Category: Heritage

Museum of American Railroad officials postponed the move of the Union Pacific “Big Boy” hours before it was to leave Fair Park for Frisco on Sunday. Concerns over how the locomotive would negotiate a wye along the route caused the postponement, according to an email released by MAR.

The museum’s F7A diesel locomotive painted in Santa Fe Warbonnet colors and two storage box cars were moved instead.

No date has been announced when the Big Boy will attempt to be moved again.

After a few previous unsuccessful attempts to move the “Big Boy”, MAR was ready to make the much anticipated move of the vaunted locomotive.Museum officials received word on Friday that the move would begin Sunday. Dallas, Garland and Northeastern Railroad crews, which are assisting on the move, were expected to arrive at Fair Park in Dallas at 7 a.m. today to make preparations.

“It looks like we’re finally going to get it done,” MAR CEO Bob LaPrelle said on Friday.

At least two recent attempts to move the locomotive were thwarted because of heavy traffic and a derailment along the route from Dallas to the museum’s new home in Frisco, TX. Along with DGNO, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Trinity Railway Express are assisting in the move. DGNO was expected to hand off No. 4018 to BNSF at the Irving yard. From there, BNSF was to take the massive locomotive to Frisco.

Today’s scheduled move of the “Big Boy” has been put on hold.

The Museum of the American Railroad announced Saturday that the planned transfer of the Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy from Fair Park to Frisco, TX, was cancelled because of a derailment along the route in which the locomotive is to be escorted. A new date has not been announced.

“We regret any inconvenience this may cause to our stakeholders and supporters,” said a statement from the museum on Saturday morning announcing the delay. “We are very appreciative of all the efforts put forth by the local railroads as we continue to move the collection from Dallas to Frisco.”

MAR is making the move with assistance from the Dallas, Garland and Northeastern Railroad and BNSF Railway.

On Saturday, MAR hosted museum supporters, volunteers and media members for an “exercising” of the Big Boy and photos.

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 entire collection for the past year. “We’re going to try to get at least as far as Irving on Sunday. It’s iffy. We’re low priority at 10 mph and having to work around freight traffic.”

When it moves, the locomotive will be sandwiched between 10 cars which are being added for braking. The consist, which will be pulled by a BNSF locomotive, will cross Union Pacific and TRE tracks and ending up on BNSF tracks along the route. DG&NO crews will take the consist from Fair Park to Irving Yard, where BNSF is expected to take over.

LaPrelle said the museum has fielded numerous inquiries and that tensions are running high about observers wishing to catch a glimpse of the move. MAR and railroad officials are asking that spectators do not chase the train and to stay off railroad property. Residents who live nearby the new museum site have expressed concern in recent days about onlookers gathering near apartments to watch the locomotive enter the museum grounds, LaPrelle said.

“We’re not recommending a place to go (to watch),” he said. “The railroads don’t want to attract people on railroad property.”

Prior to the move, museum crews will “exercise” the Big Boy on the track outside Fair Park. The locomotive is expected to move back and forth, under the power of MAR’s F7 diesel, on Saturday to make sure everything is in proper working order.

Last Sunday, the Big Boy was moved beyond the gates of the former site, where it has remained since arriving Fair Park in 1965. The move took several hours because of two curves located at the extreme east end of the Museum. The curves, one of which is nearly 20 degrees, are the tightest the locomotive will encounter on the entire move to Frisco.

Correspondence from the mid-1960s between Union Pacific’s Mechanical and Operating Departments addressed concerns about the “centipede” tenders on the big 4000 Class engines as they strayed off the system to be donated to museums and parks nationwide. The tenders, with their five rigid axles and one lead truck, were prone to causing problems on curves. The locomotives themselves were apparently not an issue during most moves.

Mindful of this concern, Museum crews eased No. 4018 through the two curves, eventually negotiating the lead track switch and ending up on the Fair Park spur. The locomotive and tender are now on tangent track and will be tested for several miles up and down the Fair Park spur over the next few days.

Contract steam specialist Scott Lindsay and the Museum’s Steam Crew will make final inspections and fine tune items, such as the manual crosshead lubricating system, during the week in preparation for the move. On Friday, volunteers are preparing for upcoming cosmetic work by putting on and removing plastic sheeting around the stenciling cutouts on the cab and the tender. Earlier in the week, team members rode in the cab as the locomotive was pulled up and down track outside of Fair Park.

Once Big Boy leaves Fair Park, only a few box cars and the Santa Fe F7 Diesel locomotive will remain. After their move to Frisco, MAR will start pulling up track and taking down signals beginning later this month or in July. The track materials will eventually be used in Frisco.

On May 26, MAR moved Frisco steam locomotive No. 4501 from Fair Park to Frisco. At 11 p.m., BNSF crews eased the 800,000-pound locomotive into MAR’s new site. Representing an era when steam was king of the rails, No. 4501 was every bit as graceful during its 55-mile trek to Frisco as it was when delivered new in 1942.

The lines were dotted with onlookers, punctuated by crowds at major vantage points like Dallas Union Station, Irving, and Carrollton. Accompanied by 10 modern tank cars for additional braking, the train proceeded at the slow, but steady pace of 10mph. The entire move took 13 hours because of high volumes of rail traffic and periodic inspection stops.

The 71-year-old locomotive, a product of the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, performed flawlesslym according to museum officials. Lindsay, who heads Steam Operations Corp. in Birmingham, accompanied the locomotive and was elated at its performance. Lindsay and museum volunteers spent weeks inspecting, polishing, and lubricating running gear components such as wheel and side rod journals.

