07/26/26

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog on a double digit day!  😁  The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotive 4014, has been on a trip across the country to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States.  It is on it's way back home to Cheyenne Wyoming after having completed it's east coast run.  I was able to capture this image of it as it was passing through Grantville Kansas on it's way to Topeka for a scheduled stop.  I had to take this image in the rain.  It's an incredible sight to see though, such a huge locomotive, a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, basically 2 engines put together under one boiler and articulated in the middle to help get around curves.

 

03/01/26

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  It's also the first day of March!  The year is moving along.  Today's image is another from the Colorado Railroad Museum and is one I felt worked well in Black & White.  This is locomotive 4455 a Union Pacific switch engine with a 0-6-0 wheel arrangement.  It was built in 1920 by the Lima Locomotive Works.  It had a long career and retired in 1970.  In 1949 it was sold from the UP to the Monolith Portland Midwest Co in Wyoming.  It was donated from there to the Museum.

12/01/24

 Happy 1st day of December!  Only 23 more shopping days till Christmas!  😁  It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog as well.  Today's image is another of when the Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 locomotive came through our area on it's way home to Cheyenne Wyoming.  The Big Boy is the largest currently operating steam locomotive in the US with a wheel arrangement of 4-8-8-4.  It's frame is articulated to allow it to navigate curves since it is so long.  The train was running quite late so by the time it made it to where I was the sun was getting pretty low in the sky so in this picture it was heading into the sun as it passed by me.  This image shows the 2nd water tender that it has with it because in current times water isn't as available as back in the days of steam.  The crew usually has to make arrangements with towns and/or fire departments to fill up with water during it's travels.

10/27/24

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Today's image is a closer up view of the Union Pacific Big Boy as it was traveling through the area on it's way back to Cheyenne Wyoming.  It was very nice to be able to see it even for such a short time.  It was a great time of year for viewing with the trees turning color.  The Big Boy was delivered to the Union Pacific in December of 1941 and was retired in December of 1961.  It was reacquired by the UP from the Rail Giants Museum in Pomona California in 2013 and was restored and back on the rails by May of 2019.  This was it's second trip through Kansas, the first was in November of 2019.

10/20/24

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Today's image is the second cool thing I was able to see this week.  On Thursday, the Union Pacific's Big Boy locomotive was coming through my area of Kansas on it's trip home to Cheyenne Wyoming.  I went a bit west of town to photograph it with this bridge.  The Big Boy is a massive 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement locomotive that the UP restored a few years ago.  It had been out on a big Midwest publicity  trip.  It was pretty late getting to where I was but worked out nice in terms of lighting with the very late afternoon light on it and the autumn colors.  I have a very short video of it HERE.  It's kind of funny, you anticipate and wait for the day to come and then for it to actually arrive and it is something you only see for about 40 seconds.  😂  Still fun though.

4/30/23

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog on this last day of April!  Today's image once again goes into the archives and back to when we were treated to a steam train coming through our town.  This is Union Pacific locomotive 844 passing under the bridge which has currently been demolished to be replaced.  844 is a Northern type or 4-8-4.  It is the only steam locomotive to have never been retired.  UP immediately put it into excursion trip use after the UP stopped using steam on it's lines.

2/19/23

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  I am still back in the archives.  Today's image is from a trip to Nebraska a few years back.  This is a Big Boy that is on display in Omaha.  It is one of 20 that were built and operated between 1941 and 1959.  It is on display in Kenefick Park named for a former Union Pacific President, John C Kenefick.  He had a dream for 2 of the largest locomotives to be perched overlooking Omaha and in 2005 this became a reality.  4023 is partnered with diesel locomotive Centennial 6900.  If you enter Omaha on I-80 from the east, you can see them above you in the park.

2/5/23

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Today's image is another from the archives.  This is the Union Pacific's Challenger locomotive when it was traveling through western Kansas some years back and I drove to see it.  3985 is an articulated (hinged to allow it to go through curves) locomotive with a wheel arrangement of 4-6-6-4.  The 2 sets of 6 driving wheels have their own steam cylinders.  It was built in 1943 and retired in 1962.  It was restored in 1981 and ran excursion duties until 2020 and was the largest operating steam locomotive until the Big Boy. UP donated the locomotive to the Railroading Heritage of Midwest America who plan to restore it back to operating condition and it was moved there last year.

3/27/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  This is an older image that I got the first time I was able to see the Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy locomotive when I went to Nebraska to see it.  Caught it here while it was on the way to Omaha NE.  It's a beautifully restored locomotive and is quite the "big boy" indeed.

