When Union Pacific announced Wednesday that it will offer a limited number of public seats on the May 12 doubleheader of newly restored Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 and 4-8-4 No. 844 between Ogden, Utah, and Evanston, Wyo., the news was overwhelming: This is a totally unexpected first opportunity for anyone to ride behind the restored No. 4014 immediately after its completion.   But it’s even more than that. As big of a deal as the excursion announcement is, it’s still underse...

I meant to comment on UP’s May 2019 schedule for steam locomotives Nos. 844 and 4014, the day it came out. Instead, that was the day we were just ramping up things for Trains’ Skookum Last Dance in Oregon photo charter at the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad. I was literally standing in front of Polson Lumber 2-8-2 No. 2 in Tillamook, Ore., when word came out. A few minutes later, the engine left in a great cloud of steam. Radian afternoon sun was shining along the Pacific shores. An...

In part four of this look at the Big Boy locomotive, I made mention of something a little unusual in steam locomotive design: the notion of a second throttle. Well, that’s actually a joke. The Big Boys didn’t have two throttles. Before I explain, please take a moment to look at the accompanying photograph. The image is a detail portion of a cab backhead shot made by Alco’s company photographer in late August 1941. Readily visible in the photo is the vertical throttle lever of ...

Now that we have progressed to the point where the first 20 locomotives have been ordered I’d like to address a few interesting things having to do with the design and construction of these engines. One thing you may not realize, and which will form another of the “twenty five things you may not know about Big Boy” is the fact that steam locomotives were rarely made entirely by the locomotive builders, and certainly none in the modern steam era. In the case of the Big Boys mor...

Please let me open by stating that I am humbled and excited by the invitation to prepare and share this blog. The chance to do this now, as we anxiously await completion of the restoration to operation of Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014, a concept only dreamed of just a few short years ago, somehow brings a feeling of kinship. As if I’m somehow a part of the family so diligently working toward what was for decades a seemingly impossible, never-to-happen goal. I hope it proves half as much f...