Union Pacific 'Big Boy'  

I think this is the coolest rich guy hobby I’ve ever seen. Forget a boat. This takes the cake.

4:25 that bell roll tho

Just think, here in the States we'll have the 1:1 scale version of sister loco 4014 running soon!

The real 4005 was the only Big Boy to ever derail in revenue service. A misaligned switch by a track worker sent her tumbling onto her right side. She was ultimately repaired and returned to service, and is preserved at the Forney Museum in Colorado.

The Union Pacific "Big Boy" is an engineering marvel. This model is no less. The details on such a scale are astonishing. Simply beautiful.

I too had the privilege of ridding behind this at Dobwalls, Cornwall UK. The Dodwalls track had considerable inclines as well as tunnels and the smaller locos had to work quite hard pulling upwards of 50 people. Compared to other narrow gauge style locos the Big Boy looked quite small but of course with great length and it had little difficulty setting off with even more people (every body wanted to ride!) with just a modest beat. It was coal fired then and seeing the fire being dropped at the end of the day was quite a sight. Nice to see it still looking in such perfect condition.

We’ve seen 4014 here in the US operating on excursion runs but this thing is so technically impressive at this scale! Amazing!!

I love it how train blokes looks the same the world over. Always the look about a true enthusiast. Also that model is an absolute wonder. Kudos to the those who built it and those who keep her going now in NZ.

Good to see 4005 Big Boy model is still serving its owner well. I was the pattern maker working for the company involved in the building of the model in the eighties, in the UK and its good to read the comments regarding the workmanship

I saw this locomotive in 1994. It was during the NMRA National Convention at Portland, Oregon. We were told that ours was the first public group to be allowed to visit. Tom couldn’t find a US builder willing to take on a project as large and as time consuming as the Big Boy. An outfit in England accepted the challenge. It took two years to complete the project. He visited the build a couple of times a year. Not including shipping and handling, the locomotive cost $250,000. It was packed into a 20 foot shipping container for the trip to New Jersey. From there it was trucked to Oregon. The Big Boy was pulling a 40 car PFE reefer train. The railroad itself was rather impressive. He said that you should expect to get some strange looks when you apply for a permit to build a 410’ long tunnel on your property, with a vertical air shaft halfway through... They just figured that he some sort of survivalist. Next was a 400 foot long bridge that was 18 feet high, and crossing a small stream. His workshop had digital controlled drill presses and at least one digital lathe. Everyone in the group was in awe because this was not your normal home work shop in 1994. We saw the beginnings of a K-36, 7 1/2” gauge and 2.5” scale. Tom wasn’t satisfied with the coal available in the US. He determined how much coal he would need for the rest of his life, and ordered twice as much as he needed. He imported a 20 foot container full of coal. He kept half. He sold 5lb bags of the extra coal via mail order. The income paid for all of the coal. He did not like the rail to tie fasteners available at the time, so he invented a better one. ʎɹɹɐ˥

When the live steam model receives as much care as her full size sister getting rebuilt in Cheyenne...

4004 was my play toy! I grew up in Cheyenne Wyoming and my Brother In Law William Bill Riley Sr operated out of NP Nebraska dedicated runs to Cheyenne Wyoming!! He even operated 8444 before she became 844 that you see today!! My dear Brother Bill Posthumously received the extremely Rare Golden Spike Award! You can see more,much more at the Golden Spike Museum in Bailey Yard North Platte Nebraska This video is incredible! Thank you for sharing this video with us and the history!! Yes us kids would love to ring the bell on 4004 Big Boy Steam Locomotive long ago Prior the days of fenced off!

Just think when 4014 takes her first breath the world will seem a little happier. I salute Union Pacific and all those men and women involved in her restoration 🚂🚂👍👍

Awesome. A bit of Big Boy trivia for the #4005. The #4005 is the only Big Boy out of the 25 built which was involved in a derailment crash in 1953. The locomotive, tender, and first 18 cars derailed killing the engineer and firemen. The #4005 was restored and placed back in revenue service.

The locomotive was built by Severn Lamb in Straford-upon-Avon, England. A group of friends and I were able to visit their workshops in 1982 and saw 4005 almost complete up close and personal. It's a seriously impressive machine.

That whistle on the live steam model sounds beautiful. Nice video!

