Union Pacific Big Boy

cjshaker

cjshaker

Senior Member
I know this is way off topic, but it's the right timeframe, 1941, so I hope it's allowed.


It was a long week, a very long week working in the garage. Took a day off and the wife and I went to Continental, Ohio to see the Union Pacific Big Boy steaming its way through to Philidelphia for the July 4th celebration. This was its first time east of the Mississippi since it was built, and something I never thought would happen. The largest steam train in the world, and quite a sight to behold.

I'm a big steam railfan, rode most all of them in a tri-state area from the time I was a kid (thanks, Dad), and am still riding them every chance I get. Went last year to Cass, WV to ride the Shays that were built just 15 miles from me in Lima, Ohio. There was no way I was going to miss this opportunity, so off we went. Too many people for my liking, but I figured that may be the case.


A bad still shot of a video I took. Can't wait to see it on the way back, but this time I will pick a much better location, with way fewer people. Any other steam fans here, or has anyone went to see this monster on this trip?


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It really is a 'Big Un'...
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One of the high points of my life was about 30 years ago when I got to ride in a restored steam engine. I friend of mine worked for the Canadian Pacific and one of his duties was to supervise a Pacific (4-6-2) locomotive they used for exhibition purposes. That summer, there had been some sort of excursion around the Northern US and southern Canada. The train consisted of various private cars and the excursion ended up in Minneapolis.

The next day, they had to break up the train and move the private cars to various locations around the Twin Cities to return home. They used the Pacific to do the majority of the work, and I was able to ride around in a "working" locomotive for almost an entire day. The locomotive itself was impeccable. It was an oil-fired locomotive, and I was really impressed at how smooth, clean, and powerful it was. When moving the cars, there was some clanking and bumping, but when it was on it's own, it was incredible. You'd be sitting still, and then, imperceptibly, you were moving. It was that smooth and powerful.

Before we moved the private cars, we had a chance to tour some of them. They ranged from cars from the late 19th century to cars for the thirties and forties. and ranged from as found to fully restored. Some of them were not believed, they were so luxurious. It was an experience of a lifetime for an enthusiast of all things mechanical.
 
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Tubman, riding in the cab of a steam engine would be a dream come true for me. Steam trains are a mechanical masterpiece, and I absolutely love vintage mechanical equipment. From steam trains, to vintage aircraft, to mechanical watches, to our beloved NON-COMPUTERIZED vehicles. I love them all.


I've rode the Shays of Cass 4 times now, and I'd do it every year if I could. Narrow gauge, gear driven engines built for logging in the mountains. I always get the BEST seat in the house, except for the guys in the cab of course. :)

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I've been to see the big boy twice, and will do it again in late July when it goes thru my area on its way home from the eastern tour. It is an amazing machine. Look up Union Pacific 4014 2026 schedule to see if it comes near you. The schedule shows overnight stops, and short visit stops, so with that info you can see the track route on a map to just go watch it go by somewhere.
 
My wife and I chased 4014 on her maiden voyage out of Cheyenne a few years ago. Pulling into a town in Wyoming (forgot the name) they had to go on a siding since they were spending the night. As we watched her pull in there was a sudden shake and she split the rails and was on the ground . I talked to one of the ground crew for UP and asked him how they were going to pick up a million ponds and put her back on the track. He said there is no re-railer or crane that can do it. They were going to do it by hand with jacks, blocks of wood and long levers. This was about 6 PM and they went to work. Next morning she on up on the track and building steam.
If you think getting studs out of a flathead is hard, you should watch these guys go to work. No fancy machinery involved. We followed her and 844 for a week.
 
