Big Boy

“	Of all the locomotives in the long history of the rails, one of the greatest was called "Big Boy", a name by which the world knew an engine that closed a memorable era in Western railroading. It was the last of the giants.	”
	— Narrator, Last of the Giants

Big Boy (he/it)
Union Pacific Railroad character
Created by	American Locomotive Company
Designed by	SGuySMW (wiki) / S-Guy#9186 (Discord) Otto Jabelmann (actual designer)
Voiced by	Hancock Long-Bell 3-Chime Whistle

Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 is a contestant in The Wiki Camp 2 who uses he/it pronouns, and also plays In a Nutshell. From Cheyenne, Wyoming, he is one of a type of simple articulated 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive manufactured by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) between 1941 and 1944 and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad in revenue service until 1962.

Big Boy and his 24 brothers, also called "Big Boy", were built to haul freight over the Wasatch Range between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming. In the late 1940s, they were reassigned to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they hauled freight over Sherman Hill to Laramie, Wyoming. They were the only locomotives to use a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement: four-wheel leading truck for stability entering curves, two sets of eight driving wheels and a four-wheel trailing truck to support the large firebox.

Today, No. 4014 is one of eight that survive. He was re-acquired by Union Pacific, and between 2014 to 2019 it was rebuilt to operating condition for the 150th anniversary of the First transcontinental railroad. He thus regained the title as the largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive in the world. His seven surviving brothers are on static display in museums across the country. No. 4014 is also the Ambassador for his home country, the United States, in the Society of Steam, a top secret international organization.

Coverage (TWC2)

On September 10, 2022, during the gathering of contestants, Big Boy mysteriously disappeared out of Union Pacific's Cheyenne, WY shops and into an unknown land with the rest of the contestants. He was noted for being very big for a contestant. Meanwhile back in Cheyenne, it was speculated that his companion, No. 844, has been chosen to replace Big Boy with his excursions, although chances are a clone could be there. Big Boy is now based in New Cheyenne because he easily feels at home just by the name. However, he doesn't know what to do with the fact that he is living in a parallel universe with completely unfamiliar railways.

On September 30, 20 days after his first appearance, Big Boy found out he was tied with Sir Feet and Witch's Cauldron for 79th place in the challenge with 52 points each. He wasn't exactly sure what it meant when it was just The Divine Goddess ranking character pages, which were the entries for Challenge 1. Despite being an incredibly large steam locomotive, he still went to the funeral of Mark Genuine, although it isn't exactly sure whether or not he died as a result of elimination. The next day (October 1), he was notified about joining 8 of his new friends in what would later be known as Team 17.

On November 4, Big Boy's team was given 33.4 points after the teams were made. Surprisingly, his team would be very loyal in the near future, as they all saved each other from elimination.

On January 1, 2023, Big Boy was given 125.5 points after, somehow, his driver contributed to a massive war, yet miraculously, everyone came out unharmed. Days later, his driver didn't realize the rest of his teammates were discussing on who to vote for, so they chose Miso, who got no votes other than his. He regrets it to this day.

On February 14, his driver made up his own invention, the Wiki Piano, with simple article editing skills. The invention was among the top 50% in terms of The Divine Goddess's approval. However, work is still in progress, and the Wiki Piano is set to release in a year or so.

To this day, Big Boy is still out there somewhere.

Official Character Guide biography

No contestant—not even T Series Car 5134—can match the sheer size of Big Boy, the world's largest steam locomotive! Well, Staffa Island can. He was built in 1941 to haul massive amounts of freight across the mountains for his beloved Union Pacific Railroad in the United States.

Since his restoration in 2019, he has been touring throughout the country, intriguing millions along the way. Somehow, in 2022, he teleported to The Wiki Camp 2, where he can be seen to this day. It's unclear whether or not it's actually him or it's a clone, or whether he is still in America... even if it's also a clone.

Did You Know?: On December 17, 2022, he hauled a massive train loaded purely with hot chocolate across Wikiland to promote Team 17's delicious hot chocolate.

Official Trainspotter's Guide biography

The steam age in the United States reached its pinnacle in upon the arrival of the ultimate workhorse, the Union Pacific Railroad's one and only Big Boys. At 1,208,750 lbs, they are the heaviest steam engines of all time, surpassing their Challenger cousins by around 200,000 lbs.

The Big Boys are the first and only locomotives to have a wheel arrangement of 4-8-8-4. They were the perfect engines for the job of pulling massive freight trains through the mountains of Wyoming and Utah, especially during World War II. Their sheer size and power resulted in eight locomotives being preserved, out of a total of 25. In 2019, No. 4014 was restored by Union Pacific and continues to provide mainline excursions to this day.

Did You Know?: No. 4014 is reportedly a contestant in The Wiki Camp 2. However, there is much debate as to whether it's a clone or the original (with the clone being in Cheyenne).

History

Design

In 1936, Union Pacific introduced the Challenger-type (4-6-6-4) locomotives on its main line over the Wasatch Range between Green River and Ogden. For most of the route, the maximum grade is 0.82% in either direction, but the climb eastwards from Ogden, into the Wasatch Range, reached 1.14%. Hauling a 3,600-short-ton (3,300 t; 3,200-long-ton) freight train demanded double heading and helper operations, which slowed service. So Union Pacific decided to design a new locomotive that could handle the run by itself: faster and more powerful than the compound 2-8-8-0s that UP tried after World War I, able to pull long trains at a sustained speed of 60 miles per hour (100 km/h) once past mountain grades.

