' Big Boy' is traveling around the country ... was in Houston yesterday.
Few steam locomotives compare to Union Pacific's (UP) colossus 4-8-8-4 "
Big Boy." It was designed during the zenith of seam technology and earned celebrity status as soon as the first debuted in 1941. According to David P. Morgan's article, "
Big Boy" from the November, 1958 issue of
Trains Magazine, the locomotive was mentioned 521 times in newspapers within 45 different states! It was also highlighted in magazines and on television. The 4-8-8-4 wasn't an experiment; it was designed specifically to handle heavy freight trains, daily, through the Wasatch Mountains. It did so admirably for nearly two decades. This period also began UP's high horsepower era (which continued through the diesel age); an attempt to lower operating costs via massive, single unit locomotives. The
Big Boy's arrived in two batches from American Locomotive, the first 20 were delivered in 1941 and the final 5 three years later. The
4000's were retired in 1959 but a few remained stored into the early 1960's. Thankfully, eight of these magnificent beasts survive today. On May 2, 2019, after a three year restoration, Union Pacific brought #4014 back to life where she operates as part of the company's official heritage fleet.
https://www.american-rails.com/big.html