4014 restoration cost, but Wrinn estimated at least $4 million based on similar restorations.
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4014 in November 1941 at a cost of $265,174 and delivered it the following month to Union Pacific, where it was placed in revenue service. No. 4014 was part of the first group of 20 Big Boys, classified as 4884–1. Designed to haul 3,600-short-ton (3,214-long-ton; 3,266 t) freight trains over Utah's Wasatch Range, No.
The Big Boy No. 4014 steam locomotive rolled out of a Union Pacific restoration shop in Cheyenne for a big debut after five years of restoration. It then headed toward Utah as part of a yearlong tour to commemorate the Transcontinental Railroad's 150th anniversary.
“Big Boy” is the World's Largest Successful Steam LocomotiveBuilt in 1941 by the American Locomotive Company at a cost of $265,000.00 and with a total weight of over 600 tons, Number 4006 is one of 25 Big Boys.
Stood on its end, one would be the equivalent of a 13-story building. Each one cost approximately $265,000 to build, or about $4.4 million in today's money. In the railroad world, the Big Boys were known as 4-8-8-4 articulated type locomotives.
The Big Boys were built for power. They did the work of three smaller engines, pulling 120-car, 3800 ton freight trains at forty miles per hour in the mountains of Utah and Wyoming. With power, though, comes weight - larger cylinders, pistons, drive rods, boiler and firebox.
A group of Union Pacific employees volunteered their services to restore the locomotive to running condition in 1981. In 2022, Union Pacific donated Challenger No.3985 to the non-profit Railroading Heritage of Midwest America (RRHMA) who plans to restore it back to operating condition.
Its girth requires a 4-8-8-4 wheel configuration to keep it rock-steady on the rails. With a puny 7,000 horsepower, Big Boys had a maximum tractive power of 135,375 pounds, all to pull huge loads of freight across steep grades in Utah's Wasatch Mountains and the Rockies.
If the diesel engine referenced is the modern diesel electric locomotive that has been accompanying 4014 in its travels, my understanding is that Union Pacific utilizes it to assist with overall fuel efficiency and to provide regenerative braking. This helps with operating costs and provides a better level of safety.
The class J-1 and J-3a Hudsons of 1927 had 79 inch drivers. They were fast, powerful, very well proportioned, good looking, and may have been the best known steam locomotive. Honorable Mentions: CMStP&P Class F7.
All of the Big Boys were coal-burning, stoker-fired, designed to run 7,000 horsepower at 70 miles per hour. They have been lauded in the industry as the highest horsepower, heaviest, and longest steam locomotives ever built.
The Big Boy has the longest engine body of any reciprocating steam locomotive, longer than two 40-foot buses. They were also the heaviest reciprocating steam locomotives ever built; the combined weight of the 772,250 lb (350,290 kg) engine and 436,500 lb (198,000 kg) tender outweighed a Boeing 747.