November 12, 2019 - Union Pacific's "Big Boy" 4014 puts out a huge plume of steam in the cold November air at Hope, Arkansas as it heads north on the UP's Little Rock Subdivision on its way to Prescott, AR where it will tie down for the night. According to Wikipedia: The Union Pacific Big Boy is a type of simple articulated 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive manufactured by the American Locomotive Company between 1941 and 1944 and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad in revenue service until 1959. The 25 Big Boy locomotives were built to haul freight over the Wasatch mountains between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming. In the late 1940s, they were reassigned to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they hauled freight over Sherman Hill to Laramie, Wyoming. They were the only locomotives to use a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement: four-wheel leading truck for stability entering curves, two sets of eight driving wheels and a four-wheel trailing truck to support the large firebox. Eight Big Boys survive, most on static display at museums across the country. This one, No. 4014, was re-acquired by Union Pacific and restored to operating condition in 2019, regaining the title as the largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive in the world.

Union Pacific’s “Big Boy” 4014 puts out a huge plume of steam…

November 12, 2019 – Union Pacific’s “Big Boy” 4014 puts out a huge plume of steam in the cold November air at Hope, Arkansas as it heads north on the UP’s Little Rock Subdivision on its way to Prescott, AR where it will tie down for the night.

According to Wikipedia: The Union Pacific Big Boy is a type of simple articulated 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive manufactured by the American Locomotive Company between 1941 and 1944 and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad in revenue service until 1959.

The 25 Big Boy locomotives were built to haul freight over the Wasatch mountains between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming. In the late 1940s, they were reassigned to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they hauled freight over Sherman Hill to Laramie, Wyoming. They were the only locomotives to use a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement: four-wheel leading truck for stability entering curves, two sets of eight driving wheels and a four-wheel trailing truck to support the large firebox.

Eight Big Boys survive, most on static display at museums across the country. This one, No. 4014, was re-acquired by Union Pacific and restored to operating condition in 2019, regaining the title as the largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive in the world.

November 30, 2019 - Another stormy weather day with buckets of rain as CSX Q513 approaches the north end signals at Cedar Hill, Tennessee as it makes its way south on the Henderson Subdivision.

nother stormy weather day with buckets of rain…

November 30, 2019 – Another stormy weather day with buckets of rain as CSX Q513 approaches the north end signals at Cedar Hill, Tennessee as it makes its way south on the Henderson Subdivision.

November 20, 2019 - CSX hot intermodal Q028 plows through the driving rain at Trenton, Kentucky as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision with CSXT 3013 leading the way! Fellow railfan Cooper Smith and I spent time trackside with our golf umbrellas and both came away with some really nice pictures! Getting out trackside in bad weather is a bit tricky, but as you can see the results can be spectacular!

CSX hot intermodal Q028 plows through the driving rain…

November 20, 2019 – CSX hot intermodal Q028 plows through the driving rain at Trenton, Kentucky as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision with CSXT 3013 leading the way! Fellow railfan Cooper Smith and I spent time trackside with our golf umbrellas and both came away with some really nice pictures! Getting out trackside in bad weather is a bit tricky, but as you can see the results can be spectacular!

November 30, 2019 - Spent a good deal of the day chasing trains in the rail with fellow railfan photographer Cooper Smith today with his new camera! While we had spells of light rain, most of it was the opposite! I really enjoy getting trackside during bad weather as it gives the photos a much different look and afterall, railroads operate in all kinds of weather! Here we see CSX Intermodal Q025-30 as it heads past Moore at the south end of Guthrie, Ky as it makes it's way south on the Henderson Subdivision. Hardest thing about railfanning in bad weather is getting out the door! I keep a pair of golf umbrellas in my SUV all the time just for this type of weather! Lens hoods are also a good thing to have along with a large microfiber cloth for drying the mist from your equipment in the event you get some!

CSX Intermodal Q025-30 at Guthrie, Ky

November 30, 2019 – Spent a good deal of the day chasing trains in the rail with fellow railfan photographer Cooper Smith today with his new camera! While we had spells of light rain, most of it was the opposite! I really enjoy getting trackside during bad weather as it gives the photos a much different look and afterall, railroads operate in all kinds of weather!

