Home»All Photographs»Witness a Steam Locomotive

UP No. 4014 is one of twenty-five Big Boys built exclusively for Union Pacific Railroad, the first of which was delivered in 1941. The locomotive is 132 feet long and weighs 1.2 million pounds. Because of its great length, the frame is "hinged," or articulated, to allow it to negotiate curves. It has a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, which means it has four wheels on the leading set of "pilot" wheels which guided the engine, eight drivers, another set of eight drivers, and four wheels following which supported the rear of the locomotive. These massive engines normally operated between Ogden, Utah, and Cheyenne, Wyo. from 1941 to 1961. As a child growing up in Laramie and Cheyenne, I used to watch these monsters pull trains up over Sherman Hill. On a cold night their whistles could be heard for as far as twenty miles.