Big Boy and Big Girl the Big Boy twins

Big Boy and Big Girl are both Union Pacific Big Boys who works on the Chicago Division Railroad hauling mainline freight trains out of Big City, Pennsylvania. Big Boy is the cowboy engine, while Big Girl is the cowgirl engine. They both had an interesting history.

Built by Alco in the 1940s during World War ll, Big Boy and Big Girl hauled mainline freight and troop trains outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming during the war and proved to be very useful. They helped America win the war in 1945 when Japan surrendered and the 2 engines continued hauling freight trains with their brothers and sisters for several years. Sadly, retirement soon came and the 2 engines went their separate ways once their fires were dropped. Big Boy went to Green Bay, Wisconsin while Big Girl went to St Louis, Missouri, and the 2 of them stayed in the museums they were donated to until the early 1980s.

When oil prices went up and with heavy coal trains increasing, the Chicago Division decided they needed bigger and powerful locomotives. The CDRR then came to the decision to purchase the UP Big Boy twins and they were both overhauled at the Locomotive Preservation Society's shops in New York City. 3 years later, their overhaul was completed and they began hauling heavy coal trains from Centralia to Big City, PA. When the price of oil dropped and the CDRR shut down the Centralia Line due to the mine fire spreading, Big Boy and Big Girl were put to use on the mainline hauling heavy freight trains from Big City to Harrisburg. They're both really useful and really interesting to watch, for these 2 are the only UP Big Boys operating in Pennsylvania, for now.

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