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Big Boy #4014 
Southern California Chapter Railway and Locomotive Historical Society
From Paul Guercio.....Spring 1999 Work on the Chapter's Big Boy locomotive # 4014 continues at a slow but steady pace. Over the summer months, Rick Brown re-wired most of the electrical lighting in the cab, the headlight and number boards, and the lighting under the walkway along the boiler. The lighting was operational during the Fair in September. Work still remains to be done on the tender lights, and Rick will be working on the generator in the future. We hope to be able to get the generator to spin using air pressure instead of steam. A lot of work has been done in recent years to get a reliable air supply to the entire display. This air can be used for pneumatic tools, such as needle scalers and air hammers, as well as air operated appliances on the display equipment. A 5 horsepower air compressor donated by Arnel Compressor Company in City of Industry has been installed in the Centennial. A two inch supply header has been run along the fence of the display, with take-offs every 50 feet to reach displayed equipment. The pipe was donated by Allied Supply of Los Angeles. A 240 gallon air reservoir has been hydrotested successfully and will soon be connected to the air header. A branch line has been run to the Big Boy, with a small reservoir, in-line lubricator, and filter to supply air to Big Boy systems. As many of you know, the horn and bell on the Centennial work just fine. The bell on the Big Boy is also now operable, as is the fire door in the cab, and the power reverse gear. The reverse gear took quite a bit of effort to restore to operating condition, as years of paint and grime had to be removed from all moving parts. A critical part from the air valve, which controls the power piston movement, was missing, and a new one had to be fabricated. We had no drawings, but were able to make them from measurements of the valve body and a similar part in the Southern Pacific # 5021 (same shape but different size). The part was machined by the folks in the machine shop at a Mobil Oil refinery in Saudi Arabia. Future plans include cleaning, hydrotesting, and painting of the Big Boy air reservoirs. These are of riveted construction, and the riveted seam could have been weakened by years of corrosion, so they can't be pressured up without a successful hydrotest. If this is successful, the next step will be to get the air brakes operating. Additional work has been focused on cleaning up the boiler shell. The asbestos lagging, which was a major problem, was successfully removed by a contractor about three years ago. With the asbestos out of the way, it is now possible to work on parts which are normally under the boiler jacket. Future plans call for replacement of the jacket, with wooden spacers between the boiler shell and the jacket in the space normally filled with lagging. This will restore the original appearance of the locomotive, but prevent the accumulation of moisture next to the boiler shell. It will involve a significant amount of work, as much of the original jacket is in poor condition, and will have to be replaced. New, 16 gauge steel sheets will have to be cut, using the originals as patterns. Anyone with experience in sheet metal work who is interested in helping with this effort should contact Paul Guercio or Rick Brown. There have been a lot of stories and rumors floating around lately about
Big Boy restorations, including the # 4014. Just to set the record straight,
there are currently no plans to restore the # 4014 to operating condition.
Our efforts to date have focused on cosmetic restoration and arresting
deterioration. This alone is a significant amount of work and expense.
An operational restoration would require approximately $2 million, and
there would be very limited (if any) opportunity to operate such a large
locomotive on today's busy railroads. Unless someone donates a very large
sum of money for the purpose, an operational restoration is out of the
question.
Page last revised - 3/06/02
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