Man this video brings back some childhood memories. I grew up in England and when I was 6 or 7 years old this locomotives sister 4008 was running at 'Dobwalls Adventure Park' in Cornwall, UK. I don't know what happened to 4008 but its great to see 4005 in gleaming running order. Can't beat a bit of nostalgia :)

I work for union Pacific, can't wait to see 4014 go by our yard someday. Very nice piece you have down there

An absolutely brilliant model of the great giant! Thanks for sharing.

Many fond memories of riding behind this beautiful masterpiece at Tom's place... so nice to see it finally back up and running. I must admit some sadness at knowing I will likely never set my own eyes upon it again, or any of the other magnificent collection.

Makes my one of three 4005s in G-Scale look tiny in comparison! Magnificent!

The 4005 is a tribute to all involved, from the original designers and builders of the prototype that inspired this fine model to those who work and maintain her today.

Nice to see Big Boy has fans outside the US.

Excellent production, what an amazing locomotive, and to see all that scale rolling stock is a privilege.

Watching during COVID outbreak, helps keep my mind off the bad, and the pain, thank you for your content!

Since the original locomotive is being rebuilt, UP will forever have updated blueprints of it now. 👍👍

Nice to see the "Spokane, Portland,& Seattle" car in your collection.

Great ! Very realistic model . ❤ From India

that... is a beauty.. thank you for posting this video... please make more showcasing this big boy.

The real UP 4005 lives at the Forney Transportation Museum in Denver, CO. I've seen it several times, and even dormant the Big Boy remains an impressive machine!

An amazing piece of work. Congratulations.

RIP Mike...I didn't know you, but I'll bless you nonetheless Mate!! May your boiler always be full of steam & the tracks ahead always clear & straight. GOD BLESS from Texas!!

Wow, how nice to engineer that fantastic locomotive. Brilliant.

Thanks for the awesome video. What a great engine. Hard to believe that someone could make this Big Boy to this scale. Wow, I really enjoyed this.

Absolutely fantastic!!! What a beautiful reproduction of a great locomotive!!!

Nice to see it in a new home and very appreciated.

I really like how they seem to capture the deep tone of the full size big boy whistle .

WOW. A lot of kilometers on that engine from the UK to US to NZ plus all the decades running on rails. Superb video. RIP, Mike Treloar...

What a beautiful work! Thanks for the video.

That is a work of art. And New Zealand looks so much like where I grew up, the San Francisco bay area. You're so very fortunate to have such a beautiful place and amazing collection!

Awesome video! I LOVE this train!

I rode behind this many times as a kid in Dobwalls Cornwall, im glad to see it being used again

Excellent training. Cheers!

That is one beautiful train. What amazing detail.

One of the amazing things to me is... that the originals were designed and built using slide rules and skilled machinists. No computers involved at all.

Well done video, much appreciated!

This. Was. Wonderful.

That is beautiful! Good luck with your new locomotive!

Fabulous. I was privileged to see the full size #4005 in the Forney Museum of Transportation in Denver, CO in May 2018. What a mammoth machine. I was also lucky enough to see #4014 being restored in the UP Steamshop in Cheyenne, WY, also in May. I’ll now have to cross the pond from Sydney to see your magnificent machine in action.

Great video...wonderful piece of history...The 4014 will be ready pretty soon state side!!! Make my day!

This is an amazing model!! Now, you need a 7.25" model of the DM&IR Yellowstone and the C&O Allegheny.

Thank you!

It pleases me to see that such machines are kept operating by dedicated folks such as those shown here, and all the others behind the scenes.

Wow! Subbed! What an amazing locomotive.

Very nice replica of the 1 to 1 scale sitting in the museum were I volunteer. TTU - two thumbs up

Happy New Year very nice looking locomotive.

Great video Corban - well done.

Aw man this model is a fking beauty, wish I could see it in person

Hi guys at VGP , Many Thanks for sharing your video on this massive ( scaled down ) loco it "is" impressive to say the least ; I just would like to mention that a loco that's in the background of your video shot at the 13:38 mark ( near the end of your clip ) was actually made in Perth Western Australia & called the "Oakford Express" & is owned by a person called Russell , if you happen to re-visit this miniature railway that's in this video - please find Russell & say Hi from Kevin in W.A. as I'm in charge of the Cohunu Park miniature Railway where his loco used to run quite some time ago ; keep up the great work!

amazing work

What a wonderful piece of engineering. If there medals for such things, the builder should get the gold one.