Prior to the move, the locomotive was repainted in the line’s striking Meteor scheme, based on research of original drawings and plans.

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 during the day to prevent any disruption of Trinity Railway Express operation between Dallas Union Station and Irving.

While the most difficult moves still lie ahead, CEO Bob LaPrelle said excitement is building as MAR enters the final stretch of a relocation that began five years ago with Frisco’s donation of 12.34 acres to provide a new home for the embattled museum. MAR has been in a struggle with the City of Dallas, which wants to acquire the property for additional space for the State Fair of Texas.

“It’s nice to kind of see the end of it now,” he said in April at MAR’s Thomas the Tank fundraiser in Grapevine. “Once we get out of Fair Park, we’ll be done and we can move on.”

Nationally known steam locomotive specialist Scott Lindsay of Steam Operations Corp. returned to Dallas in late April to prepare the pieces for the move. He and a handful of museum volunteers have been working daily on No. 4501 and No. 4018 and their tenders servicing axles – draining, cleaning and repacking each journal box with lubricating pads and oil. The “Meteor’s” driving wheels will require special attention, with each Hennessey lubricator being bench-tested before reassembly.

All in all, Lindsay, a 36-year veteran of steam rehabilitation and repair, says both locomotives are in good shape considering their age and conditions they’ve experienced outdoors. Most of the heavy lifting is done and all that remains is ensuring that they can be towed.

“The big mechanical work is almost finished,” he said Sunday after working about six hours with four volunteers at Fair Park. “We’ve been checking for any issues. There are a few mechanical things to do, but the list is dwindling. We’ll be ready to start getting them out of here soon.”

This week Lindsay plans to move both locomotives, which haven’t rolled since last spring, inside the perimeter of the former museum site, which is beginning to resemble an abandoned rail yard. The F7A diesel painted in Santa Fe Warbonnet colors, which sat behind the “Meteor”, will provide the power.

“We’ll move both locomotives back and forth inside the fence and put some miles on them,” he said.

Weather permitting, Signage Systems will apply the “Meteor” graphics to No. 4501 during the next week. The company, a long-time supporter of MAR, developed the paint masking for the project.

When it departs Fair Park, the locomotive will roll at a maximum speed of 10 mph once out on the mainline. Five modern freight cars coupled to each end will be used for additional braking. Plans are being finalized for additional logistical needs, including inspection points along the route.

Once the “Meteor” is moved, attention will turn to the “Big Boy”. Work has already begun to drain and refill each bearing reservoir on the driving wheels with heavyweight gear oil. The locomotive’s side rods will be either removed or lubricated from temporary manual drip-type lubricators.

“We’re going in and closely inspecting every bearing box on the Big Boy,” LaPrelle said. “We had a little water in the boxes, so we’re watching that.”

To help the massive 4-8-8-4 locomotive and tender manage a tight curve beyond the first switch at Fair Park, the three axles on the “Centipede” tender will be blocked. The wheels will be jacked up and have spacers placed such that the flanges are above the rail head in hopes of eliminating a derailment.

LaPrelle said the museum found some Union Pacific mechanical records from the mid-1960s that suggested the technique, because tenders are more prone to problems on curves, particularly when empty during back up moves. A UP memorandum prepared by the chief mechanical officer to museums receiving the donated “Big Boys” outlined instructions to help tenders cope with curves.

“The memorandum said to get the flanges up off the rail, so we’re going to follow those instructions,” LaPrelle said. “We’ll raise the whole wheel set, put blocks of heavy oak under it so that the flanges are not down on the rails and all the wheels won’t have to negotiate the curve.”

Also, the switch frog and points on the turnout outside the gate is going to be removed and straight rails installed reduce the possibility of derailment. Depending on the complexity of the move, the F7A and box cars may accompany No. 4018 to Frisco.

Museum officials have received inquiries from all over the world about the upcoming moves and plan some sort of media event. Once the remaining locomotives and rolling stock are in Frisco, MAR will begin removing rail and signals from Fair Park and close the chapter on a major move that began five years ago when the City of Frisco donated a 12.3-acre track off the North Dallas Tollway to house the museum collection.

“We get calls and emails from everywhere,” LaPrelle said. “We’ve had a lot in the last 18 months. There has been a lot of interest and expense go into this. I wish we could make some money off of this.”

10-piece consist moves

On April 14, BNSF No. 2732 and two tank cars transported a 10-piece consist to Frisco under speed restrictions. The train was the first to move the 55 miles from Fair Park to Frisco in the same day. After 12 hours and several inspection stops, the consist rolled into Frisco at 8:30 p.m.

Because nine of the 10 pieces are equipped with friction-type wheel bearings, volunteers kept a close eye on the move. Six journals ran hot, requiring immediate attention to maintain a safe temperature throughout the move.

“We had a few get hot on us,” LaPrelle said. “One got up to 375 degrees. That’s enough heat to melt bearing material.”

MAR’s three freight cars, all of which date from the late teens and early 1920s, arrived without incident. The most problematic piece was the Texas & Pacific coach No. 1143, which required extra care and diligence throughout the move.

Volunteers had a tense moment when MAR’s GG1 locomotive tried to climb the rails on the switch leaving Fair Park.

“It grunted and groaned and growled, but we got it through there,” LaPrelle said. “We just eased it through there. It was the only roller bearing-equipped piece in the move.”