I drove from my house in Central Utah to Western Utah to see the Big Boy at a maintenance stop when it was being "escorted" from Southern California to Wyoming to be restored. One thing they did was pack the wheel bearings. They did this with solid lead bars that they pounded in with air hammers. Cold, I might add. Impressive.
Wayno
 
Floyd said:
My wife and I chased 4014 on her maiden voyage out of Cheyenne a few years ago. Pulling into a town in Wyoming (forgot the name) they had to go on a siding since they were spending the night. As we watched her pull in there was a sudden shake and she split the rails and was on the ground . I talked to one of the ground crew for UP and asked him how they were going to pick up a million ponds and put her back on the track. He said there is no re-railer or crane that can do it. They were going to do it by hand with jacks, blocks of wood and long levers. This was about 6 PM and they went to work. Next morning she on up on the track and building steam.
If you think getting studs out of a flathead is hard, you should watch these guys go to work. No fancy machinery involved. We followed her and 844 for a week.
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I've got a couple of old railroad jacks, and they are certainly heavy, and capable of lifting a building if needed. You can find a couple of videos on YouTube of them re-railing locomotives by hand...and I agree, it's quite a site, and very impressive. It's truly amazing what can be accomplished by hand, when ingenuity and sweat are involved.


Fun fact: That's why automatic oilers were invented, for steam trains. It cut the down time for maintenance substantially. I've also got some oil cans for them, with 3' spouts on them, for reaching hard to get to spots.
 
My Grandfather was an engineer on the Illinois Central retiring in 1933 at age 70 with around 50 years of service. He aquired a brass bell from a locomotive that weighed about 80 pounds without the clapper. He had a stand built for it and it was upside down as Gramma had a plant in it in her dining room. I have since passed it down to our son and he has it on display in their home. For some reason I think I may have told this story before, LOL.
 
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Photo of my grandson, Jack and I standing in front of the Bessemer 154 at the Henry Ford Museum. My grandfather was a boiler repairman and no doubt would've worked on this locomotive. He died the year before I was born. Jake I think would've been pleased to have his great, great grandson see his work.
 
34fordy said:
My Grandfather was an engineer on the Illinois Central retiring in 1933 at age 70 with around 50 years of service. He aquired a brass bell from a locomotive that weighed about 80 pounds without the clapper. He had a stand built for it and it was upside down as Gramma had a plant in it in her dining room. I have since passed it down to our son and he has it on display in their home. For some reason I think I may have told this story before, LOL.
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I've always wanted a real locomotive bell, but that will never happen. I'll have to be happy with my old 19" dinner bell. I like things that get passed from generation to generation, but that's assuming the younger gens want it, which is less and less a thing.

1942deluxe said:
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Photo of my grandson, Jack and I standing in front of the Bessemer 154 at the Henry Ford Museum. My grandfather was a boiler repairman and no doubt would've worked on this locomotive. He died the year before I was born. Jake I think would've been pleased to have his great, great grandson see his work.
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That is about the age where my Dad introduced me to riding steam trains, but having ran his old Lionel set-up for a few years already had me liking them. I still have that set and set it up occasionally, and it still works great. Memories at that age really stick with you. It's good to see you passing that memory on.
 
Santa Fe has the 1927 restored locomotive, the 3751. My grandfather Thomas Lane was one of the original engineers that ran the 3751 in the 1940s and early 1950s, out of San Bernardino CA yard. The story was always that he was the one they asked to move the 3751 locomotive to a display spot in front of the San Bernardino yard around 1953 when they took it out of service. I used to drive by it with my parents when I was a kid and my mom would always say. see that train, your grandpa parked it there. Years and years later they removed it from the display spot and spent several years restoring it. Unfortunately, grandpa died before the locomotive was finished.

During the '40s and '50s he took home movies of every single steam locomotive he ran across in Southern California that was still running on the tracks. I have so many "boxes" of 8mm films of trains and I've never bothered to look at any of them. When they were restoring the 3751, the restorers contacted my mom to see if she had any film of the 3751. She looked through those films and found one film that showed the 3751 in action. In the 1980s it was supposedly the only original footage they had of the Santa Fe 3751. Heck I've never seen it, the original film is boxed up with all the other train films. I'm interested but not interested enough to drag out the projector and try to remember how to thread the film through it and rish breaking the film. I have a big brass steam locomotive gauge in the house that grandpa brought home from work as steam was phased out. I have a pair of his engineer's suspenders. I really need to setup the projector and look at what grandpa filmed back then but it would take a week to look at it all.

