FOSTORIA — Having grown up between two sets of railroad tracks — literally between two sets of tracks — it was like old home week waiting for Big Boy 4014.
Viewing the monstrously huge locomotive was a once-in-a-lunchtime experience. A very leisurely lunchtime. About three hours’ worth.
I hadn’t planned to drive 94 miles to watch a train. From my boyhood home on the West Side of Cleveland, I could have walked half a block to accomplish that. Fostoria served as a diversion on my road trip to Lake Erie.
I’d heard that the 1.2 million-pound locomotive was passing through on that particular day (June 6) and thought it would be fun to photograph it. I was wrong. About 13,000 people — roughly the equivalent of the population of Fostoria — crammed into the Iron Triangle Rail Park for what was billed as a whistle stop.
It was also billed as “Woodstock for Rail Fans.” Think comic book convention on steroids.
Had I known about the huge crowd, I would have sought out an isolated crossing in the middle of flatland Ohio — or better still a cow pasture — and taken my chances of getting action shots of the train as it chugged by at 40 mph.
When I parked my truck on Columbus Avenue, 150 feet from the tracks, there were about 500 people milling around or hunkered down in folding chairs in the railroad-themed park. That was around 11 a.m. The eastbound Big Boy wouldn’t roll in till 2:20 p.m.
I staked out a spot on the north side of the tracks and positioned my camera on a tripod next to a pylon the railroad cops had placed to cordon off the area — which meant I’d have a clear shot of the massive locomotive as it rolled by. I was hoping for a dramatic photo of the oncoming engine — blasts of steam spewing from its undercarriage.
Which might have happened, if the crowd hadn’t surged past the police tape.
Which is what a self-proclaimed railroad expert who set up a tripod next to mine predicted would happen. Although most of what he blathered on about for more than two hours was pure speculation. Or pure bullshit. So I figured there was a good chance he was wrong, that the crowd would somehow be considerate of those of us who waited three hours to take a damned picture.
I made the most of it. Which meant that, for me, it became the Woodstock of people watching. It was street photography on steroids.
life.
T-shirt slogans served as closed captions to annotate the milling, muttering mass of humanity, clamoring, giddy with excitement, and queuing for the best vantage points. I spotted several t-shirts with images of the Big Boy locomotive, some accented with superficial patriotic sentiments. As were many of the generic t-shirts draped over the beer bellies of waddling spectators.
My favorite?
One worn by a wiry old guy, who would have looked right at home in a decrepit roadhouse along a forgotten highway. It read, “I do a thing — It’s called anything I want.”
What’s the big deal about Big Boy?
• What’s all the hoopla? Union Pacific — in collaboration with Norfolk Southern — put Big Boy No. 4014 on tour this summer to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with a piece of rolling history. In fact, Big Boy No. 4014 is the only one of its kind still rolling. Plus it’s great publicity for the companies and railroads in general.
• What’s the big deal? Big Boy No. 4014 is the world’s largest operating steam locomotive and the only one still running out of 25 built between 1941 and 1944 by the American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, N.Y. Big Boy weighs 1.2 million pounds and is 132 feet in length. The engine is so long that the front set of its 16 drive wheels had to be articulated, allowing it to pivot on curves. Otherwise, as you might imagine, it would fly off the track on curves.
• Why was it needed? It’s fitting that the Big Boy be pressed back into service for America’s 250th anniversary because of the role it played in World War II. A powerful locomotive was needed to move freight and military personnel through the rugged Wahsatch Mountains. Which provided a significant obstacle with their 1.14 percent grade.
• You call that steep? If a 1.14 percent grade doesn’t sound very steep, that’s because it isn’t. That amounts to only an eighth of an inch rise per foot. Or 1.14 feet per hundred feet. Not much if you’re strolling down the street or driving your Buick along the backroads. But it is when you’re dragging 3,600 tons around.
• How? With a pressing need to move a lot of troops, equipment and raw materials across the country, there was no time to dally. Within three months Union Pacific assembled a design team. It took the American Locomotive Company six months to design, fabricate and acquire parts and another six months to build the first Big Boy locomotive.
• Who? Big Boy was not the original name for this line of locomotives. Union Pacific planned to call them Wahsatch engines. However, a machinist chalked the words “Big Boy” on the smokebox of the first unit and the name stuck. If you look at the front of Big Boy 4014 you can see a replica of that chalk mark.
• What did the Big Boys haul? Tanks, troops, heavy artillery, iron ore, coal, steel and petroleum.
• How fast were they? The Big Boy was designed to run 80 mph. Not that they ever did. They were overengineered to ensure moving parts held up under heavy stress. They typically ran between 30-60 mph. To preserve the only running Big Boy, it’s generally kept under 45 mph.
• What powers it? Mountain Dew and Little Debbies. Just kidding. Actually, the Big Boys originally were coal powered. It took 10-11 tons per hour on more demanding grades. Even when chugging along on level ground, no human stoker could possibly keep up with the Big Boy’s hearty appetite; a mechanical stoker kept them fed. During restoration, Big Boy 4014 was converted to run on oil.
• How many Big Boys remain? After they were removed from service in 1959, the locomotives sat in storage. All but eight were eventually scrapped. Big Boy 4014 was retired in 1961 after logging over 1 million miles. But, like a lot of retirees, someone found work for him to do.
Sources: Union Pacific, trains.com and Google AI.
Big Boy rolled to a stop about a hundred yards short of my position, out of ideal camera range. Bit by bit, the people in front of me inched closer to the tracks, stretching the police tape and encroaching into the frame of my viewfinder.
While Big Boy sat idling, the crowd sang an acapella version of “The Star Spangle Banner.” At first, it was barely audible but rose in volume as people caught on to what was happening and joined in. It was a chaotic effort, off-key and hopelessly out of tempo. It was also the most heartfelt and moving rendition of the national anthem I have ever heard.
With a blast of the train’s whistle, the crowd cheered and Big Boy started rolling.
As the trailing vintage passenger cars trundled off into the horizon, I scrambled to my truck, tossed the tripod into the bed and wasted no time getting out of Fostoria.
If you’re a glutton for punishment — or a dedicated people watcher — Big Boy 4014 returns to Fostoria July 14.
If I’m so inspired, I might stake out a spot in a cow pasture along the tracks. Hoping that, as the locomotive approaches, the cattle won’t stampede and knock my tripod over.
