The Big Boys were the stuff of legends, giants of the rails, revered for their immense size, power, and reliability. Longer, heavier, more powerful than any other articulated steam locomotive in the western US, they became symbols of an era. The constant interest in the Big Boys led Pentrex to conduct an exhaustive search for untapped footage. A newly discovered collection of 35mm film (never before available to the public), combined with our existing archives, gave us the comprehensive film library we needed inorder to assemble, for the first time anywhere, an all-inclusive record of each of the 25 Big Boy locomotives in action.
Months of laborious effort and attention have been poured into this project. The result is a thrilling tribute to the 25 Union Pacific locomotives known as Big Boys! Each of the Big Boys, from #4000 to #4024, is shown in numerical order. You'll see them in action taming the Wasatch Mountains, conquering the stiff grades of Sherman Hill, and in Cheyenne. With their 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, 132-foot long locomotive and tender, and 1.2 million pounds of loaded weight, the Big Boys literally shook the earth as they thundered by.
Will we ever see a Big Boy on the rails again? It's not likely. However, you can experience the awesome majesty of the Big Boys in this exciting presentation - Union Pacific Big Boy Collection!

Color and Black & White, 95 min.