My friend and business colleague Anthony Hussak is an avid railroad fan, along with his brother Alex and their father, Stephen. He wrote recently to say, “We had the opportunity to witness history! The Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy steam engine rolled into Buffalo as part of America’s 250th anniversary.”
Oooh, very cool!
According to the Union Pacific website, twenty-five Big Boys were commissioned exclusively for the company, the first of which was delivered in 1941.
“The massive locomotives were built to haul heavy equipment in support of the war effort, normally operating between Ogden, Utah, and Cheyenne, Wyoming. No. 4014 was retired in Dec. 1961 after traveling 1,031,205 miles.
“Union Pacific reacquired it from the RailGiants Train Museum in Pomona, California in 2013, and relocated it back to Cheyenne, WY, for a multi-year restoration . . . No. 4014 was then returned to service in 2019 in time to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad.” (See all links below.)
To celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary, Union Pacific and the 4014 Big Boy embarked on a coast-to-coast tour – with the final eastern leg concluding in Philadelphia, PA on July 4.
If you’re on the east coast and reading this before July 4, you still have time to see it for yourself. Road trip!
Anthony’s report
“As part of its trip out east, the train came up through the Erie, PA area and then made a stop in Buffalo [where the Hussaks live]. What a treat it was to see the engine operating in person!
“On Tuesday the 9th, we drove down to North East PA (about 18 miles ENE of Erie, PA) to see the engine for the first time. We then chased it as it followed the Lake Erie shoreline into a rail yard in Buffalo. We saw it four separate times that day.”
“Thousands of people turned out and it was such an incredible experience. On Thursday, we chased the engine as it left Buffalo and headed towards the Southern Tier of NY.
We were fortunate to see it another five times that day at various crossings and took some incredible photos and videos.”
“The manufacturing that was done in the early 40s to build such a powerful steam engine is simply stunning . . . and all without computers and AI!”
Indeed!
American ingenuity at its finest
Manufactured by the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, New York, between 1941 and 1944, the aptly named Big Boy weighs 1.2 million pounds, with a 25,000 gallon water capacity and a 106” diameter boiler. During its working life, it carried 56,000 pounds of coal.
But what makes it a marvel of engineering and American know-how is its length – 133’ long versus 74’ for a standard locomotive.
Each Big Boy is a single locomotive. According to the Union Pacific website, “The frames of the Big Boys are ‘hinged,’ or articulated, to allow them to negotiate curves. They have a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, which means they have four wheels on the leading set of ‘pilot’ wheels to guide the engine; eight drivers on the first engine; another set of eight drivers on the second engine; and four wheels trailing that support the rear of the locomotive.”
You can see part of the 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement in this photo taken by Anthony. Amazing!
Thank you so much Anthony, for sharing these marvelous photos, and for adding to the story of 250 years of American manufacturing.
Links
Big Boy 4014 – Union Pacific company website
History of the Union Pacific Big Boy 4012 – National Park Service
Union Pacific Big Boy — Wikipedia
Start Imagining: Custom Notecards for Business Made in the USA – The Hussaks’ side business, a Keep It Made USA write up
Full Disclosure
I’m not paid nor asked to write about products or the companies that make them. All links in this piece are FREE — meaning, they’re not sponsored or paid for.
My mission is to keep manufacturing jobs stateside and this blog is my way of giving back. We like to think a “small” choice, such as purchasing something made in the US by American workers, won’t make a difference. It does.
