A couple of years ago I posted clips from this program in a video titled "The Largest Steam Locomotive on Earth." Since that time, it has reached 2 million views. The inaugural run of the restored Big boy for UP's Spike 150 Celebration back in 2019 was an amazing event in so many ways that it is worth sharing again, this time in its entirety. I hope you enjoy it!
Fantastic video, best ever, thank you so much, Pete, in Wolverhampton, UK, too old and feeble to get about myself anymore but you have transported my mind and feelings, thanks again
Well done. My late husband Trains magazine Editor Jim Wrinn and myself rode in the 4014 and 844 cabs on May 5. I could see us in your video here and there. That's a great memory for me now. Thank you for sharing this. Cate
Keep up the good job and great program thank you for showing 4014 Big Boy I hope you show more of this beast. My favorite part was Peru hill with that black smoke showing off power.
@31:04 I loved how her approach was silent and transitioned to a living, breathing thing with all of the of its existence. Very well done, gorgeous video!
Watching this has brought me to tears...not only because it reminds me of my childhood love of trains, but because to me this represents the embodiment of the American spirit.
Absolutely fantastic video. I remember purchasing this when it was originally released back in 2019, and I still have it along with many of your productions at home. It's great to see this video on RU-vid. Keep up the good work. Best regards Rowan.
Outstanding video! Only the Union Pacific can claim to have the largest steam locomotive in the world, without taking anything away from the others it owns.
My wife and I chased it from Evanston to Ogden and were at the celebration in Ogden on the 9th as part of our honeymoon. We’d been planning a westward trip for our honeymoon, but when the dates wound up lining up with the chance to see this train, we altered our route significantly to allow us to photograph it.
I saw the Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 for the first time under operation but I couldn't get a good picture in front of it, though me and my family had a good time in Ogden. The next day we went to the Promontory Summit to see 2 4-4-0 American Type locomotives UP No. 119, and Central Pacific Jupiter No. 60. It was an incredible experience!
16:53 Too bad the wreck of 4005 was never mentioned. But it's okay. Maybe there will be another Sherman hill documentary or another Big Boy 4014 Documentary by 7idea.
That derailment illustrates a problem with those big steam locomotives. They were so big and heavy, they were often restricted as to where they could go.
As someone who spent their adult working life burning coal to generate power, what fuel are they using in the various steam trains still running? A white plume that disappears is a big thumbs up as the Firemen running those locomotives know what they are about. My guess is they are burning a clean liquid fuel as opposed to coal that would have been way more available than heavy fuel oil at the turn of the 20th Century. Liquid fuels have way more BTU's per cu ft, it's cleaner and ash is almost nonexistent. White steam that disappears is good. It is water, not smoke.
This documentary is like a son or grandson of an old steam engine documentary called Union Pacific's Last of the Giants and I don't even know who narrated that show.
One of my favorite railroads. I often wonder what would the reaction be like if UPPR 4014 goes to places like New York, Washington D.C., New Orleans, Atlanta or Florida.
They would have to convince NS or CSX to let them take it on their tracks and don’t really see them doing that for a publicly tour. This from someone who doesn’t live within 1000 miles of a UP track and deep in the middle of CSX and NS territory and would love it
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*Big Boy Locomotive = the same weight as a Fully Loaded Boeing 777-300ER* *Big Boy Locomotive + Tender = the same weight as a Fully Loaded Airbus A380*
In the Echo Canyon shot, I was surprised to see an old pole line, with the cross arms. That is ancient technology that I used to work with, for Canadian National, back in the mid 70s. Each of those pairs, 5 per cross arm, could carry 15 or 16 analog voice channels. By today's standard, that's downright pathetic, with just about everything moving to IP over fibre.
![Return of the Big Boy [Full Length Program]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
