Today, the Union Pacific main from Omaha west through Nebraska and Wyoming is a busy thoroughfare for intermodal hotshots and unit coal trains. In the 1950s it was the pathway for fast movements of perishables from the West Coast to the eastern markets. Long trains of refrigerator cars passed slowly through icing stations where their cooling capacity was refreshed, then sped on their way. Cattle still moved by rail from Western ranch to Midwest stockyard, and the line was constantly busy with the usual flow of merchandise in both directions, plus the Overland Route passenger streamliners.

The Union Pacific had put the bulk of its remaining steam locomotives into storage, but a surge of traffic in the summer of 1957 taxed the capacity of its diesel and gas turbine power and resulted in the recall of much of its modern, high-horsepower steam fleet. Knowing that the "Big Boys," Challengers and Northerns could still be seen in their natural habitat and not just in a scrap line, my father planned a stay in Laramie, Wyoming, as a sequel to a family trip to visit relatives in the Denver area. Dad, who had struggled through the Great Depression, never lost a chance to economize, and financed our stopoff in Laramie by filling in for a vacationing minister at the local Methodist church. This arrangement also gave us the parsonage as sleeping quarters for an extended weekend, and a base of operations from which to explore not just the Laramie yard and engine terminal but also the western approach to famed Sherman Hill.

Thus, I took the above dramatic photo of "Big Boy" No. 4007 battling up the grade with an eastbound, the consist of which included a string of cattle cars behind the tender. (This photo appears also in Brian Solomon's book Locomotive, MBI Publishing Company, 2001.) No. 4007 was a member of the first class of 4-8-8-4s constructed by American Locomotive Company in 1941. These locomotives, a type unique to the Union Pacific, had two sets of 68-inch disc drivers and 23-3/4x32-inch cylinders, a boiler pressure of 300 pounds per square inch, and a tractive effort of 135,375 pounds.

The 4-8-8-4s were simple articulateds; the front set of drivers and pilot wheels could swivel to accommodate track curvature, and both sets of cylinders used steam directly from the boiler. (On a compound articulated, the front set of cylinders reused steam from the rear set.) No. 4007 was not preserved, but eight other locomotives in this class still exist. One of them is No. 4005, shown at right demonstrating its articulation as it begins to pull its train onto the main track in the Laramie yard. (For another view of No. 4005, see "My Steam Story".) No. 4005 is on display in Denver (formerly at the Forney Transportation Museum). Below is No. 4008, not preserved, standing by for its next assignment near the Laramie coaling tower.

Despite their size — they had a wheelbase of almost 131 feet, a massive grate area of 150.3 square feet, and a weight of 1,120,000 pounds with their pedestal-type tender — the Big Boys were capable of seventy miles per hour. A second group was built in 1944 to help shoulder the load of heavy wartime traffic. . It was an incredible, never-to-be-repeated experience to view them at the head of the Union Pacific's long transcontinental freights, singly or even double heading with the UP's unique gas turbine-electric locomotives. For more shots of the Big Boys in operation and a few in static display, visit Richard Leonard's Big Boys & Challengers Gallery. Further information on the 4-8-8-4s may be found on Wes Barris' Union Pacific Big Boys page.

Leaving Laramie, we worked our way eastward towards Iowa along the Union Pacific main line, pausing for more photography as opportunity arose. At Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, on the Nebraska border, the Union Pacific maintained a fuel and water facility that towered over the main line. Here, Challenger No. 3968 replenishes her tender before proceeding eastward. A number of American railroads operated simple articulated locomotives of the 4-6-6-4 wheel arrangement, but the Union Pacific had originated the type and given it its name, and owned about half of them. The 3900-series Challengers were erected by American Locomotive Company before and during World War II in several groups. They had a boiler pressure of 280 pounds per square inch, 69-inch disc drivers, four 21x32-inch cylinders, and a grate area of 132.2 square feet. They boasted a locomotive weight of up to 634,600 pounds and exerted 97,350 ponds of tractive effort. Although other railroads used their 4-6-6-4s exclusively in freight service, the Union Pacific for a time employed some of its Challengers in passenger service, in which they featured a special two-tone gray paint job. Who could have predicted that any steam locomotive we photographed in August, 1957, would still be operating more than four decades later? But here is Challenger No. 3985, one of two steam locomotives still in use by the Union Pacific. I snapped her wheeling a westbound freight near Sidney, Nebraska. After being withdrawn from active service, she was stored in the dark confines of the Cheyenne roundhouse for many years, shielded by local Union Pacific personnel from the prying eyes of railroad brass on the prowl for expendable assets. Finally she was put on display in Cheyenne, then reconditioned in 1981 for railfan excursion duty. Weighing in at over a million pounds including tender (and now equipped with two auxiliary water tanks), No. 3985 is the largest operating steam locomotive in the world today. In the smaller color photo, she delights the fans and general public at West Chicago, Illinois during a June, 2002 visit to the Chicago area. You can view additional photos of the Challengers in operation in 1957 in Richard Leonard's Big Boys & Challengers Gallery. For more information on the 4-6-6-4s, visit Wes Barris' Union Pacific Challengers page.