Here we see CSX Intermodal Q025-30 as it heads past Moore at the south end of Guthrie, Ky as it makes it’s way south on the Henderson Subdivision.

Hardest thing about railfanning in bad weather is getting out the door! I keep a pair of golf umbrellas in my SUV all the time just for this type of weather! Lens hoods are also a good thing to have along with a large microfiber cloth for drying the mist from your equipment in the event you get some on it!

Paducah and Louisville Railway’s 2118…

November 27, 2019 – Paducah and Louisville Railway’s 2118 heads up the afternoon local as it heads into the setting sun as it heads south through Richland, Kentucky on it’s way south.

SX Intermodal Q028 heads north …

November 27, 2019 – CSX Intermodal Q028 heads north on the the Henderson Subdivision as it passes over the Trident crossover at Madisonville, Kentucky with CSXT 3429 leading the way.

November 26, 2019 - CSX Q028 exits the CR Drawbridge from downtown Nashville, Tennessee as it makes it's way north on the Nashville Terminal Subdivision where it will head to Chicago, Illinois via the Henderson Subdivision.

CSX Q028 exits the CR Drawbridge…

November 26, 2019 – CSX Q028 exits the CR Drawbridge from downtown Nashville, Tennessee as it makes it’s way north on the Nashville Terminal Subdivision where it will head to Chicago, Illinois via the Henderson Subdivision.

November 13, 2019 - During Union Pacific's Race Across the Southwest UP 4014 Big Boy appears out of the steam as it pulls away from Prescott, Arkansas on its way north on UP's Little Rock Subdivision on a beautiful and cold fall morning.

During Union Pacific’s Race Across the Southwest…

November 13, 2019 – During Union Pacific’s Race Across the Southwest UP 4014 Big Boy appears out of the steam as it pulls away from Prescott, Arkansas on its way north on UP’s Little Rock Subdivision on a beautiful and cold fall morning.

November 13, 2019 - Union Pacific 2581 passes UP Steam Locomotive 4014 Big Boy, as it sits in the siding at Prescott, Arkansas, as it waits for the northbound mixed freight to pass, so the Big Boy can start it's trip north on the Little Rock Subdivision.

UP Steam Locomotive 4014 at Prescott, AR

November 13, 2019 – Union Pacific 2581 passes UP Steam Locomotive 4014 Big Boy, as it sits in the siding at Prescott, Arkansas, as it waits for the northbound mixed freight to pass, so the Big Boy can start it’s trip north on the Little Rock Subdivision.

2020 Calendars

I now have three 11×17 calendars available for purchase for 2020!

One is on the Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy in Black and White, another on Steam Trains I photographed in 2019 and the last is a General Train Calendar featuring some of my favorite photographs from this year. Also, there’s the 2020 West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS Calendar available for purchase.

These are all printed on demand and a high quality 11″ x 17″ wall calendar with coil binding, white interior paper (100# weight). VISIT: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/jimpearsonphotography to purchase today in time for the holidays and New Year!

