For the steam buffs — UP Big Boy to be restored

[kiwithrottlejockey]

[shorty]

Nowt to do with a Big Boy but a pretty interesting train never the less

[John L]

That sleeper replacing train is fascinating. There's one based around our way but I've never seen how it works.

Whatever happened to 500 Irish navvies with shovels and sledgehammers......

[shorty]

Continuing with the theme if you are fascinated by steam engines and engineering you may enjoy this from pre-OSH days,not a pair of safety glasses, hard hats or steel capped shoes in sight! (no high viz jackets either, hooray!!)
Just lots of damned hard work!

[Radialicious]

I really enjoy those old movies. It's great to watch those big components being produced by brute force and dangerous machinery. The machine tools used to carry out the finishing are pretty impressive too.
I agree with Shorty about the personal safety equipment that is compulsory these days. Sure there is a time and place where you'd be mad not to use or wear some or all of todays hard/hi vis/protective gear but I think it goes overboard sometimes. I remember a year after our killer earthquake, a ceremony was held in Cathedral Square. The Anglican Church boys choir was on TV having a bit of a screech in front of what was left of the Cathedral. They were all wearing safety glasses, hard hats and Hi-Viz vests as they sang their song. To me, common sense had gone out the window on that one...
On a steam note, I was delighted this morning to be woken by the whistle of Ja1240 as she cruised through Christchurch on an excursion. Many of us remember her as the loco that Pete Coleman saved from the scrapman in 1971. The story of how he got that loco from the Blenheim station up onto his elevated property behind Omaka is legendary. I saw her in 1991 before Pete passed away and I'm off to see her again tomorrow morning before she heads off to Greymouth for a couple of days.

[kiwithrottlejockey]

[kiwithrottlejockey]

Here are a couple of interesting photographs taken in January 1962 showing Big Boy 4014 at Basset, California, enroute to the Los Angeles County Fairground where it was put on display until the present day....






Last week, on Tuesday 5th November, Big Boy 4014 was towed tender-first by a Union Pacific engineering crew using a front-end loader a distance of 150 feet from its resting place of the past 51 years onto a temporary section of panel track. The locomotive will be remaining on its new temporary resting place until near the end of November while further engineering work and inspections are carried out, then it will be shifted a further 5,000 feet to the vicinity of a Los Angeles Metrolink line. The move will be undertaken by laying further temporary track in front of the Big Boy and moving it onto that, then pulling up the tracksets behind it and shifting those to in front of the locomotive. Bit by bit, it will be moved those 5,000 feet out of the Los Angeles County Fairground to the nearest mainline. Then, the Metrolink line will be closed for one day during the first weekend in December and the track will be broken and slewed onto the temporary panel track the Big Boy is resting on, then the locomotive will be shifted onto the Metrolink mainline and moved to the nearby Metrolink yard at Basset (where the two photographs above were taken back in January 1962). After a couple of days carrying out further engineering work on the locomotive, it will be uplifted by a Union Pacific diesel-electric locomotive and hauled the 40 miles to Union Pacific's West Colton yard for final preparation for the long haul over Cajon Pass and on to the big Union Pacific workshops at Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is planned to complete the move to Cheyenne by Christmas. And then the REAL work will begin on restoring Big Boy 4014 back to being a working locomotive.

Here are three photographs taken during and after the short move on Tuesday last week....

[kiwithrottlejockey]

From the Los Angeles Times....

A railroad dinosaur is coming back to life

Steam engine No.4014, nicknamed Big Boy, was retired in 1959 but
is being moved from Pomona to be restored as a traveling museum.

By BOB POOL | 9:11PM PST - Friday, November 15, 2013


Elliott Rothman, Mayor of Pomona, tips his hat as he stands on Union Pacific's Big Boy No.4014 at the Fairplex on November 14th, 2013 in Pomona.
— Photo: Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times.

IT'S BEEN sitting around in Pomona for nearly 53 years, but now the beast they call Big Boy is making tracks for Wyoming.

Officially known as Union Pacific steam engine No.4014, the locomotive has been parked at the RailGiants Train Museum in Pomona since 1962, a displaced piece of the past.

Now Union Pacific has reacquired the behemoth and has begun inching Big Boy No.4014 toward mainline rail tracks that will take it to Cheyenne, where it will be rebuilt and begin life afresh as a rolling museum on steel wheels.

