Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014
Two sets of driving machinery beneath one vast boiler.
Bring the engine
to life.
Start with the suggested palette or choose your own colours. Build gentle layers around the engine's distinctive shapes.
Suggested pencil shades and approximate screen swatches. These are not historical paint specifications.
Start lightly and build the darker surfaces gradually. Preserve the printed details.
Leave fine white highlights to separate the moving parts.
Keep the surroundings quieter than the locomotive. Retain light sky areas.
Look a little closer.
Restored Big Boy No. 4014 in black with a grey smokebox front and pale lettering, viewed with its train. Read each caption before using it as a colour or configuration reference.
Restored Big Boy No. 4014 in black with a grey smokebox front and pale lettering, viewed with its train. Photograph of the named locomotive. Preserved appearance may differ from its original working condition.
Fan Railer · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
No. 4014 working in preservation, showing black boiler and running gear beneath a grey smokebox. Photograph of the named locomotive. Preserved appearance may differ from its original working condition.
Fan Railer · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
Restored Big Boy 4014 passing through Las Vegas, with black bodywork, a grey smokebox front and pale wheel-rim highlights. Photograph of the named locomotive. Preserved appearance may differ from its original working condition.
Fan Railer · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
Side profile of No. 4014 in black with a grey front and large pale tender lettering. Photograph of the named locomotive. Preserved appearance may differ from its original working condition.
Fan Railer · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
Elevated view of No. 4014 and its support train, showing the long black boiler and tender. Photograph of the named locomotive. Preserved appearance may differ from its original working condition.
Tony Webster · CC BY 2.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
Know the version.
Union Pacific records coal firing for No. 4014 during its original service and oil firing following its return in 2019. A modern photograph can therefore show a different tender arrangement from an early working view. The dark pencil finish is indicative; preserve the lettering and visible details of your chosen period.
The pencil example uses charcoal and steel grey. Its palette is interpretive. The gallery records the particular appearances described in its captions; preserved engines, replicas and monochrome photographs cannot establish every original shade or marking.
Union Pacific: Big Boy No. 4014Did you know?
Only twenty-five Big Boys were built. No. 4014's restoration included conversion from coal firing to oil firing.
Make the details count.
Treat the two sets of running gear as separate small sections.
Use light dust tones around the lowest machinery only.