Blast From The Past - Fall, 1980 - Here we find my on assignment taking information in the field for a caption during a military exercise in Germany called Reforger. Over the years I was part of the Combat Camera team that covered this annual exercise. The acronym stands for Return of Forces to Europe and involved the joint participation by many countries. According to Wikipedia: Exercise Campaign Reforger (from return of forces to Germany) was an annual exercise and campaign conducted, during the Cold War, by NATO. The exercise was intended to ensure that NATO had the ability to quickly deploy forces to West Germany in the event of a conflict with the Warsaw Pact. Although most troops deployed were from the United States, the operation also involved a substantial number of troops from other NATO countries including Canada and the United Kingdom. The Reforger exercise itself was first conceived in 1967. During the ongoing Vietnam War, the President Lyndon Johnson administration announced plans to withdraw approximately two divisions from Europe in 1968. As a demonstration of its continuing commitment to the defense of NATO and to illustrate its capability of rapid reinforcement, a large scale force deployment was planned that would deploy a division or more to West Germany in a regular annual exercise. The first such exercise was conducted beginning on 6 January 1969. These exercises continued annually past the end of the Cold War, except for the year 1989, until 1993. Reforger 1975 marked the operational presence of the United States Marine Corps in Europe for the first time since World War I when the 2nd Marine Division's 32nd Marine Amphibious Unit (32nd MAU) was deployed from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, as part of that exercise. Reforger 1988 was billed as the largest European ground maneuver since the end of World War II as 125,000 troops were deployed. Reforger was not merely a show of force—in the event of a conflict, it would be the actual plan to strengthen the NATO presence in Europe. In that instance, it would have been referred to as Operation Reforger. Important components in Reforger included the Military Airlift Command, the Military Sealift Command, and the Civil Reserve Air Fleet. The U.S. Army also increased its rapid-reinforcement capability by prepositioning huge stocks of equipment and supplies in Europe at POMCUS sites. The maintenance of this equipment has provided extensive on-the-job training to reserve-component support units.

Blast From The Past – Fall, 1980 – Here we find my on assignment…

Blast From The Past – Fall, 1980 – Here we find my on assignment taking information in the field for a caption during a military exercise in Germany called Reforger. Over the years I was part of the Combat Camera team that covered this annual exercise. The acronym stands for Return of Forces to Europe and involved the joint participation by many countries.

According to Wikipedia: Exercise Campaign Reforger (from return of forces to Germany) was an annual exercise and campaign conducted, during the Cold War, by NATO. The exercise was intended to ensure that NATO had the ability to quickly deploy forces to West Germany in the event of a conflict with the Warsaw Pact. Although most troops deployed were from the United States, the operation also involved a substantial number of troops from other NATO countries including Canada and the United Kingdom.

The Reforger exercise itself was first conceived in 1967. During the ongoing Vietnam War, the President Lyndon Johnson administration announced plans to withdraw approximately two divisions from Europe in 1968. As a demonstration of its continuing commitment to the defense of NATO and to illustrate its capability of rapid reinforcement, a large scale force deployment was planned that would deploy a division or more to West Germany in a regular annual exercise.

The first such exercise was conducted beginning on 6 January 1969. These exercises continued annually past the end of the Cold War, except for the year 1989, until 1993. Reforger 1975 marked the operational presence of the United States Marine Corps in Europe for the first time since World War I when the 2nd Marine Division’s 32nd Marine Amphibious Unit (32nd MAU) was deployed from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, as part of that exercise. Reforger 1988 was billed as the largest European ground maneuver since the end of World War II as 125,000 troops were deployed.

Reforger was not merely a show of force—in the event of a conflict, it would be the actual plan to strengthen the NATO presence in Europe. In that instance, it would have been referred to as Operation Reforger. Important components in Reforger included the Military Airlift Command, the Military Sealift Command, and the Civil Reserve Air Fleet.

The U.S. Army also increased its rapid-reinforcement capability by prepositioning huge stocks of equipment and supplies in Europe at POMCUS sites. The maintenance of this equipment has provided extensive on-the-job training to reserve-component support units.

November 13, 2019 - Union Pacific's Race Across the Southwest was on the move again as UP 4014 Big Boy heads through the countryside just north of Prescott, Arkansas on its way north on UP's Little Rock Subdivision on a beautiful and cold fall morning. As you can tell the cold weather went a long way in producing beautiful plumes of steam!! Did You Know: As if the 4000s weren’t big enough, the Union Pacific actually contemplated ordering five additional 4-8-8-4s that would be even larger. As World War II dragged on, the U.P. needed additional power on its line to Los Angeles through southwest Utah. According to an article by historian and artist Gil Bennett (Classic Trains, Spring 2019), plans were on the drawing board to build #4025-4029. This third class of Big Boys was to measure 139 feet, 11 5/8 inches long and weighs just under 1.3 million pounds. All would be oil fired, instead of coal. The locomotive, itself, would be a foot longer than existing Big Boys. The tender was to be extended to just over 54 feet long in order to accommodate a 33,000 gal. water tank. By comparison, #4014 and it's tender is 132 feet, 9 7/8 inches long. Its water tank holds 24,000 gals. When the war ended in September 1945, at least a year, if not two, ahead of some predictions, the need for extra steam powered locomotives became a moot point. The bigger Big Boy idea was dropped and the Union Pacific, like most other major railroads, concentrated on shifting to diesel power.

