November 13, 2019 – What a day!! I chased Union Pacific’s 4014 “Big Boy” from Prescott to Little Rock, Arkansas and couldn’t have asked for better weather! The cold really made the steam and smoke pop! Here we see 4014 as it departs Prescott early in the morning, after a slight delay to let two trains pass it. There’s just something about a steam locomotive when it pokes its nose out of a cloud of steam!
November 13,2019 – UP 4014 waits in the siding at Arkadelphia, Arkansas for a northbound train to pass.
November 12, 2019 – Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 sits tied down at the Prescott, Arkansas depot, after its run for the day up the Little Rock Subdivision. Tomorrow morning it’ll depart at 9am CST for Little Rock where it’ll be on display till Friday morning before continuing it’s move back to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
According to Wikipedia: The Missouri Pacific Depot of Prescott, Arkansas is located at 300 West 1st Street North. It is a 1-1/2 story red brick building, with a breezeway dividing it into two sections. One section continues to be reserved for railroad storage, while the other, the former passenger ticketing and waiting area, has been adapted for use by the local chamber of commerce and as a local history museum. It was built in 1911-12 by the Prescott and Northwestern Railroad, which interconnected with the Missouri-Pacific Railroad at Prescott. The line had passenger service until 1945.
The building is now known as the Nevada County Depot and Museum. Exhibits include area settlers, railroads, and military items from World War I, World War II, the American Legion, National Guard of the United States, 1941 U.S. Army maneuvers in Prescott.
The depot building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
November 12, 2019 – Union Pacific’s “Big Boy” 4014 puts out a huge plume of steam in the cold November air as it departs Hope, Arkansas and heads north on the UP Little Rock Subdivision on its way to Prescott, AR where it will tie down for the night. I’m doing my first chase on the “Big Boy” today and tomorrow as it heads for Little Rock, AR.
According to Wikipedia: The Union Pacific Big Boy is a type of simple articulated 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive manufactured by the American Locomotive Company between 1941 and 1944 and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad in revenue service until 1959.
The 25 Big Boy locomotives were built to haul freight over the Wasatch mountains between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming. In the late 1940s, they were reassigned to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they hauled freight over Sherman Hill to Laramie, Wyoming. They were the only locomotives to use a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement: four-wheel leading truck for stability entering curves, two sets of eight driving wheels and a four-wheel trailing truck to support the large firebox.
Eight Big Boys survive, most on static display at museums across the country. This one, No. 4014, was re-acquired by Union Pacific and restored to operating condition in 2019, regaining the title as the largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive in the world.