UP 4014 is kicking up just a little bit of smoke as the train charges south on the main track just north of Platteville. The train is making track speed down the Greeley Sub, usually 50-60 MPH in most locations.
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UP 4014 and train just passed by the Suncor Oil Refinery and is headed into town on the Outbound track. Once arriving at 36th Street Yard, the train will wye and then head to North Yard via the Belt Line.
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Ed Dickens leans out the window of UP 4014, looking down the rails ahead, in charge of the 762,000-pound (not including the tender) 4-8-8-4 Big Boy locomotive.
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Ed Dickens and another member of steam crew sit on the engineers side of the cab of UP 4014. Ed is currently in control of the engine, left hand ready to pull the whistle. The numbers beneath "4014" on the cab indicate the following:
4-8-8-4: Wheel arrangement
1: Production Batch (1st, in this case)
68: Wheel Diameter (68-inch drivers)
24 24 / 32: Cylinder Dimensions
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Right at Pullman Jct, UP 1616 passes by as UP 4014 and the passenger special make a reverse move from the Limon Subdivision back into 36th Street Yard. The train has wyed so it will be pointed north. UP 1616 was originally UP 4015, which had been paired with UP 4014 since it was restored to operation. Same unit now, just a new number and paint scheme!
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UP 4014 back up west on the Limon Sub, running around the south leg of the wye, entering into UP's 36th Street Yard. It has to run around this wye so it can head back north to the UP Jct and run west across the Belt Line. Unfortunately, the north leg of the wye at UP Jct is too tight, so the Big Boy cannot run around it.
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UP 4014, the Big Boy is 132 feet and 9 inches in length. It was built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1941. A total of 25 Big Boys were built for Union Pacific between 1941 and 1944.
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UP 4014 slowly crosses over the South Platte river on the Belt Industrial Lead. The Big Boy is considered a high/wide move, and as such, it is restricted to 10 MPH when it crosses over this particular bridge.
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UP's steam program really is a class act. All the way down to placing flags on the nose of the Big Boy as it rolls on its excursions. The American flag and Colorado flag looks fantastic on the point of the train.
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UP 1616 was recently painted in this Abraham Lincoln tribute scheme. The SD70M was previously UP 4015, which frequently travelled around with the Big Boy.
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UP's Big Boy will be staying in the storage yard at North Yard overnight and tomorrow (Friday), before returning to Cheyenne on Saturday. The train came across Bypass 1 and crossed over at C&S Jct so it could then make this reverse move down the North Yard siding, into the storage yard.
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Perhaps, one day, UP 4014 will actually make a run over the Moffat Tunnel Sub. That day hasn't come yet, and the move to get into the North Yard storage yard, necessitating the Big Boy to move a little bit west on the Moffat Tunnel Sub is the best we've got! Here, Big Boy is backing down the North Yard siding, heading into the storage yard.
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After a 5 1/2 hour run from Cheyenne down the Greeley Sub to Denver, this year's southbound UP steam excursion has almost completed its reverse move, backing into the storage yard at North Yard for the night.
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