Big Boy’s subtle changes
The world’s largest operating steam locomotive sees subtle changes in appearance
is a work in progress. That is a truth: Every locomotive since the beginning in the early 1800s to the current 190 or so that steam at least once a year in a public venue is constantly changing, constantly modified, and constantly updated. Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy No. 4014, which made its 2021 tour between Wyoming and New Orleans in August and September is no different.
Those who caught the engine on its 2019 travels (there was no 2020 schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic) may recognize the subtle differences in the world’s largest operating steam locomotive. Here are some of the most visible changes to the engine that will forever mark it as vintage 2021:
• Cylinder head and piston head covers. Big Boys had them in regular service in the 1940s and 1950s, but No. 4014 took to the road in 2019 without them. They’re on now like cufflinks. The chromed covers on the second engine are fascinating: they’re machined so as to not interfere with brake hangers.
• Extended range oil reservoirs for the mechanical lubricators. Here’s a great step forward for ensuring that the Nathan lubricators are always full, and that the stops to fill them are less frequent. They’re carefully tucked into spots nearby the chain-driven lubricators.
• Builder’s plates. Rectangular replica American Locomotive Co. plates didn’t adorn the engine’s smokebox in 2019. They are in place now.
Unseen is positive train control gear in the steam-locomotive cab that allows the engine to work with its helper-diesel unit to run the crash-avoidance system that is now mandatory across the land. It looks somewhat like a big toaster oven with a screen on it. The location is on the engineer’s side of the cab.
Incidentally, the chalked “Big Boy” on the smokebox front is hand refreshed from time to time, most often after the engine has been through a good soaking rain. Each of these signatures is unique.
One of my favorite aspects of the locomotive’s appearance that hasn’t changed are the silvered washout plug covers in the jacketing. They’re made of stainlesssteel dog water bowls whose bottoms have been removed. A clever way to handle those awkward openings in the sheet metal, and my 5-year-old Brittany Spaniel, Millie, approves.
So, next time you see No. 4014, be sure to study the engine carefully. After it came home to Cheyenne in 2014, its appearance changed — notably with the loss of the coal-burning grate system underneath the firebox. The engine has changed yet again. And I bet you that when No. 4014 runs again later this year or in 2022, it will display yet more change. That’s part of the work and fun of steam locomotives. —