Any "Big Boys" restored and running that you know of?

[Anonymous]

I know UP has one or two Challengers running out of Wyoming, but I was wondering if there is an active running Big Boy somewhere?

[vsmith]

None, all survivors are inactive and on display and likely never will be restored again to active use. It simply would cost too much (est $2M last time some one considered it, 10 years ago), today the boiler would likely need to be replaced , theres virtually no where left equipped to handle a loco of its size anymore.

PS only ONE Challenger, #3985, is still active, the other UP active steam loco is 4-8-4 #844.

[tstage]

John,

I don't know where you are located in the US. If you want to see a Big Boy on display, there's one at Steamtown in Scranton, PA and one in Omaha, Nebraska. Here's a cool link about movin' UP #4023 that's definitely worth a see:

http://www.uphs.org/4023move.html

Tom

[bertodag]

Go to steamlocomotive.com. Tells you all you need.

[pcarrell]

This is a thread with a link to a Challenger on the move;

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=56525

[n2mopac]

There is also a Big Boy on display at the museum of transportation in St. Louis, MO (near Kirkwood). As for one running again, this has been debated here many times before, but I would say for a number of reasons (size, cost, weight, wear and tear on curved track, etc.) that we have seen our last running Big Boy.

Ron

[ezielinski]

There is also a Big Boy (#4017) on display at the Wisconsin Railway Museum in Green Bay.

[csmith9474]

Didn't the UP do their best to sabotage these things so they weren't operable? This reminds me of the BS that Age of Steam fell for with that proposed movie. They rolled the thing and that was about it.

[ezielinski]

Why wouldn't U.P want one of them restored to working order? Because they didn't do it first?

[Texas Zepher]

QUOTE: Originally posted by csmith9474
Didn't the UP do their best to sabotage these things so they weren't operable?

No, you are thinking of the NS. They took two working steam locomotives, took them out of service, and destroyed critical parts. If there was any place a Big Boy could run practically, the UP would restore one.

[Anonymous]

Last time I was in Cheyenne there was one fenced in a park east of downtown. I have slides of it if anyone wants to know the road number.

[csmith9474]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Texas Zepher

QUOTE: Originally posted by csmith9474
Didn't the UP do their best to sabotage these things so they weren't operable?

No, you are thinking of the NS. They took two working steam locomotives, took them out of service, and destroyed critical parts. If there was any place a Big Boy could run practically, the UP would restore one.

I remember the reason I thought that. The UP cut the piston rods of the one that went to Dallas. I have heard of railroads "sabotaging" locomotives beyond being operable before donating them to various organizations.

[waltersrails]

all i have seen is display.

[marknewton]

QUOTE: Originally posted by csmith9474

The UP cut the piston rods of the one that went to Dallas. I have heard of railroads "sabotaging" locomotives beyond being operable before donating them to various organizations.

A lot of roads cut piston rods to enable dead locomotives to be moved easily in train. Cutting them required less time and effort than removing the connecting rod. So sabotage may not have been the motive at all. At any rate, making a new piston rod is a fairly simple job, so cutting it would not prevent a loco from being returned to service.

All the best,

Mark.

[ezielinski]

The BigBoy on display in Omaha, NE had it's connecting rods cut so that it was easily moved from storage to it's final resting place. I to have heard that it was common practice to cut the rods.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by marknewton

QUOTE: Originally posted by csmith9474

The UP cut the piston rods of the one that went to Dallas. I have heard of railroads "sabotaging" locomotives beyond being operable before donating them to various organizations.

A lot of roads cut piston rods to enable dead locomotives to be moved easily in train. Cutting them required less time and effort than removing the connecting rod. So sabotage may not have been the motive at all. At any rate, making a new piston rod is a fairly simple job, so cutting it would not prevent a loco from being returned to service.

All the best,

Mark.

But accusing the Union Pacific of everything from kicking puppies to starting World War 3 is more fun.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JohnLat

I know UP has one or two Challengers running out of Wyoming, but I was wondering if there is an active running Big Boy somewhere?

UP has ONE challenger (3985) and ONE 4-8-4 (844). Both are based in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Any additional Union Pacific 4-8-4s, challengers, big boys or other assorted UP steam that hasn't been scraped is pretty much on display in a park or at a museum.

It is a hugh ru***o see either 844 or 3985 run by. I have had the opportunity to photograph both of them from time to time as they were steaming across Nebraska at speed. Usually they will use one of the two to pull a passenger special of some kind and them use it in revenue freight service on the way back home. It really looks wierd to see a steam giant from the 1940s on the point of a train of modern covered hoppers, gigantic box cars, and 85 foot auto racks. Lots of fun! Now that I live in Missouri I don't get the opportunity to see and photograph steam very often.

Knock the big yellow and grey all you want. Nobody else in this day and age has or does provides us with such a spectacular steam show!

Cheers

[claycts]

$4.5 million to make the one in Steam town run. That was the GUESS when I was there last year. the big problem is that no RR want that equipment running. NS Killed the "J" and the Y6a so they could never run again.

[sfrailfan]

ok, this has sparked my curiosity, why would a railroad UP, NS or any other go out of their way to 'kill' a steam loco? Is it because they have absorbed so much soot into their bodies over time? Seriously why wouldn't they want a historical society or museum to have an operational steam loco?

oh and by the way their are still some small operational steam locos in NJ at Allaire state Park. A 1-2 mile novelty ride.