3/6/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  I don't do B&W images very often but I enjoy them a lot.  Not sure if others do.  I think some images lend themselves to it rather well.  Steam trains, to me, are great subjects for B&W, seems to make them more dramatic.  This is Union Pacific Big Boy heading out from Junction City Kansas to Salina on it's trip a couple of years ago now.  I missed it coming through last year unfortunately.

2/28/21

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog.  Playing around with the Pencil technique again, this time with the Union Pacific Big Boy locomotive.  This is an image I had captured as it made it's way across the fields just west of my town here in Kansas back in 2019.  It was very cool to be able to see this huge locomotive come through our area.

2/14/21

 Happy Valentine's Day!  Doing something different today because it is also Steamy Sunday so it's a 2-fer.  😁

I had to share a rose photo today since it is Valentine's Day.  Hope those who celebrate have a lovely day.

I am back in the archives to the day in November of 2019 when the Union Pacific Big Boy locomotive came through our town on it's Excursion run through the Midwest.  This locomotive is one of 3 types that claim to be the largest ever used by railroads.  This claim can be very debatable, it depends a lot on how you claim it's the largest, by weight, by tractive effort which can be debated as well, by horse power, etc.  The ones in the US generally considered to be the largest are, the UP Big Boy a 4-8-8-4, the Northern Pacific Yellowstone a 4-8-8-4 as well, and the Chesapeake & Ohio Allegany a 2-6-6-6.

2/7/21

 It's another Steamy Sunday!  I am continuing to go back through the archives and finding images I never shared since I did not have an opportunity this past year for much of anything steamy.  This is an image of 4014, the Union Pacific Big Boy locomotive, shot very up close when I was able to see it in Salina Kansas west of me. 

7/19/20

While I was in St Louis last Tuesday I went to the National Museum of Transportation in the suburb of Kirkwood, Missouri.  It was a lovely museum and I highly recommend it.  The displays were set up quite nicely and the grounds were quite lovely with groups of wildflowers around.  The only complaint I had was that some of the railroad equipment was very close together so it was hard to really view it well but they had so much it was probably all they could do and get it under a roof to protect the equipment.  This is a view of their Union Pacific Big Boy which you could get in the cab of and that was quite cool to see.

2/9/20

This is another shot of Union Pacific restored Big Boy 4014 during it's visit to my area.  In this image I captured it as it had just left Junction City and was heading towards Abilene Kansas.  It was a great experience to see it come through my area.

1/19/20

Today's Steamy Sunday is another shot of Union Pacific's recently restored 4-8-8-4 Big Boy heading into my town of Junction City.  It was very cool to be able to have this locomotive come through our area.  I found it funny that one of the train crew was photographing us as we were photographing them.  I had to take out a few people who were standing too close to the track.  I heard the crew had to ask people a lot of the time during the trip to stay back.  People don't seem to realize how hot and dangerous these locomotives can be.  Plus putting pennies on the track can be dangerous, the locomotive will not derail, it is much too heavy for that.  The danger is that it could shoot the penny out if not placed correctly and hit someone.  They were removing them as the train pulled into and out of towns, this one as well.

12/15/19

I took this image of Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 in Salina, Kansas where it was overnighting after coming through my town.  The locomotive is so large and I was very close to it that I actually did a 4 image panoramic to get it all in, top to bottom and lengthwise.  The Big Boy got it's name from something that has been recreated on this locomotive and can be seen a bit in this image.  When the first one of this style locomotive was produced, number 4000, a worker chalked the words "Big Boy onto the smoke box door as is seen here and the name stuck for these as they are certainly big.  Their wheel arrangement is a 4-8-8-4 articulated style meaning it can move in the middle and navigate tighter curves.

12/8/19

I took this image at the Union Pacific depot in Salina Kansas on the day the Big Boy 4014 came through my town and several others on it's way back to Cheyenne Wyoming.  While it is not really that obvious that the steam train in the photo is 4014, it is my favorite image I took that day.  It had been cloudy and dreary the whole time up until about sunset when the clouds started to break up in the west and created this fabulous light which fell on the train, the station and even the tracks.  A great way to end my 4014 experience in Kansas.

12/1/19

The Union Pacific restored Big Boy locomotive 4014 came through our area a week and a half ago now.  It was a thrill to see it and be able to capture it in our area of Kansas, never thought it would be able to come through here.  I captured it as it was departing Junction City and on it's way to Abilene and Salina.  In the background is the rock quarry. 

11/24/19

So this past Wednesday the Union Pacific Big Boy came through my town in Kansas.  It was a bit late but a great sight to see.  A lot of people turned out to see it where it stopped just down from where I took this shot.  I actually took 4 people out of this image who were closer to the track than UP likes.  For safety sake, UP recommends that you stand 25 feet back from the track.  It was a cloudy and windy day but quite the exciting time to see a piece of history come through our town.