Union Pacific’s Race Across the Southwest was on the move again…

November 13, 2019 – Union Pacific’s Race Across the Southwest was on the move again as UP 4014 Big Boy heads through the countryside just north of Prescott, Arkansas on its way north on UP’s Little Rock Subdivision on a beautiful and cold fall morning. As you can tell the cold weather went a long way in producing beautiful plumes of steam!!

Did You Know: As if the 4000s weren’t big enough, the Union Pacific actually contemplated ordering five additional 4-8-8-4s that would be even larger. As World War II dragged on, the U.P. needed additional power on its line to Los Angeles through southwest Utah.

According to an article by historian and artist Gil Bennett (Classic Trains, Spring 2019), plans were on the drawing board to build #4025-4029. This third class of Big Boys was to measure 139 feet, 11 5/8 inches long and weighs just under 1.3 million pounds. All would be oil fired, instead of coal. The locomotive, itself, would be a foot longer than existing Big Boys. The tender was to be extended to just over 54 feet long in order to accommodate a 33,000 gal. water tank.

By comparison, #4014 and it’s tender is 132 feet, 9 7/8 inches long. Its water tank holds 24,000 gals. When the war ended in September 1945, at least a year, if not two, ahead of some predictions, the need for extra steam powered locomotives became a moot point.

The bigger Big Boy idea was dropped and the Union Pacific, like most other major railroads, concentrated on shifting to diesel power.

Blast From The Past - Summer, 1999 - Those were the days! Here I'm working on shooting on the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railway with my 8X20" panoramic view camera somewhere around Chama, New Mexico with my godson Dale Grant. He, his dad Norm and good friend Jose Lopez Jr. all met up at Chama for a weekend of chasing the trains. It was an interesting camera and one of several pan cameras I've owned over the years during the film days. The only one I still have left is a 4x10" Alt View, built by Patrick Alt in Los Angeles, California at the time. Now with the scarcity of film and processing chemicals it too may go up for sale here before long. Now it's just a nice display piece as I no longer even have a darkroom setup here at home. I was, like many, was brought up in the film age of photography and I attribute my "seeing" to what I learned over the years of shooting film and having to know what my photo was going to look like as I shot it without looking at it right afterwards, as we do today with digital. I have to admit we have come a long way from film since the first digital cameras I used in the Air Force back in the late 1970s. In some ways it's much better and in others not so much, but either way, shooting film I feel has made me "see" pictures better when I'm out shooting digital today.

last From The Past – Summer, 1999 – Those were the days!…

Blast From The Past – Summer, 1999 – Those were the days! Here I’m working on shooting on the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railway with my 8X20″ panoramic view camera somewhere around Chama, New Mexico with my godson Dale Grant. He, his dad Norm and good friend Jose Lopez Jr. all met up at Chama for a weekend of chasing the trains.

It was an interesting camera and one of several pan cameras I’ve owned over the years during the film days. The only one I still have left is a 4×10″ Alt View, built by Patrick Alt in Los Angeles, California at the time. Now with the scarcity of film and processing chemicals it too may go up for sale here before long. Now it’s just a nice display piece as I no longer even have a darkroom setup here at home.

I was, like many, was brought up in the film age of photography and I attribute my “seeing” to what I learned over the years of shooting film and having to know what my photo was going to look like as I shot it without looking at it right afterwards, as we do today with digital.

I have to admit we have come a long way from film since the first digital cameras I used in the Air Force back in the late 1970s. In some ways it’s much better and in others not so much, but either way, shooting film I feel has made me “see” pictures better when I’m out shooting digital today.

