Into the Past – The Big Boy Steam Engine

About a week ago, Daughter Number One and I took a short trip into the past.  The Cheyenne-based Big Boy steam engine had been trekking through the middle states, Louisiana, and Texas, with travel to its final state being Colorado before heading home to Wyoming.  The track from the eastern edge of Colorado to Denver was perfect for the Big Boy’s trip, mostly straight with some curves.

We took Interstate 70 from Denver, east to find a place to catch the Big Boy on its way to Denver.  Another part of the trip into the past was waiting beside the road at Agate.  We chose to wait for the Big Boy at Agate – where I worked there for three years as the school superintendent.  Not a lot has changed in this tiny village where the school and the post office are the centers of attention.  Where the residents meet to talk over the day’s and week’s happenings.  To find out who is doing what.  Who may be traveling.  Last week’s basketball or volleyball games.  For the three years that I served the school as the superintendent, I lived across the street from the school.  It was like going home.

When I first moved to Agate, I asked about what prompted the town being called Agate, I was given two explanations.  The first was that it is possible that agates abound in the area.  Thus, “Agate” for the stones.  The other is that the railroad track cut right through the town (as it does, today), as well as through a stockyard for cattle – with gates that controlled the access to the stockyard.  Every time a train approached the town, it had to stop, someone got off of the train to open the gate to allow the train to go through, and close the gate once the train was completely on the other side.  Thus, the name “A Gate,” later corrupted to “Agate.”  Both reasons may be truth or myth.  I prefer to latter.  It’s more fun!

When we arrived in Agate about an hour before the Big Boy was scheduled to go through the town, we parked beside the old paved highway in a place where photography would not be cluttered with other vehicles or people in front of the engine as it traveled toward its destination.  Every time a vehicle approached or someone walked down the other side of the road, we said, “Please don’t stop here.  Don’t stop!”  We seemed blessed because they didn’t.

We waited.  And, waited.  And, waited.  Finally, we could see the smoke rising to the south.  The Big Boy was getting close!  And, we were camera ready.  Agate was not one of the towns for the coal-fired Big Boy to stop on the Whistle Stop schedule.  We had decided that immediately after the engine cleared Agate’s crossing and the track’s signal arm went up, we would quickly drive to the next town where the Big Boy would stop.

Big Boy 4014 steaming toward Agate.  Photo courtesy of HKB.

“Quickly” being the hope, but not the actual fact.  There were more people with vehicles on the few streets in Agate than I had ever seen in the vicinity.  Ever!  It took us a while to get out of Agate and onto the Interstate heading back toward Denver.  Traveling west, the traffic was considerable – trucks and cars – we thought most of them were racing toward Strasburg to see the Big Boy.

We wanted to know how fast the Big Boy was moving, so Number One Daughter slowed her car to the speed of the engine – 55 miles per hour.  We stopped in Strasburg to do more photography of the Big Boy, and then drove home.

Tuesday, following our trip to see the Big Boy on the rails, friends (Beth and Linda) and I went to the Forney Museum of Transportation to see the Big Boy located there.  It does not travel, at all.  We learned a few things about the Big Boys.  Each of them has a four-digit number starting with 40.  The next two numbers refer to the consecutive number of the engine – twenty-five in all.  So, 4014 means the engine is Number 14 in the series.  We do not know what the “40” means.  The engines are articulated to get around tight track curves.  The Big Boys weigh 1.2M pounds.  All manner of statistics are available in print; I’m not going to review them here.

Standing by the Big Boy is amazing.  So is watching it travel down the tracks. We’ll have another opportunity to see the Big Boy in motion in another year or so.  It is a joy to see this machine in motion!

Be safe and well.

The Cranky Crone

Thoughtful comments are welcome.