I freely admit I’m one of those people. When I see something that isn’t right, I cringe, and want to correct it immediately. I’ve written a few books, and get the big cringe when I see a mistake in one, since I can’t immediately correct it. Under Editor Jim Wrinn, Trains prints corrections each month in the magazine, which are mercifully short, because the staff and the authors work hard to get their facts right.
But I do have a big (or should I say Big Boy) cringe going on with the pending restoration of a 4-8-8-4 by Union Pacific. On numerous occasions I have heard references to the locomotive to be restored, Big Boy No. 4014, referred to as the “forty fourteen” and not “four thousand fourteen.”
Now granted, this is not a big deal. I’m sure people like using the “forty fourteen” reference because it’s shorter. But it’s not correct. Were Union Pacific Big Boys the “40 Class?” Heck no! Big Boys were the “4000 Class” following the successful 3900 Class Challengers. Steam era UP railroaders talked about the power of the 4000s, not the 40s.
But those railroaders are long gone now, and the generation around today has no connection to that era. But I grew up in the immediate post-Big Boy era of the 1960s and 1970s, and one of the first railroad books I purchased was William W. Kratville’s “Big Boy.” I made a point of seeing each of the surviving Big Boys in person, but never dreamed one would ever be restored to operation.
So I’m starting my crusade now, well before the engine runs and things get out of control. From now on, when referring to the soon to operate Big Boy, lets try to say four thousand fourteen, as the “father” of the Big Boys, Union Pacific Vice President of Research and Mechanical Design Otto Jabelmann intended.
For now, I’ll stay away from the argument about whether Milwaukee Road 4-6-4s should be called “Hudsons” or “Baltics!”
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