November 13, 2019 - Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy heads across the Ouachita River at Arkadelphia, Arkansas as it races north on the Little Rock Subdivision with it's passenger train on UP's Race Across the Southwest event. Did you know: Union Pacific placed two orders for Big Boys. In 1941, they ordered 20. In 1944, five more were constructed. Their territory was basically the 435 miles between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah. As a class, Big Boys ran until 1959, with some coming out of service earlier. Additionally, from 1941 to 1948, Big Boys only worked the 163 miles from Ogden to Green River, Wyoming. From 1948 to 1959, they did not travel west of Green River. In their final years, the Big Boys only worked the 58 miles between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming. Every one of the first 20 Big Boys tallied over one million miles of service. The last five had all traveled over 800,000 miles when they were retired. All this on a piece of railroad just over 400 miles long. For the record, #4017 traveled 1,052,072 miles during its life.

Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy heads across the Ouachita River at Arkadelphia, Arkansas…

November 13, 2019 – Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy heads across the Ouachita River at Arkadelphia, Arkansas as it races north on the Little Rock Subdivision with it’s passenger train on UP’s Race Across the Southwest event.

Did you know: Union Pacific placed two orders for Big Boys. In 1941, they ordered 20. In 1944, five more were constructed. Their territory was basically the 435 miles between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah. As a class, Big Boys ran until 1959, with some coming out of service earlier. Additionally, from 1941 to 1948, Big Boys only worked the 163 miles from Ogden to Green River, Wyoming.

From 1948 to 1959, they did not travel west of Green River. In their final years, the Big Boys only worked the 58 miles between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming. Every one of the first 20 Big Boys tallied over one million miles of service. The last five had all traveled over 800,000 miles when they were retired. All this on a piece of railroad just over 400 miles long. For the record, #4017 traveled 1,052,072 miles during its life.

November 13, 2019 - Union Pacific's Race Across the Southwest was on the move again as UP 4014 Big Boy departs Prescott, Arkansas on its way north on the UP Little Rock Subdivision on a beautiful and cold fall morning. As you can tell the cold weather went a long way in producing beautiful plumes of steam!! Did you know: The Big Boy and its tender is only 100 feet shorter than a Boeing 747! It takes a sedan, a school bus, and a diesel engine to match the length of the Big Boy and its tender. With a height of 16 feet 4 inches, and a length of 132 feet, it falls short of the 232 foot Boeing 747 only by 100 feet!

Union Pacific’s Race Across the Southwest…

November 13, 2019 – Union Pacific’s Race Across the Southwest was on the move again as UP 4014 Big Boy departs Prescott, Arkansas on its way north on the UP Little Rock Subdivision on a beautiful and cold fall morning. As you can tell the cold weather went a long way in producing beautiful plumes of steam!!

Did you know: The Big Boy and its tender is only 100 feet shorter than a Boeing 747! It takes a sedan, a school bus, and a diesel engine to match the length of the Big Boy and its tender. With a height of 16 feet 4 inches, and a length of 132 feet, it falls short of the 232 foot Boeing 747 only by 100 feet!

November 13, 2019 - Union Pacific 4014 "Big Boy" locomotive leads its train northbound on the Little Rock Subdivision at Perla, Arkansas, during Union Pacific's Great Race Across the Southwest tour with the restored engine. Interesting Fact: The entire Big Boy Fleet #4000-4024 would have cost over 100 million dollars to build today! UP ordered 20 class 4000 engines in 1941 and then 5 more in 1944 at $265,174 per engine. Adjusted for inflation this totaled a whopping $107,620,056.25, each engine individually running $4,304,802.25!

Union Pacific 4014 “Big Boy” locomotive leads it’s train…

November 13, 2019 – Union Pacific 4014 “Big Boy” locomotive leads it’s train northbound on the Little Rock Subdivision at Perla, Arkansas, during Union Pacific’s Great Race Across the Southwest tour with the restored engine.

Interesting Fact: The entire Big Boy Fleet #4000-4024 would have cost over 100 million dollars to build today!

UP ordered 20 class 4000 engines in 1941 and then 5 more in 1944 at $265,174 per engine. Adjusted for inflation this totaled a whopping $107,620,056.25, each engine individually running $4,304,802.25!