Have any of the manufacturers come out with a current version of the 4014 with its oil tender instead of the coal tender it had when it was hauling freights for the UP? It also has a painted version of the “Big Boy” chalk mark put on the front of the first Big Boy off the line which is where it got its nickname.
BLI, apparently…not sure about the chalk lettering up front, but you can click to get enlarged views. Maybe do it with a single hair wiped once after dipping…?
I believe the Athearn 4014 due out in Oct 2020 will have a decal of the chalk “Big Boy” you can apply to the boiler if you wish.
I haven’t been able to find one of the BLI 4014’s for sale anywhere. I’m sure they were pretty well all grabbed when the prototype 4014 was making it’s tour. I don’t believe it had the chalk Big Boy in any form.
MTH makes the 4014. It even has the “Big Boy” chalk writing on the smokebox door. I don’t actually have this model, but I have an MTH catalog with photos of it. This is the catalog if you’re interested. The Big Boy is on page 10. https://www.mthtrains.com/sites/default/files/catalog_files/2019_ho_v_1/index.html
I wonder if the guy at the factory hadn’t chalked Big Boy on the first one off the line giving the 4000s their nickname if they would have enjoyed the lore they do today. Would there have been the effort to restore one? I doubt it. What’s in a name? In this case, everything.
I guess…to each his own, John. I haven’t felt the strong appeal of the 4-8-4, and the name didn’t improve things for me. I prefer the Challenger.
Why couldn’t it have been Leviathan, or Atlas, or Goliath? Big Boy came out a few years prior to Little Boy. Go figure.
I think the size appeal certainly would have helped it be restored eventually, but the Big Boy gives it a strong appeal; it helps hint at the size and power of the engine in the name alone.
I dunno though, I personally prefer the working class name of “Wasatch” if in part because it names the mountain range the 4-8-8-4’s were built to conquer. Just as how names like “Niagra,” “Pacific,” “Northern,” “Mikado,” “Santa Fe,” etc. all tell you something about where the first engines of that type were built for. I am also partial to Wasatch in part because I live near that range and my workplace and school is nestled right up against those mountains… so there is certainly a local bias there.
But at the end of it all, Big Boy has a strong naming appeal. It conveys power and strength in a way Wasatch never would have; and it made sure that everyone worldwide who knew anything about trains would remember the simple name of “Big Boy” and the locomotive it stood for…
Well, it was going to be a notable example of modern steam with or without “BigBoy” chalked on the front.
That said, I’ve never owned a model of one, don’t plan to own a model of one, as built or as running today.
I think it is great that it has been saved, the UP deserves great respect and praise for their steam program.
What does sometimes bother me a little is some of the false assumptions about the 4000 class.
It is not the biggest wheelbase, that prize goes to the PRR S1.
It does not have the most TE, the winner is the GN R2.
It does not have the most drawbar HP, the C&O H8 has 20% more.
It is only the heaviest by 950 lbs, a margin of only 1/10th of one percent over the C&O H8.
It is big enough with its rather long wheelbase on each engine set that it would not have been useful on a great many railroads, especially in the east were locos like the EM-1, H-8, Y6b and Class A defined big in their own terms. All four of these locos showed that BIG could also have a good balance of speed, power and nimble on the winding trackage of Appalachia.
Sheldon
That more or less confirms what I said. The nickname Big Boy went a long way toward seperating the 4000 class from the rest of the powerful articulated steam locomotiv
I’ve read that UP trainmen simply called them the 4000s. If the name Wasatch had caught on, I think a lot of people would have had to look up where the Wasatch mountains were. I knew about the Big Boy long before I ever heard of the Wasatch mo
Another factor in the “mystique” of the BigBoy, is the mystique of the west. A bug I have never been bitten by.
I have models of H-8’s, Y class, A class, and EM-1’s, because I model the east…
But for every model I have of some big articulated monster, I have about 10 models of average, medium sized, everyday work horse locos like Mikado’s, Consolidation’s, Mountain’s, Pacific’s, and 10 Wheeler’s.
Sheldon
Most tractive effort? For a non-one-off, isn’t that the Virginian AE Class 2-10-10-2 at 176,600 pounds simple and 147,200 pounds compound?
John
Yes, assuming we use the simple expansion TE. I have never seen any definitive information on how long or at what speed the AE could maintain in simple mode. But no question, there were at least three or four locos with more TE than the BigBoy.
And to correct a typo on my part, the GN 2-8-8-2 is an R-2, with a rated TE of 162,475
Sheldon
You guys have busted one of my life-long myths [swg]
Up until today, I had always seen the Big Boy as the biggest, the heaviest and the most powerfull steam engine in the world. Now I had to learn, that it was “only” the heaviest, but was surpassed by others in the vitals of a steam engine. I knew it couldn´t be the fastest, that title is still held by Gresley´s LNER A4 Pacific “Mallard”.
In any case, the Big Boy is certainly the best known steam engine in the world, even ahead of Stephenson´s “Rocket”.
As far as steam locomotives go, the Big Boy was destined to live in myth and legend forever. They could have nick-named it the “Wildebeast” ot “Bullfrog”, and that would be all we talked about. Big Boy is a pretty stupid name when you consider what else could have been come up with if a little thought had been applied to it.
Its proportions and lines are perfect. The scenery it operated in was perfect. And, it was able to be photographed many thousands of times in operation.
No other machine that I know of was as magnificent. Even non-railroad-fans can see one and know they are looking at something special.
All that being said, I will never own one. It just is not to my taste.
-Kevin
The name Big Boy is glued to the UP class 4000 forever! Do a web search and the first entry is about this iconic steam engine. It is so well known world-wide, that Märklin/Trix probably sold more of their models in Europe, than in the US.Hardly a Märklin collector over here without having one in his display case!
Here in the US as well, I suspect a great many models of this loco, no matter what brand, have been sold with the purchaser intending only to display/collect them.
I have never purchased any model train just as a collector/display piece. Nor would I ever be motivated to do so…
And while no one is questioning the Mallard record, the PRR E6 Atlantic was easily capable of 115 mph or more, and proved its sustained high speed ability on the Lindberg news reel run, averaging 82.7 mph on the 250 mile, three hour trip. In my mind equally as impressive as hitting 126 mph for just a few minutes.
Sheldon
Certainly is - especially when said record was not acknowledged by the loco´s designer himself and achieved on a slight downhill grade!
Nevertheless - the Big Boy is a big boy, though I am more for the light-footed NG steamers of Colorado!
Well if you just want it for display, Revell makes a non-operational HO plastic kit for considerably less than an operational model. I don’t know how the detail compares to others.
Paul
For my taste, this model looks exactly like what it is - a cheap plastic model.