"It's been sitting here in sort of a railroad Jurassic Park," said Ed Dickens, senior manager of Union Pacific's Heritage Operations. "We're bringing T. Rex back to life."

Big Boy was built in 1941, one of 25 huge steam engines used to pull 3,600-ton freight trains over the Wasatch Mountains between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming. After traveling more than 1 million miles, it was retired in 1959, when diesel engines replaced steam. Eventually, Big Boy was handed over to the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society's Southern California chapter, which oversees the RailGiants collection.

To get the old locomotive rolling again, Union Pacific crews are laying 4,500 feet of temporary track so it can cross the Fairplex parking lot and reach a nearby Metrolink line. Once it gets to Colton, it will be shuttled onto Union Pacific tracks and start heading east after being converted from burning coal to using fuel oil.

Moving the engine and restoring it are a huge deal in every sense, according to those involved with the project.

To keep the 600-ton locomotive from crushing the asphalt parking lot, workers are placing layers of plywood beneath 40-foot sections of rails and ties. The 2-ton track panels are moved by forklift and truck and leapfrog ahead of Big Boy as it is slowly towed across the lot by a tractor.

At the Metrolink tracks at the northern edge of the fairgrounds, Big Boy will be pulled by a diesel engine that also bears the old steam engine's original 4014 number. A second diesel engine will be hooked behind the steam engine to serve as a brake.

Dickens declined to speculate on what Big Boy's restoration will cost. But he's confident that Union Pacific has experts who will get it running again.

"These engines are our life," Dickens said. "I have the blueprints for this one on my smartphone."

It will take about five years to refurbish Big Boy in what Dickens calls a "frame-up restoration." After that, it will tour the country on his company's 35,000 miles of track, which connects about 7,000 cities.

Those affiliated with the rail historical society's RailGiants Museum say they are sorry to see Big Boy go. But they will still have eight other locomotives and four cars on outdoor display at the Fairplex, said Rob Shatsnider, chairman of the society's Southern California chapter.

"The whole motive of our chapter is railway preservation," Shatsnider said. "Now, the entire country will see him."

Pomona Mayor Elliott Rothman said he also will miss Big Boy. Twenty years ago, he enjoyed bringing his 6-year-old son Jason to the fairgrounds to sound the engine's horn.

Other young rail fans also come to the fairgrounds to watch the locomotive's slow move out of Pomona. High school student Shelly Hunter, 17, has been a member of the locomotive historical society for four years and has come to the Los Angeles County Fair to admire Big Boy for as long as she can remember.

As Big Boy rolls the over the makeshift rails that will take it to a new life, "I'll be keeping close track," Shelly promised.

• Photograph gallery: Union Pacific Bigboy steam engine No. 4014

www.latimes.com/local/la-me-big-boy-20131116,0,6608450.story

[TS]

She has reached the fence, looking good.

[kiwithrottlejockey]

From the Los Angeles Times....

Big Boy No.4014 steam engine leaving Southern California, may disrupt rail service

By MArY FORGIONE | 8:15AM PST - Wednesday, January 22, 2014


Big Boy No.4014 will be leaving its longtime home in
Pomona on Sunday morning. — Photo: Metrolink.

RAIL FANS and train lovers will have a chance to say goodbye to Big Boy No.4014, one of the biggest steam locomotives ever built, when it hits the rails early Sunday for the first time in more than half a century.

Modern locomotives will tow the vintage train as it begins the journey from the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Big Boy, which earned its name as a freight-hauling giant at 1.2-million pounds, will begin its more than 1,200-mile journey to Union Pacific's Heritage Fleet Operations in Cheyenne. The plan is to stop at the Covina Metrolink Station at 600 North Citrus Avenue from 7 to 8 a.m. Sunday where visitors can snap photos.

Fans will have another opportunity to see the train before it chugs out of state. Big Boy will be on display from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. February 1st and 2nd; and February 8th and 9th at the Union Pacific site referred to as the Colton rail yard at 19100 Slover Avenue in Bloomington.

The train retired in 1959 and had been on display at the RailGiants Train Museum at the fairgrounds before being sold to Union Pacific Railroad. The railroad plans to take it to Wyoming and restore it to running condition.

The only hitch in all this: The initial journey from Pomona is on Metrolink tracks, which means disruptions in commuter rail service between Los Angeles and San Bernardino. Metrolink says the last two trains on Saturday night and the first four trains on Sunday morning will be affected. Metrolink plans to resume regular service at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.


