The Union Pacific’s crowning glory was their massive 4-8-8-4 locomotive, known as the Big Boy. Twenty-five in number, they are indeed massive. I’ve been fortunate over the years to see a few of them; the ones on display in St. Louis and in Dallas (the latter now in Frisco). And I was very fortunate to see the restored #4014 a few years ago when she made her trip to New Orleans. I caught her on the move for three days in a row, and it was a sight to behold.

But it’s hard to imagine just how big these machines are when simply looking at a photograph. Well the image below helps with that. And what makes this image different is the crew member (likely the engineer) standing on the ground by the beast. Now you can see how much this locomotive towers over man!

Unfortunately, though I’ve seen versions of this photograph many times, I’ve never seen one that credits the photographer. I’ve wondered if it was perhaps a company image which often go without credits.