A Union Pacific design team led by Otto Jabelmann, the head of the Research and Mechanical Standards section of the Union Pacific's Mechanical Department, worked with ALCO (the American Locomotive Company) to re-examine their Challenger locomotives. The team found that the railroad's goals could be achieved by enlarging the Challenger firebox to about 235 by 96 inches (5.97 m × 2.44 m) (about 150 sq ft or 14 m2), increasing boiler pressure to 300 psi, adding four driving wheels, and reducing the size of the driving wheels from 69 to 68 in (1,753 to 1,727 mm). The new locomotive was carefully designed not to exceed an axle loading of 67,800 lb (30,800 kg), and achieved the maximum possible starting tractive effort with a factor of adhesion of 4.0. It was designed to travel smoothly and safely at 80 miles per hour.

To achieve these new engineering goals, the Challenger locomotive was "comprehensively redesigned from first principles," wrote locomotive historian Tom Morrison. The overall design simplified some aspects of previous locomotive designs and added complexity elsewhere. Compounding, booster, and feed water heaters were eliminated, as were Baker valve gear and limited cut-off. But the "proliferation of valves and gauges on the backhead showed that running a Big Boy was an altogether more complicated and demanding task for the crew than running previous existing locomotives," Morrison wrote.

The 4-8-8-4 class series, originally rumoured to be called the "Wasatch", after the Wasatch Mountains, acquired its nickname after an unknown ALCO worker scrawled "Big Boy" in chalk on the front of No. 4000, then under construction as the first of its class. The name stuck, and is now revered around the world, even in The Wiki Camp 2.

Big Boy is articulated, like the Mallet locomotive design, though lacking the compounding of the Mallet. He and his brothers were built with a wide margin of reliability and safety, and normally operated well below 60 miles per hour (100 km/h) in freight service. Peak drawbar horsepower was reached at about 41 mph (66 km/h). The maximum drawbar pull measured during 1943 tests was 138,200 lbf (615,000 N) while starting a train.

Big Boy has the longest engine body of any reciprocating steam locomotive, longer than two buses. He is also the heaviest reciprocating steam locomotive ever built (along with his class), the combined weight of the 772,250 lb (350,290 kg) engine and 436,500 lb (198,000 kg) tender outweighed a Boeing 747. There was some speculation that the first series of Chesapeake and Ohio 2-6-6-6 “Allegheny” locomotives, built by the Lima Locomotive Works in 1941, may have weighed as much as 778,200 lb (353,000 kg), exceeding Big Boy and his class, but subsequent re-weighs of early-production H8s, under close scrutiny by the builder and the railroad, found them to be less than 772,250 lb (350,290 kg).

Construction

The American Locomotive Company manufactured 25 Big Boy locomotives for Union Pacific: 20 in 1941 and five in 1944. Along with the Challengers, Big Boy and his class arrived on the scene just as traffic was surging in preparation for American participation in World War II.

Operation

Before converting to oil, Big Boy had large grates to burn the low-quality bituminous coal supplied by Union Pacific-owned mines in Wyoming. Coal was carried from his tender to the firebox by a stoker motor, a steam engine driving an auger.

Speaking of oil, as an experiment, Big Boy's brother, No. 4005, was converted to burn oil in 1946. Unlike a similar effort with the Challengers, the conversion failed due to uneven heating in his large, single-burner firebox. No. 4005 was converted back to coal firing in 1948. Another short-term experiment was the fitting of smoke deflectors on another brother, No. 4019, similar to those found on the railroad's FEF Series, as well as some of their Challengers. These were later removed, as the class's nozzle and blower in the smoke box could blow smoke high enough to keep engineers’ lines of sight clear.

Big Boy and his class were held in high regard by crews, who found them sure-footed and more “user friendly” than other motive power. He was a capable machine; his rated hauling tonnage was increased several times over the years. But postwar increases in the price of coal and labour, along with the advent of efficient, cost-effective diesel-electric power, spelled the end of his class's operational lives. Nonetheless, they were among the last steam locomotives withdrawn from service on the Union Pacific. The last revenue train hauled by one of Big Boy's class ended its run early in the morning on July 21, 1959. Most were stored operational until 1961 and four remained in operational condition at Green River, Wyoming until 1962. Their duties were assumed by diesel locomotives and gas turbine-electric locomotives.

In 2019, Union Pacific completed the restoration of No. 4014 and placed it in excursion service. He was sent on a tour in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. In 2022, he somehow made his way to The Wiki Camp 2.

Accidents and incidents

• On April 27, 1953, brother No. 4005 was pulling a freight train through southern Wyoming when he jumped a switch track at 50 mph (80 km/h), throwing the engine onto its left side and derailing its tender and the first 18 freight cars of his 62-car train. The engineer and fireman were killed on impact; the brakeman died of severe burns in a hospital a few days later. His tender destroyed his cab, and the loads from the 18 derailed cars were scattered. Despite the heavy damage, he was repaired by Union Pacific at its Cheyenne facility and returned to service until 1962.
• On May 16, 2019, No. 4014 partially derailed, with two axles from one set of drive wheels falling into the gauge, while entering the yard at Rawlins, Wyoming; his derailed drive wheels were returned to the rails within three hours.

Preservation

Most of Big Boy's brothers were scrapped, but seven remain on static display—two indoors and five outdoors, under the elements. Big Boy himself was rebuilt to operating condition by Union Pacific's steam program.

Trivia

• He and T Series Car 5134 are the only two railway vehicles in the competition.
• An episode of The Wiki Camp: Official Trainspotter's Guide is dedicated to his restoration and excursions in 2019.

Gallery

The first image is his voting icon.

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  His voting icon.

• TWC Official Trainspotter's Guide Cover.png

  The cover of the 2023 version of The Wiki Camp: Official Trainspotter's Guide: Real World Edition, which features Big Boy (far left, second row).