Benjamin Garza, 9, of Calabasas sits inside the cab of Union Pacific's Big Boy No.4014 at the Fairplex on November 14th, 2013 in Pomona.
Number 4014 is one of 25 Big Boy locomotives built exclusively for Union Pacific Railroad. Numbers 4000 through 4019 were built in 1941.
With a 4-8-8-4 wheel arraignment, they were the largest steam locomotives ever built. — Photo: Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times.


Steve Brown, 69, from Glendora stands next to the Union Pacific's Big Boy No.4014 at the Fairplex in Pomona on November 15th, 2014. Big Boy
No.4014 is commencing its second phase of its journey from the Fairplex in Pomona to Cheyenne, Wyoming. The 1,260-mile trek began with
Big Boy No. 4014, which weighs 1.2 million pounds, moving across the fairgrounds parking lot on a temporary track installed specifically for
the move. It marks Big Boy No.4014 first move in more than two decades from its home at the RailGiants Train Museum. It will take until
mid-February, 2014 to make the journey to Union Pacifics Heritage Fleet Operations headquarters in Cheyenne (at a speed of 20 mph)
where the restoration of Big Boy No.4014 will take 5 years. — Photo: Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times.

www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-rail-big-boy-steam-engine-20140121,0,5046319.story

[kiwithrottlejockey]

from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin....

Big Boy locomotive leaving Fairplex

By MONICA RODRIGUEZ | 10:47PM PST - Friday, January 24, 2014


Union Pacific’s Big Boy No.4014, a 1.2 million pound, 132-foot long steam locomotive, is being prepared to be moved off the Fairplex property
to Wyoming for restoration. — Photo: Frank Perez.

AFTER weeks of preparations, Union Pacific’s massive Big Boy steam locomotive, will leave Fairplex on Sunday and embark on the next leg of a multi-phase move ending later this year when it reaches Wyoming where it will undergo restoration.

The 1.2-million-pound Union Pacific No.4014 will be moved off the Fairplex property early Sunday morning but work will begin this evening.

It is one of 25 Big Boy steam locomotives built in Pennsylvania for the railroad company and put into service in 1941, said Aaron Hunt, a UP spokesman.

Before being taken out of service in 1959, the locomotive hauled freight over the Wasatch Mountains between Ogden, Utah and Green River, Wyoming.

No.4014 became part of the Rail Giants train museum at Fairplex in 1962, but the UP wanted it back to restore and put back into service for nostalgia trips.

At the Rail Giants, Big Boy has been cared for by members of the Southern California chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society.

“Most of us are sad but also excited,” said Steve McFerson, the society’s chapter secretary.

Returning Big Boy to Union Pacific will allow many more people to enjoy the locomotive.

“It’s something a lot of people are going to be able to see, not as a static display like we have,” he said.

Members of the society could describe what Big Boy was like when it was in service but once restored people will be able to see it rolling on tracks.

“Everyone expects it to be spectacular,” he said.

Society members are inviting train enthusiasts to Fairplex after 9 p.m. tonight and see the final preparations necessary to move Big Boy. To enter the Fairplex use Gate 15 on Arrow Highway. Society members will be present to talk about Big Boy and answer questions.

Two modern diesel electric locomotives will accompany Big Boy on the more than 50-mile trip to Colton.


Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 will begin a journey today that will ultimately end in Wyomimg. On Sunday morning, Big Boy will be on display
at Covina’s Metro station. — Photo: Frank Perez.

Replacing Big Boy at Fairplex will be new pieces of UP equipment — a modern diesel locomotive No.3105, a caboose and a boxcar. They will become part of the Rail Giants collection.

Big Boy will leave Fairplex on Metrolink tracks to the Covina Metrolink station, 600 North Citrus Avenue, where it will be on display for an hour starting at 7 a.m. Sunday, Hunt said.

At 8 a.m. it will be switched to Union Pacific tracks en route to the company’s Colton yard about 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Train enthusiasts will be able to see the train from Metrolink stations’ platforms.

Big Boy will be available for viewing in Colton from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. on February 1st and 2nd; and on February 8th and 9th at the UP Bloomington entrance at 19100 Slover Avenue.

The locomotive will be at Colton until March or April when it will continue its trek to Cheyenne, Wyoming for restoration, Hunt said.

While the Big Boy is in Colton “we’re just going to go through it with a fine tooth comb to make sure it will roll properly,” Hunt said.

