Join the discussion on the following article:
Chapter to receive SD40-2, caboose for Big Boy
UP once operated a big SD20-2 fleet and they were frequently seen in SoCal. I’m sure that it will appear in UP colors and will be representative of those that operated over Cajon all those years.
Any preservation is a good thing. That said how are a MoPac SD40-2 and Rock Island cab germane to Southern California?
For a Museum/historical society to obtain/display/preserve icons, and these are, of late 20th century freight trains, consider a parent saying to the kids looking at the “cab-hop,” my SP inculcation showing thru, "that’s the way it was in your great-great-grandfather’s time when he was an engineer…
Though not spectacular, exhibiting them may be like a dinosaur skeleton in the Museum of Natural History.
But my observations/opinions aren’t that good----I never saw any of the “big SD20-2 fleet…seen in SoCal.”
Dang it.
I wish my grandfather was still alive to see a big boy running the rails again! He is watching from above
actually Ray, The Big Boys were cleared to operate over Cajon Pass all the way to Los Angeles, but it’s not known if they ever did.
A relatively common diesel and a caboose doesn’t seem to be an equivalent trade for a Big Boy, but then, the Big Boy was a gift in the first place. Whether the loco + caboose is equivalent to any upkeep they did, I don’t know. But I’m glad a Big Boy will run again.
So will it be painted UP yellow or MP blue??
And how is a Big Boy germane to Southern California? Did any of them ever run there? The diesel and caboose are currently UP units in UP colors and in good condition. Who cares who owned them when they were built?
UP screwed up! It should have been a SDP45 SP was operating when UP took over SP or a tunnel unit!
That is correct the big boy were operated mostly in wyoming and Utah over Sherman hill and seldom strayed into calif. Cajon pass was too tight on curves during their career. Please correct me if I am wrong.
If I was handed an operable SD40-2, I’d find a way to run it!
CAN’T WAIT ! SAW UP844 GO THROUGH TUCSON AZ !
My hats off to the U.P. management for deciding to restore any of the Big Boys on display in museums. No museum group has the FINANCIAL capability to pull it off. The railroad did not have to give anything to the R&LHS group in exchange for the 4014 but they did. I’ll be out there in Pomona watching the big move in October along with everyone else.
Sounds like a sorry swap. In my view 4014 is worth more in trade than a FLEET of tired old diesels, cabeese, and measly plaques. SoCal wuz robbed!
It belonged to the UP to begin with, who have the means to make it run again, what else matters.
@PATRICK GALLIGAN - It depends on your agenda.
If you just collect locomotives, keeping them in pristine mint condition (and in their original packaging!) so you can sell them on eBay in 50 years for a lot of money, then sure, it’s a terrible swap.
On the other hand, if your agenda is that you’re trying to preserve old locomotives with the best resources you can get, then giving up a historic, important, locomotive that you don’t have the resources to fix up, to a company that can and will, is a great scheme. Getting a caboose and a useful (and kinda historic if boring) diesel as part of the deal is just the icing on top.
My dad once said that few Big Boys did wander into California. Only at the front of the train because of braking. Only one time as a helper and that put an end to that!
The Southern California Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society was not forced to give the locomotive back, but they put the interest of the railfan community as a whole ahead of their own, and I appreciate it.
As a Rock Island fan, I would love to see the caboose restored to Rock Island colors, but since neither the Rock nor the MoPac served southern California, I would expect them to remain in UP paint.
Since the museum has no track connecting with the outside world, I wouldn’t expect them to operate unless the society has their own track to operate on.
I don’t believe MoP equipped their SD-40-2’s with dynamic braking since The Missouri pacific hardly encountered any significant mountains and grades. Anyway the news of an operating Big Boy is great news Everybody involved wins.