This was posted on Facebook so I am sharing
Hello Steam Club Fans, I've been following the restoration of #4014 since it was first announced and due to the completion of the restoration i only found it fitting to write my ENG11 Research Paper on #4014s Restoration.

It is a rough draft right now but i will publish the finalized draft when it is completed, Please enjoy the read:

Union Pacific Big Boy #4014 From Pomona to Cheyenne to Ogden...

It is 2013 and the Union Pacific Railroad has announced the acquisition and restoration of UP #4014, a 4000 class mallet type locomotive with a 4-8-8-4 whyte configuration built in 1941 and weighing in a 1.2 million pounds (600 tons), Donated to the R&LHS Southern California Chapter in 1961 after completing it last revenue freight service in 1959, the Big Boy had clocked in over 1 million miles around it’s 20 year lifespan and was set to have a new lease on life with a fire in her greats once more, but the challenges to get her to the UP Steam Shop in Cheyenne Wyoming were what tested the enginuity and technology of the class 1 railroad, this is the story of #4014 and how modern technology brought an old piece of history back to life.

One of the challenges was getting her out the Railgiants Train Museum in Pomona, CA in 2013 and the beginning months of 2014. The locomotive had stood silent and still next to other iconic locomotives of Union Pacific’s Past for over 52 years and had to be lubricated with a hard grease so the drivers wouldn’t lock up and this entire beginning process would be for nothing, also there did not exist any trackage that connected to the Metrolink mainline, thus preventing at the start any distributed locomotive power to wade her out of the museum, so at first with the drivers lubricated it was thought to have a front end loader attempt to push the locomotive to indicate the drivers were turning smoothly but the attempt had failed as it proved difficult for a front end loader to push an object that weighed in a 1.2 million pounds, the steam crew along with museum volunteers decided to lay down rails across the LA County Fairplex parking lot to allow diesel power to step in and pull the engine out of the museum, it was a slow process as #4014 was moved across the parking lot on the rails at a crawling pace with steam crew members oiling the drivers constantly as she moved onto the parking lot. The entire procedure had taken 5 days to complete as the crews on both the steam crew and the museum staff had to ensure the tracks wouldn’t buckle down and fall apart from the weight as the locomotive found its way thanks to diesel aide to the Metrolink Mainline and was coupled later to a covered hopper consist as it made its way to Covina CA for public display and then UP West Colton Facility where it was coupled to UP #4884 and #4014 SD70M (Diesel was renumbered shortly after) and was towed out at a speed of 25 mph, now at this time the locomotive had traveled under assisted power 53 miles total and was due to travel another 1,000 miles to Cheyenne before the real restoration could begin….

As #4014 was towed out of West Colton, she was greeted around any major crossings of the UP Mainline by hundreds of Railfans, the towing pace was at 25mph (Speed Restricted) with the locomotive having to be stopped every 100 miles to be lubricated with the lubricators being refilled and dispensed by jerry rigging of all things, a bicycle chain that was engineered to assist the lubricators that delivered grease to the drivers and the locomotive arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming on May 8th 2014.Albeit for two years the locomotive had to sit idle outside the steam shop as the crew focused attention to restoring another steam locomotive No #844 and in July of 2016 work head begun on #4014.

Beginning on July 26th 2016 4014 was disassembled down to the 2 engine pilots and work began on converting the massive boiler to run on No 5 atomized oil which burns in the firebox and recreates the steam effect without an ash pit and can be fired up quicker and can be flow controlled when deposited into the firebox similar to coal firing but it is cheaper and more environmentally considerate and practical due the there being no more coaling stations for steam locomotives since the late 1950s and it’s easier by a company to have a tanker come in and refill the tender which is not #4014’s ,the tender used in the restoration belongs to UP #3985 A challenger class locomotive smaller than the big boy and is out of service due to mechanical failures and will be rebuilt by 2021,it was the only other oil tender that could be used besides #844’s Tender. But as the boiler was being fitted to be fired by no5 atomized oil, the driving wheels were sent out to Strasburg PA to be restored by the Strasburg Railroad and were shipped back to Cheyenne after they were completed, While the steam team was hard at work rebuilding machines used in the 1940s to repair areas such as the boring bearings located in the 4 cylinders which allow for steam to be channeled to the drivers to move the locomotive, very similar to how an exhaust in a car works, and by March of 2018 the team was in the process of putting the engine back together by first rebuilding the firebox and combustion chambers and the front engine which has to connect via an exhaust slip joint to allow for steam to reach the front engine and allow for the boiler to turn when it reaches a curve,it is not something you want to mess up putting together and then have to run through a curve and your wheels pick up off the track and fall into the desert where the fire in the boiler could escape and you could burn alive, that actually happened to #4005 in 1953 but back to the restoration.

