journey West we stop in Lincoln Nebraska. Day three Monday morning we head West and along the way arrive in Kearney in plenty of time to see 4014 in action. Never dreamed as a kid to ever see such a thing the Union Pacific is hell of a railroad to take the time to restore and maintain and run this amazing piece of history and industrial might of our great nation.
To this day I am a very active model railroader besides a gear head building and racing Ford flatheads and 32 Fords.
Ronnieroadster
 
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Steve, that is a very cool avatar of your car and a steam engine. There was video the other day of a guy who ran his steam tractor to a crossing, blowing his whistle as 4014 blew his while going by. I thought that was really neat to see. My first memories of steam were when my Dad took me to steam tractor shows as a very young lad.


Ronnie, those are some pretty good memories. Growing up next to American Flyer would have been cool. With the Lima Locomotive Works hometown being just a few miles from me, and having a couple of static displays around the town, including one in a small park right across the street from my Grandpa's house, I visited it often. Seems almost everyone's love of trains came at an early age from their Dad, Uncle or some other family member. For the most part, cars and airplanes seem to go into that distinction as well.
 
Big Boy went through Cleveland yesterday stopping for many people and photos. 1.2 million pounds.
Couple of decades ago I was standing near some tracks and noticed the ground shaking. My thoughts were an earth quake. It took over 5 minutes for one of these large steam locomotives to start to pass and it was going at least 25MPH. It is hard to imaging the size.
Hard to impress me since I worked for the RxR for several summers in the rebuilding area and had seen many impressive things dealing with heavy weight. I will never forget that locomotive! Plus I had seen the same engine parked next to the Collinwood yard repair shop for many months.
 
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Big Boy coming thru Lake City, PA. this morning!
 
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