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UP Big Boy 4014 Restoration


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#1 CNJRoss

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Posted 15 August 2016 - 11:04 AM

Union Pacific Inside Track, 8/11/16:
 

Steam Update: Big Boy No. 4014 Restoration Begins

 

With the successful restoration of locomotive No. 844 in the books, the Union Pacific Steam Team has embarked on their next giant-sized challenge: restoring the Big Boy, locomotive No. 4014.

 

 

“It’s the largest steam locomotive restoration in the last 50 years,” said Ed Dickens, senior manager of heritage operations.

 

So how does such a large project begin? With massive disassembly, of course.

 

The engine and tender were separated first. The tender is the car that follows the steam locomotive. “It’s the fuel and water storage vehicle for the steam locomotive,” Dickens said. “It’s connected to the locomotive with two giant steel bars with 7-inch holes at both ends.”

 

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#2 CNJRoss

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Posted 02 February 2017 - 07:29 AM

UP Inside Track, 2/1/17:

 

Steam Update: With Disassembly Complete, Big Boy Fabrication Underway

 

 

Work on restoring Union Pacific's Big Boy, locomotive No. 4014, has been progressing at a fast and furious pace. The Union Pacific Steam Team began stripping the locomotive in early November, completing the disassembly process in January. Once additional parts are fabricated, No. 4014 will be ready for reassembly. Read Story

 

img_up_4014_fronteng.jpg

 



#3 CNJRoss

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Posted 08 June 2017 - 11:22 AM

UP Inside Edition, 5/31/17:

Steam Update: Forging Ahead with Big Boy's Restoration

 

img_up_big_boy_may2017.jpg

Disassembled locomotive No. 4014.

 

 

Some exciting news about the Big Boy No. 4014 restoration: the UP Steam Team recently received several 1,000-pound forgings.

 

"Have you ever held a metal wrench in your hand?" asked Ed Dickens, Union Pacific senior manager – Heritage Operations. "A wrench is an example of a forging. Forgings are made with a special combination of steels called alloy. The extremely hot alloy is formed into the shape of each part. The die — or molds used to form the parts — are based on Union Pacific's original drawings. We just received forgings of No. 4014's crosshead guides."

The crosshead guides are part of the connection between the locomotive's piston rods and main rods. The pistons and rods are responsible for distributing power to the locomotive's wheels. Dickens said when the 1,000-pound forgings are machined down to the right size; each half weighs just under 400 pounds.

 

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#4 CNJRoss

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Posted 26 August 2017 - 01:42 PM

UP Inside Edition,8/25/17:

Steam Update: Refurbishing an Articulated Locomotive Requires Plenty of Flexibility

 

img_bigboy_aug2017.jpg

Big Boy, locomotive No. 4014, disassembled outside Union Pacific's Steam Shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

 

With the 2017 steam season now completed, the UP Steam Team, which operated No. 844 during three week-long trips this summer, can now give its full attention to the restoration of the Big Boy No. 4014.

 

 

Ed Dickens, Union Pacific senior manager-Heritage Operations, said with most of the No. 4014's disassembly completed, the focus is on restoring the more intricate parts and assemblies associated with an articulated steam locomotive.

 

Articulated steam locomotives have two sets of drivers, with the lead set having the ability to swivel independently from the locomotive's main body to better negotiate tighter curves. UP's Big Boy units were among the many articulated designs operated during the steam era.

 

"These units have to be able to convey live steam from the boiler to the front engine," Dickens said. "Because the front engine articulates - or swivels - the steam lines have to be flexible." 

 

 
Restoring an Articulated Locomotive

Watch Senior Manager - Heritage Operations Ed Dickens explain locomotive No. 4014's reverse shaft and articulation point.

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#5 CNJRoss

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Posted 10 January 2018 - 06:56 PM

UP Inside Track, 1/3/18:
 

A Look Inside the Spine of the 'Big Boy'

 

 

img_up_4014_front_enginebed.jpg

Locomotive No. 4014's front engine bed weighs nearly 45 tons.

 

Union Pacific's steam team finally is getting down to the bones of UP No. 4014, the 'Big Boy.' The locomotive's big steel front engine bed has been exposed and has a glossy new coat of black paint.

 

 

"It's not physically as big as a semi truck, but it weighs just as much," said Ed Dickens, who heads the Union Pacific steam team. "It's probably six feet tall, 10 feet wide and weighs nearly 45 tons. It's a huge piece of steel."

 

The frames of modern American steam locomotives were cast out of high-quality steel. "After we’ve completely cleaned the casting, we quickly painted it to prevent it from rusting,” Dickens said. "This is the only opportunity we'll get to paint it, when it's completely disassembled. This isn't just a quick fluff and buff, this is a massive ground-up restoration."

 

SNIP

 

Locomotive No. 4014's Front Engine Progress

Ed Dickens, who heads the Union Pacific steam team, talks through the work being done on the Big Boy's front engine.