Absolutely Beautiful!

Loving this

Great video of a mammoth machine. Thanks for sharing. I liked and subbed to your channel. Happy New Years

Thanks for the tremendous support on the video. I just wanted to clarify that this is NOT the 'Big Boy' that ran many years ago at Dobwalls in the United Kingdom. That was #4008, the sister locomotive to #4005 and was a slightly larger scale too, but both were built by Severn-Lamb. Also, I am aware that this is neither the biggest nor most powerful locomotive in the world, or even the United States. My wording in the narration at the beginning of the video was not the best, my apologies. Enjoy the video!

Awesome , Thanks

Absolutely amazing beast, and in beautiful New Zealand no less. I've seen Big Boys in LA (4014 before restoration), Cheyenne and at Steamtown in both Bellows Falls and now in Scranton, PA.

Wow wow impressive in small scale. I would fly to New Zealand to see this.

Very nice and accurate model of the original giant. Congratulations to the New Zelander team for the maintenance of the train.

extraordinaire !! très belle réalisation !! félicitation vraiment !

So cool!

NICE VID!! I HOPE TO BE AT CHEYENNE FOR THE FIRST RUN OF 4014!! KEEP THEM ROLLING BROTHERS!! 👍👍

Gorgeous!

Awesome video love the details on the engine ‘n

Beautiful! Love to see vid of 4005 running without humans!! Visited the real #4005 in Denver Colorado. Cheers!

Wonderful; model of a truly inspiring prototype.

That's really a beautiful train, very large.

Awesome locomotive!!

Amazing!

Yeah, you got me, but this is one time I'm not going to scream clickbait. This is amazing!

The Union Pacific railroad has restored the Big Boy #4014 back into operation and made to run on oil, not coal. Yes, they were some of the biggest and most powerful steam locomotives ever built. The Big Boys were also had a hand in moving military equipment across the states in WWII over the Rocky Mountains near the west coast.

The level of detail on this model is unbelievable, up to the exact copies of the butterfly fire doors and the shutters over the stack. No concessions have been made to improve ease of operation as a model, all is almost to the exact scale. In operation the sound of the exhaust and the whistle match perfect to the impression of mass and power the model makes.

Today the big boy is running. It is unbelievable. Never thought it could happen but it did. This scale down model sounds a lot like her except bigger.

Love the Big Boy - hope when UP begins operating it again next year I can ride behind it. And I'm glad the whistle wasn't downsized - it probably isn't as elaborate as the real thing but it sounds really good. The Tennessee Valley Rail Museum in Chattanooga, TN (USA) has a 1/25 scale model of a NY Central J3a Hudson (non-streamlined). They have it in a glass case in the depot, but it's claimed to be fully operational steam locomotive. Wish they could build a 1/25th scale track so they could restore/operate it as was done here.

She's a model? Not! She's just a scaled down 4000 and a very beautiful piece of engineering. Thank you for sharing this video.

Absolutely beautiful. It looks almost exactly like the real deal! It just needs to be enlarged to standard gauge and it'll be perfect! :)

Wow, that is cool!

Absolute fantastic

That's amazing

That is really cool

Mate you deserve more subscribers

That is awesome and it even has a whistle similar to the real thing!

The static display of 4005 is in the Forney collection in Denver. I was one of the few who was able to sit in the cab where the type of the other Engineer controlled the Big Boy. Since I have been collecting HO consists and prime movers, adding #4005 was easy I have re-created a complete SuperChief of that time.

A beautiful Locomotive

G'Day Mate! I can think of NO other replication that compares or exceeds your genius by putting this "Monster" together. I'm new to the game here and am having trouble understanding the intricacies of how one builds one of these from scratch...Might make a nice video!

I like how this even has an actual steam whistle.

Very impressive. Looks just like the real thing.

Nice job Corban. Even has proof that I have driven it even if it was in reverse.

Hi , My locomotive featured in this video was built by Severn Lamb.It was commissioned by Tom Miller who supervised its construction with photos of the full size locomotive to insure the loco was a true replica.The scale is 1.6.It is not the locomotive that ran at Dobwells which I understand is 2.5 scale and is an out line only with not as much detail.I am truly honored to be the new custodian of this beautiful locomotive.Thankyou for watching.Cheers Shane Marshall.

Man it's cool as hell that the whistle is exactly the same