“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.
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Twenty-five Big Boys were built exclusively for Union Pacific Railroad, the first of which was delivered in 1941. Of the eight remaining Big Boys in existence, No.4014 is the only one operating today. The Big Boys were about 133 feet long and weigh 1.2 million pounds.
Twenty-five Big Boys were built exclusively for Union Pacific Railroad, the first of which was delivered in 1941. Of the eight remaining Big Boys in existence, No.4014 is the only one operating today. The Big Boys were about 133 feet long and weigh 1.2 million pounds.
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.
Union Pacific 4014 is a steam locomotive owned and operated by the Union Pacific (UP) as part of its heritage fleet. It is a four-cylinder simple articulated 4-8-8-4 Big Boy type built in 1941 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) at its Schenectady Locomotive Works.
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.
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.
The Centennials were the largest diesel-electric locomotives ever built. Actually comprising two engines on one frame, they delivered 6,600 horsepower. Designed and built exclusively for Union Pacific Railroad, the units were named in honor of the railroad's centennial anniversary celebration in 1969.