Big boy #4014 (2024)

FAQs

What's so special about Big Boy 4014? ›

4014 the first Big Boy to undergo a coal-to-oil conversion since No. 4005, which ran on oil from 1946 until it was converted back to coal in 1948 due to uneven heating in its large, single-burner firebox.

Running a diesel helper, usually at a lower throttle notch, can help slow fuel consumption on the steam locomotive. Example: Union Pacific Railroad's steam program revolves around system-wide tours with 4-8-4 No. 844 and 4-8-8-4 Big Boy No. 4014, which can last from a few days to a few months.

Engine & Tender: 132 ft. 9 7/8 in. Maximum Tractive Power: 135,375 lbs.

Big Boy 4014 steamed more than a million miles on its Cheyenne to Ogden route before being retired in 1961. The largest steam locomotive in the world just wrapped up a five-year renovation in Cheyenne, making 4014 the only Big Boy in operation today and one of only eight that still exist.

Twenty-five Big Boys were built exclusively for Union Pacific Railroad, the first of which was delivered in 1941. Of the eight remaining Big Boys in existence, No. 4014 is the only one operating today. The Big Boys were about 133 feet long and weigh 1.2 million pounds.

Union Pacific hasn't said how much the restoration cost, but Wrinn estimated at least $4 million based on similar restorations. The result will be one of just six to eight steam engines still operational on mainline U.S. railroad tracks.

The "Big Boys" were built for power. They did the work of three smaller engines, pulling 120-car, 3800 ton freight trains at forty miles per hour in the mountains of Utah and Wyoming. With power, though, comes weight - larger cylinders, pistons, drive rods, boiler and firebox.

Each one cost approximately $265,000 to build, or about $4.4 million in today's money. In the railroad world, the Big Boys were known as 4-8-8-4 articulated type locomotives.

The EMD DDA40X is a 6,600 hp (4,943 kW) D-D locomotive, built by EMD from 1969 to 1971 exclusively for the Union Pacific Railroad. It is the most powerful diesel-electric locomotive model ever built on a single frame, having two 16-645E3A diesel prime movers.

The 25 "Big Boys" were built to pull long, fast freight trains over the Wasatch Mountains of Utah and Sherman Hill in Wyoming. They served there until 1959 when the new diesel-electric locomotives took over.

How much did it cost to restore Big Boy 4014? ›

Estimated Cost of Train's Restoration: $4 Million. “It's a pretty big deal,” said Wrinn.

The Big Boy steam engines are still to this day the world's largest steam locomotive ever made.