Steam Train Restoration Equipment Cheyenne, Wyoming

Machine Shop
#1

I stumbled upon this restoration video because I’m a stamp collector and USPS is releasing a Train Station Stamp in 2023. I was doing some research on the stamp and found the video in the process.

This is the “Big Boy” restoration shop in Cheyenne. Big Boy is one of Union Pacific’s Steam Powered Locomotives. Big Boy #4014 was restored. It is a 132 foot long 1.2 million pound steam locomotive. The URL below gives much more detail.

Most of them are in museums across the country, but Big Boy #4014 was restored over 2.5 years and returned to the track in 2022. It is a Monster Steam Engine.

This video shows the machine shop where the restoration occurred. The lathes, mills and saws are amazing. If you’re a bit of a history buff like me and you love trains you’ll find this video fascinating:

It is really amazing what a team of machinists can produce. It is even more amazing that some of the 1940s equipment is still being used to restore the Big Boy.

5 Likes
#2

If you ever in Cheyene, there is one of this same series in a city park, but I forget which one.

There is one (indoors!) in Denver you can climb into at The Forney Museum of Transportation

Oz (in DFW)

3 Likes
#3

Outstanding share!
My wife & I have travelled (locally, e.g. Marshall TX) to see it in action, and it’s quite a sight!
If you want something closer to home, #4018 is right here in the Metroplex (inop, but you can see it up close!) at the Museum of the American Railroad.
A very short yootoob of the #4018 on the move en route to Frisco

1 Like
#4

Big Boy in Cheyenne is in Holiday Park, west of downtown. You can see it from Lincolnway.

I was there with my mom and the crowd when they drove it in. They had put down tracks. Later they took up the tracks except for the stretch the train is on. I’m guessing I was four years old.

Several years later, on April 1st, it was reported on the radio in Cheyenne that Big Boy had been stolen!

My mom also took me to the crowd that greeted Vice President Johnson outside at the airport. I shook his hand! (Lyndon, not Andrew.)

5 Likes
#5

Had it been true, it would have been on heckuva trick.

2 Likes
#6

Here is 4014 rolling through Denton in 2021 (my video - took my daughter to see):

3 Likes
#7

Is there a way to find out when and where Big Boy train engines run? Like I said, the last time I saw a moving one I was four years old or so.

1 Like
#8

You betcha!
(Technically, not just now, it seems :frowning: but that’s less fun)
UP usually posts their Steam Locomotive (including the Big Boy N0. 4014) schedule on their website:

But it seems some delays in scheduling have happened, and it looks like 2023 hasn’t been made at all. But sign up for the Steam Club & they’ll email you!
And of course, as noted on that page, there’s a Face B00|< group.

No. 4014 is on the move again!
#9

Now I’ve had to re-watch that video. The amazing convergence of “old” tech (ca 1940s) and modern CNC is amazing!
Plus, with all this modern tech, one is even more amazed at the work of the Big Boys’ precursors. Can you imagine what it took to put together a steam locomotive in, say, 1850, let alone keep it operating? Simply amazing!
Thank you again @coloneldan for the share!

#10

A post was split to a new topic: No. 4014 is on the move again!