The move to Colton will affect Metrolink service on the San Bernardino Line Saturday night and Sunday morning, according to a Metrolink statement.

Eastbound passengers taking trains 378 Saturday evening and the 354 and 356 Sunday morning will be bused between Los Angeles Union Station and San Bernardino. Buses will make all of the trains’ stops.

Westbound train 379 on Saturday night and the 351 and 357 Sunday morning will operate between the San Bernardino and the Montclair stations but passengers will be bused to the remaining stops.

Regular rail service will resume at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.

www.dailybulletin.com/social-affairs/20140124/big-boy-locomotive-leaving-fairplex

[komata]

kiwiTJ

Thanks for the pic - the Big Boys are certainly unique and very photogenic. Almost as nice as a Ja...

And to answer Luther's October 2 question: 'Would you be as excited as this guy if you ever saw it?'

Of course, and if it was an Ellis and Burnand Price 16-wheeler, even more-so.  

Perhaps if it was, (for example), a P-51B going past at hight speed and low level, you would possibly react the same way?

I know an awful lot of aviation buffs who definitely would (including myself, although a P-40N-25 in RNZAF markings would always be better...)

Diffr'nt strokes for diffrn't folks I guess. . .

[kiwithrottlejockey]

Spectators view the historic locomotive, Union Pacific Big Boy No.4014 at Metrolink Station on Sunday, January 26th, 2014, in Covina, California.
The locomotive will head for Colton over the next several weeks before No.4014 departs for Union Pacific's Heritage Fleet Operations
headquarters in Cheyenne, Wyoming. — Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu/Associated Press.


Miguel Angel Warner, right, 4, of Los Angeles, asks Ed Dickens, left, senior manager of Heritage Operations about the historic locomotive,
Union Pacific Big Boy No.4014 at Metrolink Station on Sunday, January 26th, 2014, in Covina, California. The locomotive will head
for Colton over the next several weeks before No.4014 departs for Union Pacific's Heritage Fleet Operations headquarters
in Cheyenne, Wyoming. — Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu/Associated Press.

[kiwithrottlejockey]

from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune....

Gigantic, 73-year-old steam locomotive pays visit to Covina

By BRIAN DAY | 4:10PM PST - Sunday, January 26, 2014


The historic Big Boy locomotive, weighing 1,200,000 pounds, stopped at the Covina Metrolink Station on its way to Union Pacific’s Heritage Fleet Operations headquarters in Cheyenne, Wyoming. — Photo: James Carbone/San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

ONE OF the world’s largest steam locomotives stopped in Covina on Sunday as it embarked on a journey to be restored as a living piece of history.

Hundreds of train enthusiasts greeted and sent off the massive 1941-model steam engine with cheers as it made a one-hour stop at the Covina Metrolink Station to be admired by the public.

As part of a plan to have Union Pacific Railroad’s Big Boy No.4014 restored and returned to the railroads, the 1.2-million-pound behemoth was roused from its slumber at the RailGiants Train Museum on the grounds of the Fairplex in Pomona, where it has been stored for the past 52 years, Union Pacific officials said.

It was towed into the Covina Metrolink Station, 600 North Citrus Avenue, about 7 a.m. by a more conventional diesel-powered engine.

Covina Mayor Walt Allen III was invited to ride along in the conductor’s seat of the rear-facing train as it was pulled out of the station.

“I’m so glad it stopped in Covina,” the mayor said as he waved to visitors from the engine. “I’m so honored to be here,” he added.

Locomotive lovers of all ages took photos and videos of the 132-foot-long steam engine, which occasionally gave a blast from its whistle.

Between 1941 and 1959, Big Boy No.4014 pulled heavy freight, primarily between Ogden, Utah, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, according to Union Pacific. It traveled 1,031,205 miles during its career.


Mike Roth of Monrovia, and his son Collin, 3, visit the historic Big Boy locomotive at the Covina Metrolink Station on Sunday. — Photo: James Carbone/San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

“It was state of the art when it was built,” said lifelong train enthusiast and Railgiants Train Museum volunteer Jason Leach.

The fully loaded engine, carrying 28 tons of coal and 25,000 gallons of water, was capable of traveling about 150 miles before refueling on flat terrain, Leach said. On a grade, the mileage was lower.

“I’ve been around dozens of steam engines. This is one of my favorites,” he said.

As the heaviest steam engine of its type ever built, the sheer size of the locomotive draws interest, he said.

