Union Pacific “Big Boy” #4014
UP 4014 is an 4-8-8-4 series locomotive that has been restored to operational condition by Union Pacific, it is currently the only operational 4-8-8-4 out of eight surviving examples from the original twenty-five built.
The 4-8-8-4 Big Boys were made by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, NY at the request of the Union Pacific Railroad to haul freight over the Wasatch mountains between Ogden, Utah and Green River, Wyoming. In the late 1940s, they were reassigned to Cheyenne, Wyoming where they hauled wartime freight and troop cars over Sherman Hill to Laramie, Wyoming.
The 4-8-8-4 “Big Boy” series locomotive along with its tender weighed about 604 tons and measured more than 132 feet in length. It had a maximum power capacity of more than 6,000 horsepower and could haul a 3,600-ton train unassisted up the Wasatch Mountain grade and had an operational speed to 80 MPH.
The 4-8-8-4 series was the largest expansion steam locomotive ever built.
The last Big Boy operated on July 21, 1959. Most were stored operational until 1961.