Our final exposure to Union Pacific main line steam on our August 1957 trip was at Grand Island, Nebraska. There, at the engine terminal, we found what had eluded us thus far: a good shot of one of the UP's famous Northern type locomotives. These 4-8-4s, while fully capable of handling freight traffic, had been built primarily for fast passenger service and were still performing that duty in 1957.

No. 814, waiting here on a roundhouse lead track, belonged to class FEF-1, the first class of 4-8-4s erected for the Union Pacific by American Locomotive Company in 1937. These engines rolled on 77-inch drivers powered by 24½x32-inch cylinders, fed by 300 pounds of boiler pressure per square inch. They developed 63,500 pounds of tractive effort. No. 814 and her sisters originally had tenders with six-wheel trucks, but some were later equipped as shown here with the heavy-duty pedestal or "centipede" type tender favored by the Union Pacific for its newest steam power. I am told by viewer Kevin Gillespie, who corrected some of my earlier information on No. 814, that the old tenders were used with some of the UP's gas turbines. I am also informed by viewer John E. Bush that the older 800s that received the pedestal tenders got them from members of later classes which had been scrapped. No. 814 also sports the "elephant ears" or smoke deflectors applied to many modern steam engines.

Mr. Bush comments further, "By the way, the engine is facing west, thus it's an 'in-bound' and is receiving certain service prior to placement in the house or simple turning. In some instances, the late power required so little work that they could be turned and sent the opposite direction, or placed back on their train to continue in the direction they'd been travelling upon arrival, without a visit to the house itself. I see the engine has an air connection made to the air line at the pilot, certainly for use in lubricating the rods with one of the big Alemite guns." Mr. Bush, a resident of Omaha, recently visited this site and reports that the limestone building behind, dating from about 1888, is still standing, although most other buildings and the coaling tower are gone.

The 800s were an outstanding class of locomotives, and were the prototype for an American Flyer S-gauge model train that our parents gave my brother and me one Christmas and which we enjoyed while growing up. Two additional classes, with larger drivers and higher boiler pressure, followed the FEF-1's; they were capable of 100-mile-per-hour speeds while pulling sixteen heavyweight Pullman cars. The famous No. 844, a member of class FEF-3 built in 1944 — the last group of steam locomotives ordered by the Union Pacific — was never removed from the active roster and still heads railfan specials.

As for our No. 814, today she is displayed at the Railswest Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa, near the old Rock Island depot. To view current photos, visit Sam Shull's The Railroad Yard site. Two other UP 4-8-4s remain, one of them supplying parts for No. 844.

The 3900-series (and 3700-series) Challengers were not the only variety of 4-6-6-4s owned by the Union Pacific. Less celebrated were the 3800s, of similar dimensions but in my opinion more "classy" in appearance because of their center-mounted headlight. At the Grand Island terminal I took this photo of No. 3838. Her tender, mounted on standard six-wheel trucks, reveals her to be an oil burner. A number of railroads in the United States used fuel oil (No. 5 or "Bunker C") as well as coal to fire their steam engines. Indeed, Challenger No. 3985, described above, was converted from coal to oil in 1990.

No. 3838 boasted an engine weight of 584,950 pounds. Her 255 pounds per square inch of boiler pressure drove 69-inch Boxpok disc drivers through 22x32-inch cylinders. She was next-to-last of of a class of 40 similar locomotives delivered to the Union Pacific by American Locomotive Company in 1936-37.

As I photographed these locomotives at Grand Island, our Union Pacific steam-hunting expedition was about to come to an end. My mother and sister had patiently endured hours of waiting in a hot car while my father, my brother and I had indulged our almost fanatic interest in tracking down examples of this fast-disappearing species. Rejoining them in our 1953 Plymouth, we headed east for less exotic activities — visiting more relatives in Iowa, then returning home to the beginning of the fall semester at Illinois Wesleyan University. But this had been a vacation we would not soon forget.