 

Over the years, much of the piping deep inside the Big Boy sat hidden beneath layers of impacted cinders and dirt resulting in a rotted mess. Cleaning and replacing these internal parts is only possible once the locomotive is completely taken apart. All Big Boy's old, rotten pipes were removed and replaced. "We've custom formed and bent long runs of piping to eliminate as many connections as possible through a process called steam fitting. Some have large, beautiful sweeping curves," Dickens said. "Probably 90 percent of the locomotive's air and steam piping will be new when we finish, it's a work of art."

 

img_up_4014_inside_frame.jpg

The piping inside locomotive No. 4014's frame.

 

The project is broken into several phases, Dickens said. The team is on track to finish in time for the locomotive to participate alongside locomotive No. 844 in Union Pacific's 2019 Golden Spike celebrations. Because the team is so completely focused on restoring the Big Boy this year, No. 844 will only have one excursion in 2018: Cheyenne Frontier Days in late July.

 

 

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#6 CNJRoss

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Posted 23 March 2018 - 07:34 AM

UP Inside Track, 3/22/18:

Putting the 'Big Boy' Back Together

 

img_up_instrk-stm-up-thomp_lr.jpg

Lead Boilermaker Blacksmith Jimmy Thompson welds stay bolt caps on locomotive No. 4014’s boiler barrel.

 

 

Since disassembling UP No. 4014, the ‘Big Boy,’ the Union Pacific Steam Team has cleaned, inspected and repaired nearly every part of the locomotive down to its smallest piece.

 

  Now, the UP Steam Team, headed b Ed Dickens, is putting it all back together starting with the boiler’s fire box and combustion chamber.

 

“Modern American steam locomotives use what is known as a fire tube boiler with a stay bolted firebox,” Dickens said. “As the coal fuel is burned on the grates inside the fire box, the combustion gases flow through the fire tubes to the smoke box in the front of the locomotive. There, the smoke is driven out very rapidly by the exhaust steam pressure from the two engines on the 'Big Boy' out of the smoke stack.”

 

March 2018 Steam Update

Ed Dickens, who heads the Union Pacific steam team, talks through the work being done to put the 'Big Boy' back together, starting with the boiler's fire box and combustion chamber.

 



#7 CNJRoss

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Posted 15 June 2018 - 07:13 PM

Atlas Obscura, 6/12/18:
 

One of the World’s Largest Steam Locomotives Is About to Make a Triumphant Return

Hold onto your engineer caps, railroad history lovers.

 

 

Seventy years after the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, the steep Rocky Mountains of Wyoming and Utah were still giving the Union Pacific Railroad trouble.

 

Despite having massive steam engines, the Union Pacific, one of the biggest railroads in America, still struggled to move heavy freight trains over the mountains and would often have to use multiple locomotives to get trains to their destination. This practice required more workers and more fuel. In 1940, the Union Pacific’s mechanical engineers teamed up with the American Locomotive Company to build one of the world’s largest steam locomotives, a class of engine simply known as “Big Boy.”

 

Now, six decades after the last Big Boy was taken off the rails, the Union Pacific is rebuilding one of the famous locomotives in honor of the upcoming sesquicentennial celebration of the first Transcontinental Railroad. It’s a project so ambitious that Ed Dickens Jr, a Union Pacific steam locomotive engineer and the man leading the rebuild, has likened it to resurrecting a Tyrannosaurus rex.

 

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#8 CNJRoss

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Posted 02 September 2018 - 08:36 AM

YouTube:

Steam Update: Tackling Big 'Boring' Jobs

 

Published on Aug 29, 2018
 
Ed Dickens, head of the Union Pacific steam team, describes the process the Steam Team used to accurately bore locomotive No. 4014's four cylinders.

 



#9 CNJRoss

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Posted 01 November 2018 - 08:31 AM

UPRR via YouTube:

Steam Update: Locomotive No. 4014 Front Engine Walk Along

 

Union Pacific

Published on Oct 31, 2018
 
Ed Dickens, head of the Union Pacific Steam Team, gives an in-depth tour of locomotive No. 4014's nearly completed front engine.

 



#10 CNJRoss

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Posted 01 November 2018 - 08:35 AM

UPRR Inside Track, 10/31/18:
 

Steam Update: Big Boy’s New Suspension System Promises a Smooth Ride

 

img_up_4014_front_engine.jpg

Locomotive No. 4014's restored front engine.

 

With completion of steam giant No. 4014’s massive front engine restoration looming, the UP Steam Team has rebuilt and installed a cushion to cradle all that heavy metal: a brand new coil and leaf-spring suspension system.

 

 

Trains and cars both depend on suspension systems to keep the vehicle’s body safe from bumps in the road. “The back wheels of most cars have leaf springs and coil springs,” said Ed Dickens, head of the Union Pacific Steam Team. “If you didn’t have a suspension system your car would bounce, bounce, bounce down the road after you hit a pothole.”

 

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