Union Pacific LEGACY Scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy #4023 SKU: 6-11123

Description

Tested, Consignment. No Box

Joshua Lionel Cowen Series Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy  Picture yourself in 1942 standing atop Sherman Hill in Wyoming alongside the Union Pacific mainline. In the distance there’s a whistle, and then the characteristic eight beats per revolution–it has to be an articulated steamer. As the noise grows louder, you see a mighty 4-8-8-4 Big Boy come into view, pulling a 70 to 80 car freight train at an amazing 50 m.p.h.  The massive Union Pacific Big Boy is the fastest and heaviest single-expansion steam locomotive ever built. UP Vice President Otto Jabelman’s Department of Research and Mechanical Standards solved the need for doubleheading, helpers, and splitting long freights. A magnificent piece of railroad engineering, the American LocomotiveCompany (ALCo) produced 20 Big Boys in 1941 and another five in 1944.     In service, the Big Boys primary territory was west of Cheyenne, Wyoming onSherman Hill and in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains.  The Lionel Union Pacific Big Boy premieres the introduction of the Legacy System–the next generation of TrainMaster Command Control. Big Boy #4004, built in 1941, appears with the prototypical pilot-mounted air brake radiators and two from 1944–#4023 and #4024–feature accurate pilots as well. The 14-wheel centipede tender features a removable coal load and an auger at the bottom of the coal bunker.