x

All about the community of model railroading and rail enthusiasm

COWCATCHER MAGAZINE

UPDATE: ‘Big Boy’ move postponed; F7 Santa Fe diesel and two boxcars moved instead

July 21, 2013 / Updated September 18, 2013

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.

Current Issue: November/December 2023

HEAVY DUTY

Model railroad manufacturers are intent on bulking up their locomotives, but they aren't sending them to the gym. HO-scale long-haul and switch engines recently released have been upgraded to meet demand for more pulling power. At least two manufacturers have repowered motors and added a few more ounces for dependability to move long cuts of cars.

GROWTH POTENTIAL

For the first time in its history, the Arizona Eastern Railway has a classification yard that will augment capacity from a storage loop track in Lordsburg, NM. The new Summit Yard, a joint project between AZER and Freeport-McMoRan, adds 24,000 feet of track to handle more cars for interchange with Union Pacific. 

NEW N-SCALE F7S AIM TO PLEASE

InterMountain Railway Co. has released an updated version of its N-scale EMD F7A and F7B locomotives that are among the best-detailed "covered wagons" ever produced. See our product review.

PLUS

A Colorado modeler who picked up modular railroading a few years ago scores big at the 2023 NMRA National Convention. Altoona N-scalers salute the late founder of an annual weekend event by establishing a new award recognizing excellence. And the Nebraska Central Railroad will begin hauling crushed soybeans and soybean oil, to be used in producing renewable energy, next year.