4014

 

That's Big Boy's engine number for the Union Pacific Railroad. This was as close as I could get with my longest lens when it was at St. Louis Union Station Saturday. The thing exudes power.                

BIG BOY

 

Got it. Big Boy, discussed yesterday, left downtown St. Louis and passed through the suburb where I live, Webster Groves, on its way out of town. Lots of room. It is hard to get a sense of scale of this thing unless you look at it broadside.                   

TRAIN TIME

 

During World War II, the Union Pacific Railroad built a group of enormous locomotives to move material, known as Big Boys. Only one of them, Number 4014, is still operational. https://www.up.com/about-us/history/steam/big-boy-4014 Every few years the company trots it out for a coast to coast tour, stopping in St. Louis yesterday. The viewing area was so poorly laid out that no one could get beyond the front of the unit and the crush of people was intolerable. This other engine, with its semiquincentennial theme, had plenty of room.   

Big Boy will pass close to our home this morning on its way to Kansas City so I will see if I can get a better shot.         

CULTURAL RELIC

 

Ah, American cuisine. This is one of the odds and ends in the City Museum’s collection. Big Boy (originally Bob’s Big Boy in Southern California - no relation) is a fast food burger chain whose fortunes have waxed and waned. I’ve seen a few in Los Angeles. There is apparently one left around here, open limited  hours. The sandwich and the waistline says it all.              

BIG BOY

A last image from the City Museum before we, quite literally, move on. Variations on this figure marked fast food restaurants through much of the U.S., although the numbers are in decline. It started as Bob's Big Boy in the area where we will be tomorrow night but had many different first names from franchisees around the country. Here they were Shoney's Big Boy, although the company eventually dropped the last two words.

In the air and on the road tomorrow with new images to follow.           

ENGINEERING

Part of the mechanism that moves the wheels on the Big Boy locomotive. I have no idea how it actually works. There is a big water tank and boiler, formerly powered by coal and now by diesel fuel. That creates steam which makes something or other turn, which in turn is connected to a series of levers and wheels. That's as far as I go with the concept.                 

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?

The Big Boy locomotive didn't travel alone. Several other cars trailed behind, including a modern engine for some extra push. The companion cars didn't seem to have a purpose other than to show off the primary colors of the Union Pacific railroad. Why or how would you experience the UP? Private rail companies don't carry passengers in this country.              

I HEAR THAT TRAIN A-COMMIN' IT'S COMMIN' ROUND THE BEND

As the massive Big Boy locomotive left St. Louis it made a stop Monday morning in the suburb of Kirkwood, a town big enough to have an Amtrak station. There was quite a crowd but I squeezed my way to the front, looking for a clear shot. The backlighting was terrible but this will do. 

As the train pulled to a stop right in front of me it let go a mighty blast of its whistle. Ow! The sound meter on my phone said it was 113 db but I bet the reading would have been higher if the phone hadn't been tucked into a holster. Half a minute of that can cause ear damage according to some web page I found (so it must be true). I haven't experienced the like since maybe the last Led Zeppelin concert I attended.