Maybe it’s a guy thing. For me, motorcycles and trains are inextricably related.
There’s the obvious: The suggestions of travel and adventure suggested by both the motorcycle and the locomotive.
There’s the subtle: The mechanical beauty of the beast, be it a locomotive or a motorcycle.
There’s the analogy often used for a fast motorcycle: “This thing pulls like a locomotive.” It’s an expression I’ve often used for my old 1995 Triumph Daytona, which makes no sense at all, considering the leisurely acceleration of a locomotive compared to even a small motorcycle. In engineering terms, you just can’t defeat f = ma. We still use that expression, though. It conveys great power, an attribute we like to apply to our motorcycles.
Then there’s the musical: Arlo Guthrie sang of motorcycles and the City of New Orleans…
That music works for me, as indicated by this YouTube Lupe and I did on a California Scooter sidecar ride….
And there’s the environmental – like many men of a certain age, I grew up in the Lionel era, dividing my drooling between things like the streamlined maroon Pennsylvania Railroad GG-1 locomotive and a variety of British vertical twins (all of which in my adolescence I knew had to pull, well, like a locomotive).
Yesterday I did something I haven’t done in a long time…I had lunch with another group of men of a certain age (or, as I usually describe it, lunch with the geezers). I’m the youngest guy in that crowd. To put things in perspective, my good buddy Jerry (who rides both a Piaggio and a Sportster) celebrated his 84th birthday yesterday. It was fun, and I realized I had been away from the geezers for far too long.
My good buddy Wes showed up (he rides a six-cylinder BMW, an Uber-tourer that, you know, pulls like a locomotive) and he was excited. He had seen the “Big Boy” at the Pomona Fairgrounds earlier. Only half-listening to the conversation initially, I thought he was talking about a hamburger, and then I realized the focus of his attention was a steam locomotive. My Lionel antenna immediately went to full extension and like everyone else at the table, I focused on Wes’s description of the beast. To cut to the chase, Marty, Jim, and yours truly decided to try to steal a glimpse of this rail-borne gladiator on the way back to the shop. As you can see from the photo I posted yesterday, luck was with us…
Here are a few more photos…what’s cool about these is that I grabbed all of them with my iPhone. They would have been better if I had thought to bring my Nikon with me, but that little iPhone did a pretty good job…
So I’ve got a few more cool things for you to peruse today, boys and girls…the first is an interesting quotation lifted directly from RailwayAge website about Pomona’s very own Big Boy No. 4014…
On July 23, 2013, UP announced that it had reached an agreement with the Southern California Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society in Pomona, Calif., to transfer ownership of 4014 back to UP. The railroad will relocate 4014 to Cheyenne, where the Heritage Fleet Operations team will begin restoration, including a fuel conversion to No. 5 oil. Details regarding those efforts will be made public at a later date.
UP donated 4014 to the historical society on Dec. 7, 1961. The locomotive arrived Jan. 8, 1962, at its current display location at the Rail Giants Train Museum in Pomona.
“No other railroad has retained its historical equipment or honored its American roots like Union Pacific,” said Union Pacific Heritage Operations. Senior Manager Ed Dickens. “Our steam locomotive program is a source of great pride to UP employees past and present. We are very excited about the opportunity to bring history to life by restoring No. 4014.”
Twenty-five Big Boys were built exclusively for Union Pacific by the American Locomotive Company (Alco) between 1941 and 1944, in two groups of ten and one of five. All burned coal, with large, 150-square-foot grates to burn the low-quality Wyoming coal from mines owned by the railroad. They were designed to pull long, heavy freight trains (maximum rated tonnage of 4,040 tons) at a sustained speed of 60 mph once past the Wasatch Range mountain grades on UP’s main line between Ogden, Utah, and Cheyenne. Peak horsepower was reached at about 35 mph; optimal tractive effort at about 10 mph.
The Big Boys were 132 feet long and weighed 1.2 million pounds (engine and tender) in working order. 4014’s 14-wheel tender can hold 24,000 gallons of water and 28 tons (56,000 pounds) of coal. She features 68-inch drivers, 300 pounds of boiler pressure, maximum tractive effort of 135,375 pounds, and a 4.00 factor of adhesion. Her evaporating surfaces (boiler tubes, flues, firebox, and circulators) and superheating surface encompass 5,889 and 2,466 square feet, respectively. The massive locomotive’s frame is of the Mallet, or articulated (hinged) design, to allow curve negotiation. Without the tender, the Big Boy had the longest engine body of any reciprocating steam locomotive.
4014 was delivered to Union Pacific in December 1941. She was retired in December 1961, having traveled 1,031,205 miles in 20 years of service.
UP donated eight Big Boys for public display to several U.S. cities—Pomona; St. Louis, Mo. (No. 4006, Museum of Transportation); Dallas, Tex. (No. 4018, Museum of the American Railroad); Omaha, Neb. (No. 4023, Kenefick Park); Denver, Colo. (No. 4005, Forney Transportation Museum); Scranton, Pa. (No. 4012, Steamtown National Historic Site); Green Bay, Wis. (No. 4017, National Railroad Museum); and Cheyenne (No. 4004, Holliday Park).
Very cool stuff, folks, made all the more interesting by the fact that No. 4014 is going to be fully restored and put back into service for special runs. Yep, the photos I grabbed yesterday show the Big Boy being maneuvered for placement on the MetroLink rails (the very rails shown in my first photo above with the Baja Blaster). It’s going to be towed back to Union Pacific’s Wyoming repair yards for a complete restoration. Wow!
That’s it for now, my friends. The boss told me we’re heading over to Costco to pick up our Thanksgiving turkey early, so I’ve got to wrap it up and run.
Ride safe, my friends…
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