I couldn’t resist posting this pic that I ran across today. I took this of my son a couple of years ago (he was 4 then) next to the Big Boy at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis (Kirkwood), MO. Really puts the size of these behemoths in perspective, doesn’t it?
Click for larger image
Ron
It truely does.
Love that big boy. I like the train too.
The last time I was there, the Big Boy was coupled to the Centennial. I thought that was truly an impressive sight as well!! Can you still go into the cabs??
Now the Centennial sits next to the Big Boy. When we were there this time they were working on the walkways in that area and could not get into the cabs, but that was temporary and I’m sure the cabs of these locos are again open to the public. I also have some pics of workers restoring the Aerotrain ath the museum, a project which is probably finished by now. I will have to post them sometime.
Ron
I was stationed at Scott from '96-'01 and everytime I went there the Aerotrain was shoved way in the back and obscured by weeds. I HATED seeing it like that. It is good to hear that they are doing something with it. Is there still talk of building a “mainline” to operate trains on out there?
Same place, different part of the museum overlooking the UP main that runs behind it.
They have done a lot of work at the museum and opened up a whole new area with a train ride. I am looking forward to going back this year to see the progress. The walkways are all open now. The Big Boy cab is open again. They have run a tollley line around the grounds and so the Trolley can do a little more than go back and forth. The auto museum was being gutted and re-done over the winter and there is going to be a new visitors center with an operating layout. It is good to see all the investment going on at the place. In addiiton to the Aerotrain restoration the CB&Q E unit looks great.
http://www.museumoftransport.org/restoration.htm
At $4 to get in, it is well worth a visit when in St. Louis.
I lived in the St. Louis area about forty years ago and have been on that engine many times. In the past years since moving, I have been able to visit all eight Big Boys including the 4006 again and got to go into the cab on most of them.
The 4023 used to be in Cheyenne up to the time it was first moved to the Omaha shops, where it was displayed for many years before last year’s move to the park with the 6900.
They are really something to see. The models of the Big Boy are great, but there is nothing like standing along beside one to get your prospective correct.
Can you image standing track side at sixty or seventy per and watching one of these shake the ground??
Many visits to this museum as a child probably have a lot to do with me being in the hobby!
I was disappointed on my last visit. As a child, it was pretty wide open. You could climb on/into just about everything there… On the last visit, very little was open available. Sounds like they’re improving access, which is good. But I doubt that liability (not to mention preservation) will ever allow the way it was in the 70’s, when you had, essentially, an ‘all access’ pass when you went in.
Great pic
Hey I am just strolling around a bit and found this page. I am an o guage guy. Here is a pic of the Big Boy:
This is a different number and this was found on the enternet.
Here is my 4006 Big Boy from Lionel:
Thanks,
Monto