Union Pacific Big Boy
| Union Pacific Big Boy | |
|---|---|
|
Big Boy 4014 on display in Pomona, California prior to its restoration | |
| Type and origin | |
| Reference:[1] | |
| Power type | Steam |
| Builder | American Locomotive Company |
| Build date | 1941 (20), 1944 (5) |
| Total produced | 25 |
| Specifications | |
| Configuration | 4-8-8-4 |
| UIC classification | (2′D)D2′ h4 |
| Gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Leading wheel diameter | 36 in (914 mm) |
| Driver diameter | 68 in (1,727 mm) |
| Trailing wheel diameter | 42 in (1,067 mm) |
| Wheelbase | 72 ft 5.5 in (22.09 m) |
| Length |
Locomotive: 85 ft 3.4 in (25.99 m) Overall: 132 ft 9 1⁄4 in (40.47 m) |
| Width | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Height | 16 ft 2 1⁄2 in (4.94 m) |
| Weight on drivers | 540,000 lb (244,939.9 kilograms) |
| Locomotive weight | 762,000 lb (345,637.4 kilograms) |
| Tender weight | 342,200 lb (155,219.3 kilograms) (2/3 load) |
| Locomotive and tender combined weight | 1,250,000 lb (566,990.5 kilograms) |
| Fuel type | Coal |
| Fuel capacity | 28 short tons (25.4 t; 25.0 long tons) |
| Water capacity | 25,000 US gal (95,000 l; 21,000 imp gal) |
| Boiler | 95 in (2,400 mm) |
| Boiler pressure | 300 lbf/in2 (2.1 MPa) |
| Firegrate area | 150 sq ft (14 m2) |
| Heating surface: – Tubes and flues | 5,035 sq ft (468 m2) |
| – Firebox | 720 sq ft (67 m2) |
| – Total | 5,735 sq ft (533 m2) |
| Superheater type | Type A |
| Superheater area | 2,043 sq ft (190 m2) |
| Cylinders | 4 |
| Cylinder size | 23.75 in × 32 in (603 mm × 813 mm) |
| Performance figures | |
| Maximum speed | 80 mph (130 km/h)[2] |
| Tractive effort | 135,375 lbf (602.18 kN) |
| Factor of adhesion | 4.11 |
| Career | |
| Operator(s) | Union Pacific Railroad |
| Class |
4000–4019: 4884-1 4020–4024: 4884-2 |
| Last run | July 21, 1959 |
| Preserved | 4004, 4005, 4006, 4012, 4014, 4017, 4018, 4023 |
| Disposition |
17 scrapped, seven on display at different places, one (4014) undergoing restoration. 4014 was reacquired by Union Pacific and is being restored to operating condition. |
Big Boy is the popular name of the American Locomotive Company 4000-class 4-8-8-4 articulated, coal-fired, steam locomotives manufactured between 1941 and 1944 and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad until 1959.
The Big Boy fleet of twenty five locomotives were used primarily in the Wyoming Division to haul freight over the Wasatch mountains between Green River, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah. They were the only locomotives to use a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement consisting of a four-wheel leading truck for stability entering curves, two sets of eight driving wheels, and a four-wheel trailing truck to support the large firebox.
According to Union Pacific senior manager of Heritage Operations Ed Dickens Jr., the 4-8-8-4 series originally was to have been called "Wasatch". One day while one of the engines was being built an unknown worker scrawled "Big Boy" in chalk on its front. With that, the legendary name was born, and has stuck ever since.[2]
Design
Union Pacific introduced the Challenger-type (4-6-6-4) locomotives in 1936 on its main line over the Wasatch Range between Green River, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah. For most of the route, the maximum grade is 0.82% in either direction, but the climb eastward from Ogden, Utah into the Wasatch Range reached 1.14%. Hauling a 3,600-short-ton (3,300 t; 3,200-long-ton) freight train demanded doubleheading and helper operations, and adding and removing helper engines slowed operations.
