Union Pacific Big Boy 4014

[Calvin]

Until recently Union Pacific reacquired Big Boy steam train 4014 from Ponoma California and will be undergoing restoration to operating condition. It is currently in Colton, Ca and will begin the trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming sometime next month in the spring. Restoration expects to be completed around 2018-2019.

Train being moved from museum to the live track.

UP: Big Boy No. 4014

Union Pacific 4014, or UP 4014, is a four-cylinder articulated 4-8-8-4 Big Boy-type steam locomotive owned by Union Pacific Railroad. 4014 was retired from service on July 21, 1959 and donated to the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society in Pomona on December 1961. The locomotive reached its destination in January 1962 and has been on display since. Union Pacific 4014 is currently undergoing work ahead of its transfer to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where the locomotive will undergo extensive restoration work which is expected to return the engine to operational status. When 4014 officially returns to service, she will displace UP 3985 as the largest and heaviest operational steam locomotive in the world.

Union Pacific 4014 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ChicagoBlue2]

Until recently Union Pacific reacquired Big Boy steam train 4014 from Ponoma California and will be undergoing restoration to operating condition. It is currently in Colton, Ca and will begin the trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming sometime next month in the spring. Restoration expects to be completed around 2018-2019.

Train being moved from museum to the live track.

UP: Big Boy No. 4014



Union Pacific 4014 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are several YouTube videos of the move itself. I watched a few a couple weeks back. If I knew how to post them, I would. Oh, well.

 

[goodonya]

I am kind of curious about the no. 5 fuel oil they are planning on burning in this monster. From what what I could find on the net no.2 fuel is the usual. I wonder if this is going to be pulling tar sands crude oil from Canada to that Saudi Arabian refinery there in Texas to foul our air for their profit.

 

[Calvin]

UP's Challenger 3985 runs on fuel oil as well and only be used for excursions. When Big Boy gets restored to operating condition, they will use for excursions and not used very often. UP's steam runs few times a year... there is not many operating steam trains these days.

The Big Boy burned coal as fuel at the time... once restored will be using fuel oil and likely less pollution than coal fired.

I am kind of curious about the no. 5 fuel oil they are planning on burning in this monster. From what what I could find on the net no.2 fuel is the usual. I wonder if this is going to be pulling tar sands crude oil from Canada to that Saudi Arabian refinery there in Texas to foul our air for their profit.

 

[goodonya]

UP's Challenger 3985 runs on fuel oil as well and only be used for excursions. When Big Boy gets restored to operating condition, they will use for excursions and not used very often. UP's steam runs few times a year... there is not many operating steam trains these days.

The Big Boy burned coal as fuel at the time... once restored will be using fuel oil and likely less pollution than coal fired.

I tried to find no. 5 fuel oil on charts here on the internet and did not do well. No.6 is bunker fuel which is pure black raunch coming out of that stack and usually used out at sea. This will be a hugely expensive retrofit and Union Pacific is highly competitive. I am thinking this baby is going back into service. Here is a brief overview article about the tar sands heavy oil. The trains are working overtime hauling this stuff as we speak.
BP refinery rollover shows tar sands refineries need to clean up | Oil Change InternationalThe Price of Oil
Coal is ugly stuff but so is this as well. These companies are tricky buggers I am curious to see how they work all this.

 

[Calvin]

Yes, fuel oil is expensive which is why UP only runs the steams few times a year. Train today are diesel electric which is part of oil as well. They're much cheaper than using steam for maintenance as well as labor. Many things are dependent on oil.

UP is a huge major railroad industry and they have money to restore and pretty much can afford it.

I tried to find no. 5 fuel oil on charts here on the internet and did not do well. No.6 is bunker fuel which is pure black raunch coming out of that stack and usually used out at sea. This will be a hugely expensive retrofit and Union Pacific is highly competitive. I am thinking this baby is going back into service. Here is a brief overview article about the tar sands heavy oil. The trains are working overtime hauling this stuff as we speak.
BP refinery rollover shows tar sands refineries need to clean up | Oil Change InternationalThe Price of Oil
Coal is ugly stuff but so is this as well. These companies are tricky buggers I am curious to see how they work all this.

 

[goodonya]

I would like to see that thing chugging down the track for sure.

My Grandpa did a whole career as a telegrapher in a big roundhouse in Saginaw, Mi. Mind boggling high stress job. I don't pass up railroad museums and so on. I hope in my lifetime we will connect Alaska to Canada by train. We are putting in a 90 some mile extension right now up here towards that. Outrageously expensive. I was reading that no more new track is going in here in America. That is just not true we are still expanding rail up here in Alaska. Another track going in to a new port. It is across a giant swamp. So many millions of cubic feet of gravel the contracts were let to several contractors to each do a small section so there would be enough equipment available to do the job.

 

[metalangel]

UP runs on some of the longest and steepest lines in the North American continent so they needed those huge engines... they still do. Those heavier oils are like tar until they're heated to make them more like liquid, as I understand it.

Modern diesel-electric trains are very fuel efficient - even the 10 or 20 years difference between today's locos and the previous generation can mean more power and better fuel efficiency, combined! However, they don't compared to full electric trains, especially those which can use their regenerative brakes to return power to the grid. On hilly routes this can mean the train going downhill is powering the one going up!