Category: Heritage

The “Big Boy” will be on the move shortly to its new home in Frisco, TX.

Officials at the Museum of the American Railroad got the word about 10 a.m. today from BNSF Railway that the second leg of moving the Union Pacific steam locomotive should begin at 9 a.m. Sunday. Within minutes of the news, calls began coming into MAR’s office at the Frisco Heritage Museum within minutes.

“The word is out,” MAR CEO Bob LaPrelle said with a grin.

The locomotive has been holding over in Irving since Sunday, following its departure from its longtime home in Fair Park in Dallas. Last weekend, crews pulled the steam engine to the interchange point between the Dallas, Garland & Northeastern Railroad and BNSF Railway in South Irving.

Steam locomotive expert Scott Lindsay of Steam Operations Corp. arrived Friday morning from Birmingham, AL, to assist with Sunday’s move. If Big Boy performs as well as it did on the first leg, Sunday’s move should go off without a hitch.

“It ran just like it was supposed to,” he said. “There were no exceptions, as we say in the business.”

As hundreds cheered, No. 4018 moved flawlessly with no mechanical issues over the entire route in its return to the mainline for the first time in 48 years. The 70-year-old locomotive has been on static display since the museum acquired it in 1965.

“It’s a real testament to the American Locomotive Company’s design and manufacturing practices back in 1942,” LaPrelle said. “Today it would be considered overbuilt, but in its time Big Boy was simply rugged and reliable.”

Lindsay and the museum’s Steam Team have been working since the spring on readying No. 4018 for the move, and the work has paid off so far. Lindsay said the locomotive performed without exception in his 10 mph ride across town last weekend. Leaving Fair Park, the locomotive and tender well-handled the tight curve outside the gates of the former museum site that had concerned officials.

“All the prep work on the front end paid off on the back end,” he said. “The time that we spent at Fair Park in the in the hot sun, those long days, it all paid dividends.”

On Monday, cars drove slowly by MAR’s site off the Dallas North Tollway hoping to get a peak of the Big Boy after reports aired earlier in the day that it could arrive by afternoon. At least two Dallas/Fort Worth television stations broadcast live spots detailing the move.

“Is she here yet?” called out one City of Frisco employee to a bystander near the fence. “We heard it was supposed to be here today.”

Much care was given to the world’s largest steam locomotive, at 133 feet and weighing in at 1.2 million pounds, to get it as far as it’s gone.

The entire route between Fair Park and Frisco was inspected, including bridge load capacities and degree of curvature along the line. Extra care was given to the locomotive’s long wheel base during preparations and throughout the move. Safety was paramount as well as avoidance of any delays to freight and passenger traffic along the way. Museum volunteers worked in concert with railroad employees to ensure a safe and successful move.

LaPrelle said MAR is indebted to the railroads for providing transportation of the Big Boy to Irving. Using a locomotive furnished by BNSF, DGNO dedicated two crews to the all-day effort at no cost to MAR. He also praised Trinity Railway Express for its cooperation and support of the move between Downtown Dallas and South Irving.

With the Big Boy in Irving, DGNO is finished with its portion of the move. The shortline has played an integral role in helping move much of the museum’s collection, in addition to the Big Boy, to Frisco.

“We will miss our friends at DGNO as we move off-line to a new home, but we are committed to preserving their legacy as part of our nation’s railroad heritage,” LaPrelle said.

The locomotive is sitting on private property adjacent to a busy commuter line and is not accessible by the public.

LaPrelle didn’t speculate on how long it would take to make Sunday’s move and when it would arrive Frisco.

Almost 50 years to the day that Dallas’ much anticipated railroad museum opened at Fair Park, tracks are being removed as the Museum of the American Railroad winds down a move to newer ground. Workers were on hand today to pull up rail that will be transported to MAR’s new museum in Frisco, TX, with exception of the rails which holds the massive “Big Boy” locomotive that is still waiting to be moved.

Several attempts to transport the Union Pacific steam locomotive have been stymied for one reason or another, the latest because of track maintenance on one assisting railroad’s line.

After a couple of failed attempts to make the move earlier this summer, MAR got the green light to transport No. 4018 on July 21. But plans were dashed in the final hour because of concerns about it going through a wye. A subsequent attempt the following weekend was postponed to Aug. 4, and that date has since been shoved back because of track issues on the Trinity Railway Express. MAR officials are targeting Aug. 18 as the next move date.

While museum officials and volunteers await the next move date, there is work to be done.

It was 50 years ago this month that the Age of Steam exhibit began creation at Fair Park. In preparation for the 1963 State Fair of Texas, the small attraction received two new items to its tiny collection during the month of August – recently retired Dallas Union Terminal steam locomotive No. 7 and Southern Pacific’s Eakin Street Yard Office (H&TC Depot).

Now, nearly 2,000 feet of track that displayed some 28 pieces of vintage rolling stock is being pulled up.

The original Texas & Pacific spur dating back to at least the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition was the first section of track to exhibit the first pieces of rolling stock, which included T&P’s “Texas” type steam locomotive No. 638 and later ex-New York Central “Mohawk” steam locomotive No. 3001 masked as T&P No. 909.

Additional trackage was constructed as pieces were added to the museum. Major expansions took place in 1965 with the arrival of three additional steam locomotives: Big Boy No. 4018, Frisco No. 4501, and Eagle Picher Mining Co. (ex-Frisco) No. 1625, and again in 1969 with the arrival of Santa Fe Motorcar M-160 and Coach Observation No. 3197. A couple of modest expansions of trackage took place in the 1990s to make more efficient use of the 1.5 acre site.

The museum eventually rebranded itself into the Museum of the American Railroad.

As the collection grew, requiring some off-site storage, the museum’s 3,000 feet of rolling stock would no longer fit well at Fair Park, prompting MAR’s decision to relocate to the new 12.34 acre Frisco site. Some 3,200 feet of track has already been constructed at the new facility. An additional 3,000 feet of exhibit track will be laid as part of the second phase of construction.