To eliminate the need for doubleheading and helper operations, Union Pacific decided to design a new locomotive. For such a locomotive to be worthwhile, it would have to be faster and more powerful than slower locomotives like earlier compound 2-8-8-0s that UP tried after World War I. To avoid locomotive changes, the new class would need to pull long trains at a sustained speed of 60 miles per hour (100 km/h) once past mountain grades. In fact, it was designed so that it could travel smoothly and safely at 80 miles per hour (130 km/h) — even though it was not intended to be used that fast.[2]
Led by mechanic Otto Jabelmann, the Union Pacific Railroad's design team worked with the American Locomotive Company to re-examine their Challenger locomotives. The team found that Union Pacific's goals could be achieved by enlarging its firebox to approximately 235 by 96 inches (5.97 m × 2.44 m) (about 155 sq ft or 14.4 m2), lengthening the boiler, adding four driving wheels and reducing the size of the driving wheels from 69 to 68 in (1,753 to 1,727 mm) on a new engine.
The Big Boys are articulated, like the Mallet locomotive design. They were built with a wide margin of reliability and safety, and normally operated well below 60 miles per hour (100 km/h) in freight service. Peak horsepower was reached at about 35 mph (56 km/h); optimal tractive effort, at about 10 mph (16 km/h).
Without the tender, the Big Boy had the longest engine body of any reciprocating steam locomotive.
Manufacturing
The American Locomotive Company manufactured 25 Big Boy locomotives for Union Pacific; two groups of ten in 1941 and one group of five in 1944.
Operation
The Big Boy locomotives had large grates to burn the low-quality bituminous coal sourced from Union Pacific-owned mines in Wyoming.
As an experiment, Locomotive 4005 was converted to burn oil; unlike a similar effort with the Challengers, it failed due to uneven heating in the Big Boy' large, single-burner firebox.
Postwar increases in the price of both coal and labor and the efficiency of diesel-electric motive power foretold a limited life for the Big Boys, but they were among the last steam locomotives taken out of service. Towards the end of their career, the Big Boys could still pull more than their rated tonnage of 6,573 tons (6,573 t). The Big Boys' ratings were increased several times until they regularly pulled 8,727 short tons (7,917 t) over the Wasatch range.
The last revenue train hauled by a Big Boy ended its run early in the morning on July 21, 1959. Most were stored operational until 1961, and four remained in operational condition at Green River, Wyoming until 1962. Their duties were assumed by diesel locomotives and gas turbine-electric locomotives.
Preservation
Of the 25 Big Boy locomotives manufactured, eight remain. Seven of the eight surviving Big Boys are on static display. One, number 4014, is undergoing a restoration for excursion service which includes conversion to No. 5 oil firing. Five are displayed outdoors without protection from the elements; 4005 and 4017 are displayed indoors. The remaining Big Boy locomotives are located throughout the United States:
- 4004: Holliday Park, Cheyenne, Wyoming 41°08′12.30″N 104°47′59.4″W / 41.1367500°N 104.799833°W
- 4005: Forney Transportation Museum, Denver, Colorado 39°46′37.38″N 104°58′13.8″W / 39.7770500°N 104.970500°W The Forney Transportation Museum in Denver moved 4005 to a renovated building in January 2001.
- 4006: Museum of Transportation, St. Louis, Missouri 38°34′19.73″N 090°27′40.0″W / 38.5721472°N 90.461111°W
- 4012: Steamtown National Historic Site, Scranton, Pennsylvania 41°24′26.96″N 075°40′10.8″W / 41.4074889°N 75.669667°W – Built in November 1941, Union Pacific retired 4012 in 1962. 4012 was on display at Steamtown, USA in Bellows Falls, Vermont until 1984 when it was moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania[3] 4012 is stored outdoors since the Steamtown turntable and roundhouse are inadequate for 4012's size.[3] The Steamtown SHS recommended that due to its good condition, No. 4012 could be feasibly restored to working order but only after determining if surrounding "track, switches, culverts, trestles, bridges, wyes, turntables, and other facilities that would have to carry her [could] bear her great weight".[3][4]
- 4014: Union Pacific Railroad, Cheyenne, Wyoming 34°05′0.456″N 117°46′11.38″W / 34.08346000°N 117.7698278°W - Reacquired and moved from its static display in Fairplex Rail Giants Museum in Pomona California to be restored by the Union Pacific Railroad to full steam operation (see below). Union Pacific Railroad purchased 4014 in 2013 and it will be restored to operating condition and then operated in excursion service.
- 4017: National Railroad Museum, Green Bay, Wisconsin 44°29′02.70″N 088°02′55.1″W / 44.4840833°N 88.048639°W No. 4017 now resides in a climate-controlled shed.
