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Union Pacific Big Boy

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Union Pacific Big Boy
Big Boy 4014 on display in Pomona, California
Type and origin
Reference:[1]
Power typeSteam
BuilderAmerican Locomotive Company
Build date1941 (20), 1944 (5)
Total produced25
Specifications
Configuration:
​
 • Whyte4-8-8-4
 • UIC(2′D)D2′ h4
Gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Leading dia.36 in (914 mm)
Driver dia.68 in (1,727 mm)
Trailing dia.42 in (1,067 mm)
Wheelbase72 ft 5.5 in (22.09 m)
LengthLocomotive: 85 ft 3.4 in (25.99 m)
Overall: 132 ft 9+1⁄4 in (40.47 m)
Width11 ft (3.4 m)
Height16 ft 2+1⁄2 in (4.94 m)
Adhesive weight540,000 lb (244,939.9 kilograms)
Loco weight762,000 lb (345,637.4 kilograms)
Tender weight342,200 lb (155,219.3 kilograms) (2/3 load)
Total weight1,250,000 lb (566,990.5 kilograms)
Fuel typeCoal
Fuel capacity28 short tons (25.4 t; 25.0 long tons)
Water cap.25,000 US gal (95,000 L; 21,000 imp gal)
Firebox:​
 • Grate area150 sq ft (14 m2)
Boiler95 in (2,400 mm)
Boiler pressure300 lbf/in2 (2.1 MPa)
Heating surface:​
 • Firebox720 sq ft (67 m2)
 • Tubes and flues5,035 sq ft (468 m2)
 • Total surface5,735 sq ft (533 m2)
Superheater:
​
 • TypeType A
 • Heating area2,043 sq ft (190 m2)
Cylinders4
Cylinder size23.75 in × 32 in (603 mm × 813 mm)
Performance figures
Tractive effort135,375 lbf (602.18 kN)
Factor of adh.4.11
Career
Last runJuly 21, 1959
Preserved4004, 4005, 4006, 4012, 4014, 4017, 4018, 4023
DispositionEight preserved, 17 remainder scrapped, & Later Rescued: Rebuilt, & On Display at Different Places 4014 has been 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 totaled twenty five locomotives that were used primarily in the Wyoming Division to haul freight over the Wasatch range between Green River, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah. The Big Boy locomotives 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.

Design

Big Boy 4006 on display at the Museum of Transportation, outside St. Louis, Missouri

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.

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 making several changes to the Challenger design, including enlarging the 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).

The Big Boys are articulated, like the Mallet locomotive design. They were designed for stability at 60 miles per hour (100 km/h). They were built with a wide margin of reliability and safety, as they normally operated well below that speed 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 backhead (controls) of 4017 at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin

The Big Boy locomotives burned coal and 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, but unlike a similar effort with the Challengers, this was not successful, and the locomotive was changed back to coal. The cited reason for this failure was the use of a single burner, which created uneven heating in the Big Boy's large 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 3,600 tons (3,300 t). The Big Boys ratings were increased several times until they regularly pulled 4,450 short tons (4,040 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 twenty five Big Boy locomotives manufactured, eight remain. Seven are on static display and 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:

The Forney Transportation Museum in Denver moved 4005 to a renovated building in January 2001 and 4017 at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin now resides in a climate-controlled shed. Number 4023 is the only known Big Boy to move by highway since preservation, to Kenefick Park in Omaha. 4018 was relocated by rail to a new location north of Dallas in Frisco, Texas on August 25, 2013. Union Pacific Railroad purchased 4014 in 2013 and it will be restored to operating condition and then operated in excursion service.

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.[4]

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. In Cheyenne, Union Pacific's Heritage Fleet Operations team will restore 4014 to operating condition, which is expected to take three to five years.[5] As part of the restoration process, Union Pacific will convert 4014 from coal to No. 5 oil firing.[6]

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 have delayed the connection of the display track to the temporary rails. Crews are using creative and classic methods, including plywood supports and "dutchman compromise joints", 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 Fairplex property had been the Big Boy's home for 52 years where it was displayed on a track managed by The Southern California Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society. UPP 4014's ultimate destination for restoration to full operating condition is the Union Pacific Steam Shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming[7] under the guidance of Heritage Fleet Operations director Ed Dickens. The Big Boy will start the trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming in April.

References

  1. ^ Peck et al. 1950, pp. 501, 519, 523, 545.
  2. ^ a b c Chappell, Gordon. "Union Pacific No. 4012". Steam Over Scranton: Special History Study, American Steam Locomotives. National Park Service. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  3. ^ "Steamtown's Locomotives and Cars". Steamtown National Historic Site. National Park Service. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  4. ^ "Union Pacific Looking To Restore Big Boy for Excursion Service". Trains. Kalmbach Publishing Co. 2012-12-07. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
  5. ^ "Union Pacific Railroad Acquires Big Boy Locomotive No. 4014" (Press release). Union Pacific Railroad Company. 2013-07-23. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
  6. ^ "Big Boy No. 4014". Union Pacific Railroad Company. 2012. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  7. ^ "Big Boy steam locomotive begins trip from California to Wyoming; will return to the rails". 2014-01-26. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
  • Kratville, William W. (1972). Big Boy. Omaha, Nebraska, United States: Kratville Publications. ASIN B0006EA7RQ.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Lambert, Bill (Director, Producer); Meador, Jonathan (Writer) (2001). Union Pacific Big Boy Collection (DVD video). Classic Collector's Series. Pasadena, California: Pentrex. Item Number PCBB-DVD.
  • 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.
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