Moving Big Boy No. 4014 To Cheyenne Wyoming For Restoration!

Published Feb 2, 2015 By Robert Blue

In 2013, Union Pacific Railroad began the project of restoring 4-8-8-4 Big Boy No. 4014 to her original working condition!

Housed at the rail museum in Pomona, California, Union Pacific began the process of moving UP 4014 (Big Boy) to her Cheyenne, Wyoming Shops for complete restoration.

This locomotive is so big, that they had to construct a special area to work on her where she would fit!

This clip covers the first phase of moving the giant locomotive 53 miles to Union Pacific’s facility in Colton, California where they could begin “prepping” the locomotive for her 1,000 mile trip to Union Pacific’s Steam renovation facility in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Note: The clip contains a narrative until 3:43 before you can see the actual movement of Big Boy beginning!

In late April, 2014, this 4-8-8-4 Big Boy No. 4014 began her 11 day trek to Cheyenne, Wyoming including a total of 27 scheduled photo stops for her railfans.

Union Pacific built 25 of these Big Boy monsters back in 1941 through 1944!

Although operators sometimes called her Fat Girl, the Class 4000 4-8-8-4 was originally called Big Boy due to a worker that chalked the name on her fire box during construction!

Known for their size, power and reliability, the Class 4000 4-8-8-4 was the largest and most powerful steam locomotives ever built.

Number 4014 is currently undergoing restoration at Union Pacific’s Cheyenne Wyoming facility for steam locomotives and hopefully will be out on the tracks again by 2017.