Dan

[csmith9474]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dirtyd79

QUOTE: Originally posted by marknewton

QUOTE: Originally posted by csmith9474

The UP cut the piston rods of the one that went to Dallas. I have heard of railroads "sabotaging" locomotives beyond being operable before donating them to various organizations.

A lot of roads cut piston rods to enable dead locomotives to be moved easily in train. Cutting them required less time and effort than removing the connecting rod. So sabotage may not have been the motive at all. At any rate, making a new piston rod is a fairly simple job, so cutting it would not prevent a loco from being returned to service.

All the best,

Mark.

But accusing the Union Pacific of everything from kicking puppies to starting World War 3 is more fun.

I wasn't trying to say anything bad about the UP. I am not one of these hobbyists that dislikes any particular railroad "just because". I have heard that in the past that particular railroads would disable equipment for various reasons before donating it to different organizations.

[Anonymous]

I think there is a H-8 2-6-6-6 in Dearborn that still drips lube oil to this day.

The Challenger is probably the best we are going to see "In the wild" there are a number of steam tours running such as Strasburg PA and a few steam locomotives that are being worked on such as the Cotton Belt #819 in Pine Bluff AR. That one may never see rails again due to a variety of issues.

A recent visit to various Big Boys via the internet pretty much tells me that it will take a great deal of expertise, money and manpower to get one of them running again if at all.

So. Kaput.

[Anonymous]

Eight one to one Big Boys are in parks or Muesums, but none will every be used again for anything other than us looking at them and enjoying the view, unless the UP wants to spend about four mil in rebuilding one. READ ( won't happen)

IWe will have to watch the Trix and Key models run, and they do run well, but it is not the same.


4004 Cheyenne
4005 Denver
4006 St Louis
4012 Steamtown
4014 Los Angeles
4017 Green Bay
4018 Dallas
4023 Council Bluffs

[marknewton]

QUOTE: Originally posted by csmith9474

I wasn't trying to say anything bad about the UP. I am not one of these hobbyists that dislikes any particular railroad "just because". I have heard that in the past that particular railroads would disable equipment for various reasons before donating it to different organizations.

In many cases the railroads didn't have to disable locomotives before donating them. They were at the end of their economic lives, and were no longer serviceable. All that many of them got was a cosmetic restoration before being shoved into a park, and left to the elements.

And that's the other side of the coin. Even if a steam loco was donated serviceable, after forty or fifty years standing out in the weather it won't be any longer. I'm always surprised by the number of people I've encountered who don't understand that. They seem to believe that a loco that last ran in the 1950s should be easy to get running again, because the thing was nominally serviceable when it was withdrawn. They're dreaming...

Mark.

[BigRusty]

Who would work on them? The mechanics who serviced these humongous machines worked in huge shops that were designed for the purpose and have all been torn down. Most of the knowledgeable mechanics are either over 70 or dead. Its gone forever guys. Go see one at a museum, or visit the cab forward in the Sacramento Museum. It will blow you away.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: It simply would cost too much (est $2M last time some one considered it, 10 years ago

Grand Canyon Ry spent $1.5+ Million restoring 2-8-2 #4960. why can't UP restore a BIGBOY?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: 4023 Council Bluffs

is that CB, Iowa?

[tomikawaTT]

If it cost 1.5 megabucks to restore a fairly light 2-8-0 to service, then restoring a locomotive with twice the drivers and three times the complication would probably kick the feathers out of five huge before considering the tender. That 4-10 water-bottom pedestal tank would probably cost a million to restore all by itself.

Norfolk Southern didn't pull serviceable engines off the line. They pulled machines that needed parts that weren't available and would have cost the original price of the locomotive to manufacture. Then, once the decision was made to set them aside, the spares that were still available were sold for scrap. Some people might consider that sabotage. I'd call it a sound business decision.

[Anonymous]

I remember reading in the January 1995 MR article about how it took 4200 man hours of labor to restore Challenger #3985. Factor in the cost and such a project would be a monstrous undertaking. Plus if you could find a shop big enough to accomodate the monster locomotives it would need to share floor space and time with other projects on the shop floor. It would be nice to see a Big Boy up and running again even if only in corporate excursion trains but I just can't see it happening anytime soon.

[bsteel4065]

Come on, get real. Oh my, it would be wonderful to see a Big Boy run. Oh, my, oh yes. Just to hear it and see such a wondrous monster of that size stroll along the tracks would be fabulous. But money will only be invested if there is a return. Th emoney required to invest is enormous, th emoney to keep it running and maintatins is just as much, the support needs alone for a decent run would be so expensive. And the return? Sorry guys, I know we train freaks would love to see it, but the return on that outlay would never be realised. Yep, it's a shame, yep, I'd love to see it, but get real..... it ain't gonna happen.
Hey! I live in England and never got NEAR one!!
Shame.......................................

[CNW 6000]

That may be the ugly reality...I bet many railfans would chip some $$ in to see one running again to offset the costs. Until that happens I'm gonna pray I hit a Powerball Jackpot and then I'd donate the $$!