Union Pacific Railroad’s historic steam engine 4014 is scheduled to arrive in Poplar Bluff Friday afternoon (see sidebar story for local information).
This “Big Boy,” called the world’s largest and most powerful operating steam engine, is 132 feet long with a height of 17 feet and weighs 1,200,000 pounds (600 tons). The engine has 6,000 horsepower, according to the UP website.
Because of their great length, the Big Boy frames were “hinged” or articulated to allow them to negotiate curves. UP diesel engines are only 74 feet long.
UP officials warn area residents to stay 25 feet away from the enormous locomotive while taking photos and to not trespass on any railroad tracks.
“Big Boy” will be in the UP yards behind 995 S. Broadway St. (south of the overpass) until it departs Poplar Bluff at 8 a.m. Saturday. It will travel through Dexter, Scott City and the 1905 trestle over the Mississippi River on the way to St. Louis.
The American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, N.Y., built 25 massive Big Boy steam engines exclusively for Union Pacific. Twenty were delivered in 1941 and five in 1944.
During 20 years beginning in December 1941, Big Boy 4014 traveled 1,031,205 miles mainly in the mountains between Ogden, Utah, and Cheyenne, Wyoming.
UP donated 4014 to the Rail Giants Train Museum in Pomona, California, on Jan. 6, 1962. It was reacquired in 2013 by UP and relocated back to Cheyenne for a multi-year restoration process.
The huge steam engine became operational in time to participate in the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. This event took place on May 9, 2019, at Promontory Summit in Utah.
Several photos of 4014 are displayed in the Moark Regional Railroad Museum, located in the historic 1928 Frisco Railroad station in Downtown Poplar Bluff across Fifth Street from the Black River Coliseum.
Zach Pumphrey, a former museum volunteer who now is a conductor on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, photographed 4014 at Rawlins, Wyoming, on its way to the 150th celebration. His photo was selected to appear on the cover of “Trains” magazine in July 2019.
Dean Scallion of Piggott, Arkansas, and Ryan Cline of Neelyville, current museum volunteers, saw 4014 in North Little Rock, Arkansas, while it was on tour during the fall of 2019.
“Big Boy is a spectacle to see,” Scallion said. “Everyone should see it in person.”
Scallion is impressed with the locomotive’s 24 wheels and how they operate.
“Big Boy 4014 has two sets of drivers,” Scallion said. “The wheels are in a 4-8-8-4 arrangement.”
There are four wheels on the leading set of “pilot” wheels that guide the engine followed by the first set of eight drivers, a second set of eight drivers and four wheels which support the rear of the locomotive. The driver wheels are 68 inches in diameter.
Scallion also noted the large boiler produces 300 pounds of steam pressure.
The tender behind the locomotive has 14 wheels and can haul 25,000 gallons of water and 56,000 pounds of coal. The 4014 is now fueled with No. 5 oil. It was built to burn coal.
UP’s 844 locomotive was the last steam engine to stop in Poplar Bluff. Hundreds of spectators turned out on June 6, 2011, to view the 844.