Category: Heritage

FRISCO, TX – The Museum of the American Railroad’s Union Pacific “Big Boy” steam locomotive is scheduled to make its much anticipated move on Sunday if traffic on the rails is slow enough to permit the 55-mile creep from Dallas Fair Park to Frisco. MAR CEO Bob LaPrelle said the long move of No. 4018 is expected to begin about mid-morning but that could change if activity along the Dallas, Garland & Northeastern and BNSF Railway lines is brisk. The railroads are working together to move the massive 4-8-8-4 locomotive, which last operated in 1957, to the museum’s new site in Frisco. MAR officials won’t know until early Sunday morning if there is a green light. And even so, the locomotive may not make the entire trip. “The railroads have said they’ll have crews on Sunday but that can change,” said LaPrelle, who has coordinated the move of the museum’s…

By TIM BLACKWELL/Cowcatcher Magazine DALLAS, TX — The Museum of the American Railroad has set a tentative schedule to begin moving its signature steam locomotives to Frisco, TX, in what will be the final steps to relocating the half-century-old museum from Dallas’ Fair Park to the suburbs. The museum has already moved much of its 40-piece collection, including 10 pieces that were transported in mid-April, to its new location north of Dallas. MAR announced on its website Saturday that Frisco “Meteor” No. 4501 is tentatively scheduled to move May 19. “Big Boy” Union Pacific No. 4018 will move “within a few weeks” – likely on a Sunday – of the Frisco engine. The locomotives – along with the F7A Santa Fe diesel and two storage box cars – are all that remain in Dallas, where the museum first set up shop in 1963. Moves of both locomotives will be made…

By Tim Blackwell/Cowcatcher Magazine With two aged steam locomotives now resting on new track in Frisco, TX, the Museum of the American Railroad is about to clean house at Fair Park. If everything goes well with a scheduled 10-piece move, nearly all of the collection should be in Frisco by the end of May. The process began last summer. Now the remaining rolling stock has a place to be. On Tuesday, cranes lifted Frisco No. 1625 “Decapod” and Dallas Union Terminal No. 7 from flatcars onto the museum’s new RIP track before several onlookers and media representatives. Once BNSF removes the flatcars, track will be clear into the site to accept more pieces. On April 7, MAR plans to move a consist of locomotives, passenger cars and freight cars that has been assembled at Fair Park. Only the Union Pacific Big Boy, Frisco “Meteor” No. 4501, F-7 diesel and two…

The first move of the Museum of the American Railroad’s locomotive collection arrived in Frisco earlier this month with some engines rolling under their own power and a couple along for the ride. A consist of two steam locomotives loaded on flat cars and three diesels rolling on their own trucks towed by a Dallas, Garland & Northeastern locomotive left Irving Yard on the morning of Jan. 10 and arrived at the museum’s new site at about 1:30 p.m. CST. Three flat cars hauled St. Louis-San Francisco No. 1625 Decapod and Dallas Union Terminal No. 7, along with their tank and tender, while the museum’s Centennial, Santa Fe FP45 and Fairbanks Morris diesels rolled behind. In Frisco, the vintage locos joined 20 other pieces from the museum’s collection that have been moved since last summer. MAR still has its Union Pacific Big Boy and Frisco 4-8-4 locomotives to move. A…

By Tim Blackwell/Cowcatcher Magazine A special train pulled by F7A units freshly painted in Santa Fe Warbonnet colors with help from Amtrak power is expected to arrive in Galveston Saturday in time for the Galveston Railroad Museum’s official grand re-opening. The train of two F7A units and seven cars that includes refurbished Budd coaches, a dining car, private cars and a BNSF business car, plus an Amtrak locomotive, was scheduled to leave New Orleans early this morning. The special will arrive at Houston’s Amtrak station this afternoon for an overnight stay. On Saturday morning, VIPs, museum officials and guests will board for a 10:30 departure to Galveston and arrive at GRM in time for a 2 p.m. dedication. The train, which was assembled in New Orleans on Thursday, is expected to follow the BNSF line that parallels Highway 6. The grand re-opening will culminate four years of restoration to the…

By Tim Blackwell/Cowcatcher Magazine FRISCO, TX — The Museum of the American Railroad is back moving its steam collection now that the State Fair of Texas has passed, but railfans will have to wait a little longer to see MAR’s Union Pacific Big Boy ride the rails. UP 4-8-8-4 No. 4018, the museum’s centerpiece, and Frisco “Meteor” 4-8-4 No. 4501 likely will be among the last pieces of the collection to move from Dallas Fair Park to the museum’s new site. That should happen sometime between now and the end of the year. In the meantime, steam locomotives St. Louis-San Francisco No. 1625 and Dallas Union Terminal No. 7 are being readied for move by flatcar. MAR officials received word earlier this week that BNSF Railway is loaning four flatcars. The locomotives, neither of which run on their own, are expected to be loaded next week but a date has…