- 4018: Museum of the American Railroad, Frisco, Texas 33°08′40″N 96°50′00″W / 33.144513°N 96.833444°W 4018 was relocated by rail to a new location north of Dallas in Frisco, Texas on August 25, 2013.
- 4023: Kenefick Park, Omaha, Nebraska 41°13′55.7″N 095°55′4.1″W / 41.232139°N 95.917806°W Number 4023 is the only known Big Boy to move by highway since preservation, to Kenefick Park in Omaha.
Restoration of 4014
In late 2012, Union Pacific announced that it was interested in acquiring a Big Boy to be restored and then operated in excursion service.[2][5]
On July 23, 2013 Union Pacific announced that it has acquired 4014 from The Southern California Chapter of The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society in Pomona, California. Union Pacific began inspecting and preparing to move 4014 from Pomona to Union Pacific's Steam Shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming in August 2013. Movement commenced on 14 November.
As of November 12, 2013 U.P. Heritage Fleet Operations director Ed Dickens reported via his official YouTube channel that UP4014 was prepared for the move, and track laying was in progress. Several issues delayed the connection of the display track to the temporary rails. Crews used creative and classic methods, including plywood supports and "dutchman compromise joints"[upper-alpha 1] to solve uneven surfaces, a 1% grade, and several difficult curves.
On the morning of January 26, 2014, UPP 4014 (recently re-numbered on the U.P. active locomotive roster so as to avoid confusion with UP 4014, a diesel locomotive) was pulled out of the Los Angeles County Fairplex by a 4,300 horsepower Union Pacific diesel locomotive. The Big Boy left UP's West Colton yard on its journey to Cheyenne, Wyoming on April 28, 2014 and arrived in Cheyenne on May 8, 2014.[6]
Now back in Cheyenne, Union Pacific's Heritage Fleet Operations team is restoring 4014 to operating condition, which is expected to take three to five years.[7] As part of the restoration process, Union Pacific will convert 4014 from coal to No. 5 oil firing.[8]
In popular culture
In the Anime "The Galaxy Railways" No. 8001 "Big One" of Sirius Platoon is based on a Big Boy. In the first season, the only modifications was an extra headlamp in front of the smokestack and a numberplate reading "G8001" on the smokebox door, but during the later seasons, it was given smoke deflectors and a larger streamlined cowcatcher.
In Trainz 2006, there was a mod that was called the "Huge Boy" in a 4-8-8-8-4 Configuration but the actual engine was never made.
In the 50s, it was featured in the "Last of the Giants" steam documentary.
Notes
- ↑ The Dutchman compromise joint is a variation of the simple bar joint. It is an offset or step joint used for joining two rails of different sizes, weights or shapes "Other Track Material and Accessories" (PDF). L.B. Foster. Retrieved April 15, 2014. "Compromise Joints - tr067080075 - Army Transportation". tpub.com. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
References
Citations
- ↑ Peck, Combes & Augur 1950, pp. 501,519,523,545.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Elliott, Dan (April 15, 2014). "Huge Big Boy steam locomotive coming back to life". Yahoo! News. Associated Press. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Chappell, Gordon. "Union Pacific No. 4012". Steam Over Scranton: Special History Study, American Steam Locomotives. National Park Service. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
- ↑ "Steamtown's Locomotives and Cars". Steamtown National Historic Site. National Park Service. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
- ↑ "Union Pacific Looking To Restore Big Boy for Excursion Service". Trains (Kalmbach Publishing Co.). 2012-12-07. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
- ↑ http://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/steam/locomotives/4014/index.shtml
- ↑ "Union Pacific Railroad Acquires Big Boy Locomotive No. 4014" (Press release). Union Pacific Railroad Company. 2013-07-23. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
- ↑ "Big Boy No. 4014". Union Pacific Railroad Company. 2012. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
References
- Peck, C. B.; Combes, C. L. et al., eds. (1950). 1950-52 Locomotive Cyclopedia of American Practice (Fourteenth ed.). New York: Simmons-Boardman Publishing. ASIN B009AF0VKU.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Union Pacific Big Boy. |
- The UP 4014 Project YouTube playlist Videos charting the progress of the restoration of 4014
- Union Pacific Big Boys
- Big Boy main page
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