And while Leach said he was sad to see Big Boy No.4014 leaving its longtime home at the RailGiants Train Museum, he was also excited to see it restored back to working condition.

“I’m looking forward to when it comes back,” he said. “A lot of people are.”

In exchange for returning Big Boy No.4014, which Union Pacific donated to the museum in 1961, the railroad company provided the museum with a new exhibit to replace it, consisting of a diesel engine, a box car and a caboose, Valdez said.

The locomotive’s next stop is Bloomington, where it will undergo maintenance at Union Pacific Facility before being taken to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where it will be restored and converted from coal fuel to oil fuel in a process expected to take about five years, Union Pacific Spokeswoman Lupe Valdez said.

Once restored, Big Boy NO.4014 will join other locomotives already in Union Pacific’s steam program, traveling around the country for display and even transporting passengers, she said.

Of 25 Big Boy locomotives originally built, eight remain in existence. They are on display throughout the country, according to Union Pacific.

But No.4014 is an especially good candidate for restoration, as it has been stored in the mild climate of Southern California, and therefore is less rusted than its counterparts, said Ed Dickens, who heads Union Pacific’s steam program.

And as excited as the crowd was to see the historic locomotive in Covina, “Imagine what it’s going to look like when it’s running,” he said.

To accommodate the movement of the massive locomotive from Covina to Bloomington, Metrolink offered the use of its tracks. Some commuter train routes were cancelled, and buses used to transport riders instead.

Big Boy No.4014 will be on display the first two weekends of February in Bloomington before heading out of California, Vadez said.


People admire the massive Big Boy locomotive No.4014 as it stopped at the Covina Metrolink Station for an hour on Sunday
morning while on its way to Union Pacific's Heritage Fleet Operations headquarters in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
— Photo: James Carbone/San Gabriel Valley Tribune.


Chris Faulkner, of Covina, left, takes pictures of his children, Lauren, 6, and Aidan, 4, in front of the historic Big Boy locomotive
as it stopped at the Covina Metrolink Station for an hour on Sunday. — Photo: James Carbone/San Gabriel Valley Tribune.


The historic Big Boy locomotive while stopped at the Covina Metrolink Station for an hour on Sunday morning.
— Photo: James Carbone/San Gabriel Valley Tribune.


People take pictures of the mechanical workings of the historic Big Boy locomotive as it stopped at the Covina Metrolink Station
for an hour on Sunday morning. — Photo: James Carbone/San Gabriel Valley Tribune.


Driving wheels and siderods on the historic Big Boy locomotive while stopped at the Covina Metrolink Station for an hour
on Sunday morning. — Photo: James Carbone/San Gabriel Valley Tribune.


The smokebox of the historic Big Boy locomotive while stopped at the Covina Metrolink Station for an hour on Sunday
while enroute to Union Pacific's Heritage Fleet Operations headquarters in Cheyeene, Wyoming.
— Photo: James Carbone/San Gabriel Valley Tribune.


Mayor of Covina Walter Allen III, left, rides on the historic Big Boy locomotive, weighing 1,200,000 pounds, as it leaves
the Covina Metrolink Station for an hour on its way to Union Pacific's Heritage Fleet Operations headquarters
in Cheyenne, Wyoming. — Photo: James Carbone/San Gabriel Valley Tribune.


People admire the historic Big Boy locomotive as it stopped at the Covina Metrolink Station for an hour on Sunday morning.
— Photo: James Carbone/San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

• For more information, visit Union Pacific Steam.

www.sgvtribune.com/general-news/20140126/gigantic-73-year-old-steam-locomotive-pays-visit-to-covina

[kiwithrottlejockey]

[Ian Warren]

Great post, my Dad was right into his Choo-Choos, he was Christchurch Transport Board as it was known then, when he knew the engines were incoming we'd stop at the railway station and check NZRail large KA/KB class and they were impressive - honestly not sure the model.

I was talking to local computer fix up guy Austin here in Upper Riccarton, I mention there is a restored KA/KB in the shed just out the back of Hamilton Jet in Lunn's Rd and sorta use that for art theme, since Calder Electronics dose fixing for that company Hamilton Jet he gave me a person to contact to really get up and close again to a working choo, nothing quite as big as the above but if interested I'll hook into that contact and see what I get.

[kiwithrottlejockey]

[TS]

Big Boy 4014 finally sings after long restoration...