Hello dear Forists, this thread has nothing to do with U.S. cars, so it’s off-topic. However, I found the topic so interesting that I didn’t want to keep it from the interested ones among you. Maybe one or the other has already heard about it and is already following it. It’s about American railway history. If you don’t care about it, you can stop reading here and switch to another topic.The message (which I initially thought was a duck) , until Union Pacific confirmed them): Union Pacific “Big Boy” no. 4014 is overtaken and restored to the ready-to-run state.What is so special about it? The “Big Boy” is in its violence and its technical development the crowning of the mechanical skill and the steam age in general. It is no less than the biggest steam locomotive and (depending on the discussion situation of the respective fans of the competitor locos Q2 of the Pacific Rairoad or the Allegheny of the Chesapeake and Ohio) also the strongest. Charcoal and irrigated the giant brings 566 tons on the track and measures from buffer to buffer just under 41 meters! Because of the more economical diesel locomotives Union Pacific began to pull the “Big Boys” out of traffic at the end of the fifties of the last century, shut down and scrap. 1962 the last of the series (of 25 pieces) went out of service after it had already been out of service since 1959. Not all were really scrapped, some went to railway The water tanks hold 95,000 liters of water and the coal bunkers 25 tons of coal. However, the myth continued to surround these gigantic machines. When I first stood in front of one, the spit stayed away from me! Union Pacific took a step forward About two years ago, U.S. nion Pacific to contact the museums that exhibited a Big Boy. The remaining locomotives were carefully examined and the feasibility of a restoration was discussed. Quick disillusionment spread. Since most of the remaining specimens were exhibited in the open space and thus exposed to the elements, many parts were unresolvable and even the 500-ton colossus could not be pushed even a few meters because of totally rotten camps. ig Boy no. 4014 at the Pomona Fairplex in California, however, brought out illuminating. The Californian climate has not nibbled as hard on the substance for n 50 years and besides the museum helpers well maintained the locomotive within the scope of the possibilities. Camps were further greased, rusty parts were cleaned and repainted. Also moving with a 700 HP caterpillar was successful according to the press. The technical evaluation showed that 4014 can be restored and that the undertaking to bring the locomotive in almost new condition, ready to run, is possible with manageable means (for UP). Union Pacific agreed with the operators of the Fairplex and got the permission to bring the locomotive to the UP plant in Cheyenne/Wyoming. It will be located in the next few years. An UP team is on site in Pomona and makes everything so far accessible that the gigantic “patient” is able to travel. As the Americans work pragmatically and purposefully on such things, the Resto is supposed to be finished in 2016 and the “big boy” will be back under steam.How does Union Pacific do that? One of the former “home ports” of the Big Boys was Cheyenne in Wyoming. There was the factory and the infrastructure to help these giants to travel there. Large freight trains to the west were spanned there and 5 Big Boy could be coaled and filled with water at the same time in the gigantic coal-fired plant. Further supply facilities for the giant locomotives were available in Ogden/Utah, Laramie and Green River, both Wyoming. After the decline of the railway age and the large steam locomotives, the plants were only limited and were torn down over the decades. However, a small amount remained. It is part of the large “Roundhouse”, the locomotive shed, and part of the workshops. These buildings are now at the heart of the maintenance of the remaining UP steam locomotives and home of the “Union Pacific Heritage Collection”. Here the 4014 will be completely dismantled (frame off) and completely overhauled.The locomotive will be a unique time document of railway history when it is finished.What are such big locomotives for?The Big Boys are children of war. The second world war required the transport of equipment-important goods – especially steel and iron ore – through the USA. Natural barrier were always the Rocky Mountains. To pull the four thousand tons of heavy freight trains over the mountains immense machine performance was necessary. To achieve this Union Pacific ALCO (American Locomotive Company) commissioned the 4000 series, heavy high-performance locomotives, to develop. The most powerful steam engines with approx. 7,000 hp were used in the configuration of a articulated locomotive. Particularly heavy trains were pulled with double-loading of 2 of these rail giants over the slopes of the Rockies. The sheer performance of the Big Boys still allowed speeds up to 80 km/h. On the plane, a 4000er achieved a good 100 km/h with load (note: we are talking about thousands of tons) and the factory maximum speed was 130 km/h. guess until the locomotive is ready, there will still be many interesting things to see that may interest some of you. I thought, who likes big cars, maybe also has some big locomotives left… Have fun while you’re tasting and having a good time tracking the restoration progress in Cheyenne! Reading and peeking: Here’s a Big Boy in Texas moving to another city. The film gives an impression of such a loo. The little sister, 3900 series, a Union Pacific “Challenger” has a similar configuration as the Big Boy based on it, but is a lot smaller. The machine was restored in Cheyenne a long time ago and is now under steam again. When the end of the giant locomotives became apparent, UP commissioned a documentary entitled “Last of the Giants”. In it are great recordings of the Big Boy in Action. In this movie there is also a lot of info about the factory in Cheyenne. Wikipedia entry