Locomotive 4005 Big Boy Presentation

Courtesy Forney Museum of Transportation at 4303 Brighton Blvd., Denver, Colorado 80216, USA.
Edited by David Barth, 20 August 2010.

Traditionally, each Father's Day weekend, the Forney Museum features a special day commemorating Union Pacific's Locomotive 4005 "Big Boy" where the cab is opened for visitors to peer into the firebox as well as sit in the engineer's and fireman's seats.

Many visitors take this opportunity to station someone with a camera outside of the locomotive to take a picture of them in the cab. Sometimes, an expert volunteers to give a presentation about the Big Boy locomotives, of which there are only eight remaining, distributed in museums around the U.S.

On Big Boy day in 2010, a pesentation was given by Michael Spera, an expert in the history and construction of the 25 Big Boy 4000-Series Locomotives built for the Union Pacific Railroad during WWII. The title of his talk was "Jabelman's Giants," a reference to the designer of these huge locomotives.

The engine and tender weigh 520 tons, empty, and were built to pull long freight and military trains across the high, rugged Continental Divide, between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah, USA in support of the War effort. (The U.S. no longer has the capability to make large castings of the size used to construct locomotives of this size).

Wade Decker, an official with Mike's company, assisted Mike during the talk by providing audiovisual equipment technical support.


Michael Spera giving a presentation on the 4000-Series "Big Boy" Steam Locomotives.


Michael Spera giving a presentation on the 4000-Series "Big Boy" Steam Locomotives.