Sixty years after this tribute was made, Big Boy 4014 came back to life in the steam shop at Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Great video!  The footage is excellent, the narration clear, and the whole piece shows admiration and affection for these incredible machines.

And now we have a big boy in operation today...

Such a nostalgic vibe on these classic films. Takes me back to my school days!

One of my personal favorite documentary films about steam locomotives and this is the first film that I had ever seen relating to the Union Pacific "big boy" type locomotives, it is interesting to observe the operation of railroads over 60+ years ago.

In Aug 1998 my son and I were driving back from Phoenix to his new job in Johnson City Tn. We stopped in Memphis (I wish Id marked the date) for the nite and got to talking with a man in the motel lobby. Dont remember how RRing came up but he had been an engineer for one of these behemoths, and I had only been a lowly B&O machinist. Do you have any idea how humbled and honored I felt when I offered and he shook my hand?
To shake the hand of a man who had been Captain in command of one of the largest "land ships" ever built.??

Thank you for this magnificent film about The Big Boy locomotives 😀

Big Boy spinning it's wheels, was a very magnificent sight. thx for another entertaining video 👍

I had the North American Union Pacific Railroad long, sturdy Big Boy steamer freight trains, in their videos.

1. Big Boy
2. Last Of The Giants
3. Last Of The Giants Volume 2: The Cheyenne Shops
4. Last Of The Giants Volume 3: Sherman Hill
5. Big Boys On TV
6. The Union Pacific Big Boy Collection

Truth is; all the railroad companies couldn’t wait to scrap those maintenance hungry teapots and get them gone. Diesel fuel was 6-8 cents a gallon and the diesel locomotives required very little maintenance in comparison. The cost savings were enormous….which meant higher profits. I spent nearly 27 years as an engineer and never once regretted that I missed the steam era. Those engines were filthy, hot in the summer and drafty in the winter….I worked with many steam men back when I started. Not a one of them missed steam engines. Nostalgia is one thing, practicality another. The same logic applies to modern jet aircraft as opposed to the old radial engined propeller planes. A bit of trivia: the steam men told me the C&O T-1’s ….2-10-4’s were powerful brutes but rode horrible. On the other hand, the articulated H8 Alleghenies rode like Cadillacs. And I remember as a kid the C&O 614 Greenbriar sitting derelict behind the Russell, KY roundhouse along with three 2700’s. I got climb up on them back in the 60’s and they were just rusting hulks. 614 got saved but the 2700’s went to the Mansbach scrap yard in Ashland, KY.

This video has just about every locomotive class the Union Pacific ran. The Big Boys, Challengers, The 9000s, The Bull mooses, and The Santa Fes.

I first saw this when I was a child. Now almost 25 years later I still find it amazing. Man I remember when I first saw that cartoon... mister mallet cutting and reassembling his machine. I was blown away. So good of you to preserve this.

Not too many rail films as good as this.

Rode by steam locomotive trains often before Diesel or electric. Loved them then & still do. 😊❤

Interesting film from the glorious past

I can't believe Young men of today would work that hard.

8:39 Union Pacific 9000 9:21 Union Pacific Challenger 10:17 Union Pacific Big Boy

I can say many times I was up in the cab of the big boy at Pomona. I never thought it would be restored😮

An amazing machine !

Totally magnificent