Locomotive #4012 is a 4-8-8-4 Big Boy. The Big Boys were the longest and among the largest and most powerful steam locomotives in the world.
Even with their great size, the Big Boys were capable of reaching speeds in excess of eighty miles per hour. Steamtown's #4012 is 132'-10" long and with a loaded tender weighs 1,189,500 pounds. In service it carried twenty-eight tons of coal, 24,000 gallons of water, and developed a tractive force of 135,375 pounds.
Twenty-five Big Boys were built exclusively for the Union Pacific Railroad prior to and during World War II. They hauled long, heavy troop and freight trains over the steep grades of the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City. They were the ultimate in modern, main-line, heavy-duty steam locomotives.
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