Jim Wrinn was quoted in USA Today as estimating the cost to restore the 4014 at roughly $4 million. If I remember correctly, Stephen Lee was the engineer on the 844 trip.
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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.
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.
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.
During the very early days of steam locomotives, water stops were necessary every 7–10 miles (11–16 km) and consumed much travel time. With the introduction of tenders (a special car containing water and fuel), trains could run 100–150 miles (160–240 km) without a refill.
Many locomotives can last 30–40 years, depending on the maintenance done on them. Our GG1 Lasted 41 years, but many of the steam locomotives were retired early. So they had years left in them, but the company did not want to run steam anymore, so they were retired early.
For a fuel cost of $0.84 per liter of diesel ($3.17 per gallon) (AAR (2012b)), this results in an average running fuel cost of $185 per locomotive-hour.
Twenty-five Big Boy locomotives were built for Union Pacific to haul freight over the steep grade of the Wasatch Mountain Range in Utah during World War II. Eight were preserved after the locomotive was retired six decades ago, but only Big Boy No.4014 is still in operation.
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.
Steam locomotives are no longer used to transport passengers or products because electric and diesel locomotives are faster, more efficient, and easier to maintain. The locomotives that are still running are a piece of history dating back to the 1800's that really put into perspective just how far we've come!
Stations and towns along the line had large water tanks, high above the track, so trains could pull underneath and fill up. These water tanks were filled either by trains that carried extra water in special cars, or by long-distance underground pipelines.
This was somewhere around 5,000 pounds of coal per hour. A mechanical substitute for the fireman and shovel had to be found. The tasks that a stoker had to perform were complicated. It had to bring chunks of coal of various sized from the tender through a flexible joint to the engine and into a very hot firebox.
Therefore I say it was and is the largest steam engine that was ever created... There was a machine called the Allegheny type which I think was a 4-6-6-6 which some believe was actually more powerfull and heavier than the Big Boy.