In the late 30's, the Union Pacific railroad decided to design a new locomotive that could pull a 3600 ton train up the grade between Wasatch and Ogden, UT unassisted. They came up with what came to be known as the Big Boy.





The result was a steam locomotive with an output of nearly 6300 drawbar horsepower, 135,000 lb/ft of tractive effort and a sustained top speed of 80 mph.

At full steam, the Big Boy consumed a substantial 12,500 gallons of water and 22 tons of coal per hour!

In order to pull the Sherman Hill grade in Wyoming, the Big Boy consumed a whopping 25,000 gallons of water and 28 tons of coal in 27 miles!

25 Big Boys were built, #4000-4024 The first one was delivered in September 1941. #4020-4024 were built in 1944 and were slightly improved versions of the original locomotives. All were retired from UP service by 1962.


8 Big Boys survive today.

#4004 at Holiday Park in Cheyenne, WY
#4005 at the Forney Transportation Museum in Denver CO
#4006 at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, MO
#4012 at the Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA
#4014 at the LA County Fairplex in Los Angeles, CA
#4017 at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, WI
#4018 at the Age of Steam Railroad Museum in Dallas, TX
#4023 at the Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, NE

None of the remaining Big Boys are "trackworthy" though #4014 is reported to be the one in the best condition and could easily be brought up to running standards as it's maintained meticulously by 2 railroad fans with help from the mild Southern California climate.

Humourous Trivia: To prove how large the firebox of the Big Boy was, 32 school children were fit inside #4014's firebox during a field trip.

There were locomotives built that were more powerful and in some cases larger than the Big Boy but none were nearly as successful and long running as the Big Boy so the "largest" title was bestowed on the Big Boy.

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I grew up around them in the 50's.....yes, older than dirt! Even got to 'drive' one by a friend RR engineer...course, nothing to it on the straightaway..ha ha. Later, when in the Mil, took a German one to the little town of Hof---man did it struggle on those 'little' hills---could have used one of those 'Big Boys' then!! They are very nostalgic (I lived next to the tracks), with that haunting steam whistle, and chug-chugging....also loved all the steam and black smoke.....days long gone bye <sigh>

AWESOME PHOTOS!

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The engines dragging coal cars across Wyoming are nothing to sneeze at. 150 to 200 cars of coal, lord knows what that weighs.

Each coal hopper holds approximately 100 tons of coal. So that's 20,000 tons on a 200 car unit train.

For what it's worth, 100 tons of coal is enough to run a typical coal fired powerplant for 20 minutes.

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No wonder they are running 24-7, no underground stuff either, just scrape the dirt off and there ya go.

They have to run 24/7 to supply 80 trains a day with coal!

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Nice one Pack, I too love the old steam engines, got to ride in one when I was 11, I still remember it well, esp laying on the squeaky whistle!

You know that some of those Big Boys were oil burners (instead of coal). And the coal fired ones burned so much that they had a conveyor to feed the beast! I didn't realize that there were any left, I thought only the Challengers had survived.
I guess I have to take the kids to Green Bay, boy they will love it!

Some more tidbits.

A movie called "Big Boy" was proposed in 1998 and it was discussed about restoring #4018 to working order for the film but the $700,000-1,000,000 estimated cost to bring #4018 back to life apparently proved to be too much and the project was scrapped.

The oil burning Big Boys weren't successful which is why none survived though #4005, was an oil convert that was reverted back to coal. Apparently the burner system they used was insufficient to produce the maximum heat required. It should be noted that some have debated other burner designs could have been satisfactory. One of those things that will have to remain a debate among historians.

German spy reports that the Americans had giant steam engines that could pull large trains at high speeds were dismissed by the Nazi's as "impossible". That being said, many give the Big Boys a lot of credit for winning WW2 for being able to move large amounts of cargo for the war effort.

As for the war effort, there are unconfirmed reports that a Big Boy pulling troop transport trailers reached speeds of 88 mph.

The Big Boy was most efficient on level ground at speeds of 30-40 mph.

According to Union Pacific sources, one of the reasons the UP hasn't restored a Big Boy is the fact that in the entire UP system, only two railyards have the capability to turn the locomotive around.

ALCO (American Locomotive Company) was the contractor that built the Big Boys.

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Well now. I see I'm not the only that is into trains. Are any of you in the model train hobby? I was alway's more of one for the newer generation of diesel locomotives from about 1980 to current. Model manufactures have been putting some of the best detailed stuff out on the market the last few years. The detail is outstanding and is far cheaper than brass. I run HO scale (1/87 or 1:87) but I am looking into 1:8 scale which is what's called "live steam" but these are very expensive and you had better have some serious dough to get into that hobby. A single diesel locomotive can run you about $10,000 or more not including the land you have to have plus track, car's, tool's, help, etc.

I like running point to point operation's rather than just a continuous loop as I like to run prototypically. I have a couple of website's that those of you who would like to get into the hobby that contain's a lot of information and one of them will even leave your jaw dragging the floor because of the detail.

As for the Big Boy, it was a great success but to today's standard's locomotives that we have now put the Big Boy to shame with over 200,000 pound's of tractive effort ranging from 4,400hp to 6,000hp.
Locomotives no longer use DC current as they use AC current for "brushless" axle/traction motors. Another good thing that we have now that the steam locomotives didn't have was dynamic braking. It's baised pretty close to a jake brake on a truck except it envolves electricity instead of engine compression to save wear on brake shoes and add extra braking power.

If anyone want's these link's feel free to PM and I will gladly send them to you. These people are real friendly people and are very tight in a group.

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"I'm not a truck driver. I'm a non refrigerated load relocation engineer".