The next and most prominent detail of the restoration which occured on January 27th 2019 was to reattach the 2 engines to the boiler which required the boiler which was positioned on trucks to be lifted outside the steam shop onto the front and rear engines and at last after spending 2 years separated, 4014 had regained her drivers and was nearing completion, the next steps were to reattach and replace the cab and throttle controls,including the reverser,throttle,automatic and emergency brake,and all the water intake controls and pumps. Then In April of 2019, #4014 had a fire burning in her greats for the first time in 60 years and had her number plates,and the boiler jacket reinstalled, the boiler jacket is designed to keep heat from escaping the boiler and allowing for better fuel consumption, Then on April 27th 2019, 4014 had her connecting rods reinstalled and the whistle was finally hooked back together and then as of that moment all of Cheyenne could hear her sing once again with a loud and inspiring deep hymn, It then was backed into the steam shop once more for the cylinders to be replaced and the finishing touches on the linkage and then in the early hours of May 2nd 2019, #4014 finally backed out of the steam shop under her own power for the first time in 58 years and was sent on a test run pulling 2 baggage cars and an auxiliary water tender with a UP ET44AH Trailing at the rear to provide power and dynamic braking to the consist, It was an all inspiring sight to behold and then after a brief tightening of the front engine cylinders which were originally leaking too much steam, #4014’s Restoration was completed and the engine ran it’s first excursion on May 4th 2019.

On May 4th 2019, UP #4014 began its excursion to Ogden, Utah for the 150th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike which is when the Union and Central Pacific railroads were joined together completing the transcontinental railroad in 1869. #4014 did not however travel alone with this excursion as it was joined by 4-8-4 Northern UP #844 “Living Legend” which is a steam locomotive in the UP Steam program that has never been retired from service earning the nickname “Living Legend” and was double headed as the second engine in the race to Ogden excursion , however #4014 had to make a stop at the Cheyenne Depot first to be christened back into service by UP Chief Executive Officer Lance M. Fritz and welcomed by a massive crowd of railfans and locals alike, It then departed after being displayed to the public and began its way to Ogden Utah with #844 and It arrived in Ogden, Utah on May 9th 2019 and then the two locomotive both #4014 and #844 were separated and turned opposite of each other in the same method as the Jupiter and UP #110 (not related) were at the drawing of the golden spike and were displayed in exact positions with a banner with the hashtag #DONE being displayed signifying the completion of The Union Pacific’s Steam Fleet’s newest locomotive.

#4014 is now traveling across the Union Pacific Mainline as she makes her way back to Cheyenne for Frontier Days 2019, which is an event where the UP Steam Shop Is Open to the public as they show off the work that has been done to the steam fleet and #4014 is sure to draw in more crowds as more excursions are planned but in conclusion, the restoration of Big Boy No #4014 could not have been completed if it weren’t for the hard work of the steam crew at Union Pacific and the generous support of the Railgiants Train museum who gratefully agreed to trade the locomotive back to UP.

There were many strains as to why #4014 was chosen and many were simply for the condition the locomotive was in, Despite there being 8 Big boys left in preservation, there were many that had severe issues with their boiler conditions with many being only cosmetically restored, there were three other big boys that could have been restored being #4012,#4017,#4018 and the museums that owned these specific locomotives didn’t wish to part with their signature locomotives that were part of museum exhibits, #4012 is owned by Steamtown National Historic in Scranton, Pennsylvania and is in poor cosmetic condition yet is possible to be restored however due to the size and location of the engine, it was concluded that #4012 would be unable to handle the bridges and facilities nearby due to its extreme weight if restored. #4017 is owned by The National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin and while an offer was made by Union Pacific to reacquire the locomotive, the museum had declined and as for #4018 it is the same story with the Museum in Frisco, Texas declining the offer with a desire to keep the engine, #4014 was also a primary candidate for restoration as she was stored in Pomona, California which was in an environment that was ideal for preserving metals and the boiler was in better shape because of this, Now because of this decision #4014 is now back in operation with UP and will likely be for the rest of it’s career and just as long as Ed Dickens (Senior Manager Of Heritage Operations and Is A Licensed Steam Locomotive Engineer) doesn’t decide to retire until a new Heritage Operations Manager can be found in the years ahead. It was built to last when it was built by Alco in 1941 and has stood up to the testament of time since and will likely still be running up until it’s 100th anniversary hopefully, and with that it is now concluded that the impossible has become possible and that #4014 will live on in the steam fleet for years to come… #DONE