Photo ID: 104732 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1578 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific Due to the way the Big Boys were built, it looks from this shot as though there is a pretty good gap between the Big Boy and the SD70M that is leading it. Regardless of how it may look, however, the two units are indeed coupled together. At this point, the public display of (both) UP 4014s was winding down. Twelve hours later, the train would depart to continue its journey to Cheyenne, WY. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104731 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1438 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific If you miss any portion of UP 4014's travels from California to Cheyenne, WY, it is a safe bet that you will be able to catch up on what you missed in TRAINS magazine! I spotted this Jeep Compass sitting in the parking lot, a virtual mobile command center for the magazine during the trip. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104730 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1757 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific I had to take multiple steps pacing backward in order to capture all of UP 4014 in a single frame! It will certainly be amazing to see this 4-8-8-4 running under its own steam after more than fifty years of sitting idle. It is currently scheduled to become active again in 2017. Unfortunately, at the time of this photo, UP actually has no steam locomotives in operable service. Pretty major damage was found inside the boiler of UP 844 and UP 3985 has been sidelined since 2011 as it is in need of rebuild attention too, apparently. 2014 may be the first year since Union Pacific's inception nearly 150 years ago that not a single UP steam locomotive will run! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104729 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1398 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific After Steve Lee retired from the UP Steam team in November 2011, Ed Dickens was appointed as his successor. Dickens is now the manager of the Steam team and is seen here in Las Vegas, looking over the exterior of UP 4014. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104728 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1365 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific UP has gone all out for UP 4014's journey "back home" to Cheyenne. Right down the safety vests the steam crew is wearing for the duration of the trip. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104727 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1485 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific Union Pacific is pretty darn good at PR when it comes to their excursion and heritage fleet. In addition to just the nice list of locomotives they have preserved (and operational), they also enjoy being very selective when it comes to picking units that run on special excursion trains. Case-in-point is this shot. UP 4884 was assigned (along with UP 4014) to the train that is moving UP 4014 (the Big Boy), which is a 4-8-8-4 locomotive, from California to Cheyenne, WY! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104726 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1608 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific UP 4014 (temporarily renumbered in the computer to UPP 4014), a Big Boy 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive that has been on static display for over fifty years, now sits in Las Vegas on its journey to Cheyenne, WY in order to be brought back to life! The Big Boy is 132 feet long, making it roughly 34 feet longer than the longest diesel locomotive (the DDA40X). It also weighs an impressive 625 tons (including the tender). Its boiler has a capacity of 25,000 gallons and its tender can hold 28 tons of coal. The UP Steam team has reported the goal is to convert UP 4014 from burning coal to burning oil. UP attempted this with UP 4005 over fifty years ago without success. The reported issue was the fact that a single burner did not evenly work in the boiler. Hopefully this new attempt will include multiple burners! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104725 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1570 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific A look at some of the side and connecting rods on the front drive wheels of the UP 4014. From what I understand regarding steam locomotives (which isn't that much!), the piston rods were disconnected from the coupling rods to allow UP 4014 to roll uninhibited. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104724 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1650 (1 Comment Posted) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific Here is a shot of the front end of the boiler on UP 4014. The Big Boys were designed in a cooperative effort between ALCO and UP. UP's Challenger locomotives (4-6-6-4) could not handle heavier trains alone over the grade on the Overland Route. The articulated Big Boys (4-8-8-4) were the solution. The could easily handle the heavier trains and maintain speeds over 60 MPH. The last revenue run of a Big Boy was on July 21, 1959 with the arrival of a train in Green River, WY. Most of the 25 units were kept in operational condition (although stored) until 1961. Four were kept until 1962. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104723 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1564 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific Only 25 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy" steam locomotives were built, and all 25 went to Union Pacific. They were in service for roughly 20 years, from 1941 to 1961. Fortunately eight of the units were preserved after their retirement more than 50 years ago. All eight were put on static display, incapable of operating under their own steam. That will soon no longer be the case for UP 4014. UP reacquired the unit (in exchange for a caboose, an insulated box car, and an SD40-2. After 52 years of being on display in Pomona, CA, UP 4014 is "headed home" to Cheyenne, WY. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104722 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1760 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific A black and white shot of UP 4014, sitting on display in Las Vegas, seemed appropriate. It was a bit tricky to get shots without anybody standing in the way as there were well over a hundred people on hand to check out the Big Boy. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104721 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1735 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific I had to go for the obligatory "Stratosphere in the background" shot while UP 4014 was stopped over in Las Vegas. I just happened to be on a business trip (first one in three years) the day UP 4014 was visiting Vegas. Talk about your good luck! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104720 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1668 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific A look at the train taking UP 4014 from California to Cheyenne, WY. It was stopped in Las Vegas for public viewing on April 30, 2014. UP used two SD70Ms as power on the train. Which two did they select? Why UP 4014 and UP 4884 of course! For the time being, the steam engine has technically be renumbered as UPP 4014 so as not to confuse it with UP 4014 in the computers. No doubt UP 4014 (the SD70M) will be renumbered when UP 4014 (the Big Boy) comes on the roster. If all goes according to plan, that is supposed to happen sometime in 2017. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104719 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1525 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific As my websites name suggests, I definitely take most of my shots in Colorado. I was on a business trip in Las Vegas at the end of April 2014, and stopped off along UP's Caliente Sub for a few trips on the road. A trio of SD40-2s pass by headed north, the Plaza hotel standing tall in the background. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 104718 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 2176 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Caliente (UP) Union Pacific Union Pacific already has a mighty impressive fleet of heritage equipment when you consider two steam engines ("Challenger" 4-6-6-4, UP 3985 and "Northern" 4-8-4, UP 844) as well as active E9s (UP 951 and 949) and a DDA40X (UP 6936). In 2012, they announced they wanted to bring one of the eight surviving "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4 steam locomotives back into active service. None of the eight survivors has been capable of running under steam in decades. In 2013, UP announced that UP 4014 would be reacquired from the RailGiants Train Museum in Pomona, CA. In January 2014, it was moved to UP's West Colton Yard. Then, in late April 2014, it started its journey to Cheyenne to be rebuilt and reactivated. Here is a shot of the unit on display in Las Vegas. I happened to be in town on a business trip and things worked out perfect for a quick stop. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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