I do remember seeing one film, my mom had it turned into a VHS. He's driving a steam locomotive flying up the bottom of the Cajon Pass. Grandma is driving a car, and my mom is hanging out the car window filming him and the car could they barely keep up with that steam engine, that was probably in the early '50s. That's a pretty neat film.

Here's a Wikipedia story of Santa Fe NO. 3751 if anybody's interested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe_3751
 
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If this stream of stories isn't enough for you, I would suggest that you enter 4014 Big Boy in YouTube. This trip east (in conjunction with the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence) is everywhere. If you live near Scranton PA hurry and get tickets for its 15 day stay at Steam Town National Park. Tickets are only $1 but they are going fast.

Jay Leno even did a Leno's Garage story on it.

Enjoyed tracking it when it was in the Twin Cities in July of 2019

Only takes 4 days to fire up --- just like getting ready to tour in a flathead Ford.
 

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nelsb01 said:
If this stream of stories isn't enough for you, I would suggest that you enter 4014 Big Boy in YouTube. This trip east (in conjunction with the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence) is everywhere. If you live near Scranton PA hurry and get tickets for its 15 day stay at Steam Town National Park. Tickets are only $1 but they are going fast.

Jay Leno even did a Leno's Garage story on it.

Enjoyed tracking it when it was in the Twin Cities in July of 2019

Only takes 4 days to fire up --- just like getting ready to tour in a flathead Ford.
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cjshaker said:
I know this is way off topic, but it's the right timeframe, 1941, so I hope it's allowed.


It was a long week, a very long week working in the garage. Took a day off and the wife and I went to Continental, Ohio to see the Union Pacific Big Boy steaming its way through to Philidelphia for the July 4th celebration. This was its first time east of the Mississippi since it was built, and something I never thought would happen. The largest steam train in the world, and quite a sight to behold.
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Fantastic engineering and craftsmanship. What a Big Boy and treat for you!

I lived in Taipei for a few years, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and visited the Alishan area. My son and I took a narrow gauge to around the 7,000' elevation and there I found my all time favorite bevel drive Shay's. Taiwan has a vary mountainous spine and in the late 1800s, huge old growth trees were harvested by the Japanese using the Shay's. The Japanese invaded for the lumber and also in the process of developing rail throughout the island discovered gold. Now they really wanted the island.

Japanese invasions

"Japan launched two major invasions of Taiwan in the late 19th century, beginning with a punitive expedition in 1874 and culminating in a full-scale colonial invasion in 1895.

The 1874 Expedition (Mudan Incident)
Japan invaded southern Taiwan in retaliation for the murder of 54 Ryukyuan sailors by Paiwan indigenous people in 1871. Under the guise of "punishing savages," approximately 3,600 Japanese troops landed in Tainan. The conflict ended with the Qing dynasty agreeing to pay an indemnity of 500,000 taels, a move Japan later exploited to claim sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands, leading to their annexation in 1879.

The 1895 Invasion (Yiwei War)
Following Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Treaty of Shimonoseki (April 1895) ceded Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan. In response, local elites proclaimed the short-lived Republic of Formosa to resist transfer. Japanese forces landed near Keelung on May 29, 1895, and after a five-month campaign marked by guerrilla resistance and significant atrocities (such as the 1896 Yunlin Massacre), they captured Tainan on October 21, 1895. This victory inaugurated 50 years of Japanese colonial rule over Taiwan."

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Big Boy 4014 spent the day last Wednesday in West Chicago, a few miles west of me. The crowds there to see it were huge.

Thursday I watched it roar through my town of Glen Ellyn. I took a worthless video, but have seen some really good ones posted.

Ken
 
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!
 
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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