What would be the correct rolling stock for a Big Boy?

Mixed freight or solid blocks of PFE ice reefers,,,,,,,,LOTS OF 'EM!

Dave, I would say coal or a passenger fan trip, depends on the era you are modeling.

The standard toy train consist for Big Boys has always been the Pacific Fruit Express unit train. Of course they hauled a lot more than that, but it seems to be the most recognizable train.

Here's the famous publicity shot of #4019 hauling such a train:

Scale Reefers or Hoppers is cool.

LIONEL is going to offer 'Vision Line' Boxcars with sounds to go with the VL Big Boy...

The SP handed off large blocks of Pacific Fruit Express reefers to the UP in Ogden, UT.  I have seen photos of Big Boys pulling long trains of PFE reefers.   This is one possibility.  

I also have photos of Big Boys pulling long trains of all types of 1940s and 1950s cars.  I think that they were assigned to just about any freight train that the UP had.

Joe 

Sorry, there is no known use of a UP 4000 class locomotive on a "passenger fan trip". Now, if you are specifically referring to the 4014,,,,,,,THAT locomotive has yet to be rebuilt, and hasn't pulled anything yet. However, if and when the 4014 is completed, she will have been converted to an oil burning locomotive, and Lionel has yet to announce any model of THAT!

Scale box cars,reefers, cattle cars(behind tender) tank cars by the hundreds.

I'm definitely only looking at freight. The era will be back when 4014 was in regular service. Was coal and freight ever mixed together in a consist? I'm interested in the Vision boxcars, that would be very cool. What would be the correct caboose/cabeese to use?

Lionel's original two CA-4 models are EXCELLENT. They were made to go with the 2006 JLC model.

Most of the beauty shots are with the 40' PFE wood/steel reefers.  There are pictures of other consists:

photo archive from the Denver digital library

If you poke around you can see mixed freight and a different kind of "unit" train from what we are used to today.  Most of the cars will be 40 foot and 50 foot cars.

I've got 18 PFE reefers all lined up and ready to go.  I think I'll have to stay on the lookout for more before the price goes up!

Absolutely correct. Maybe it's just me, but I prefer reefers, thus have 24 PFE reefers from K-Line, and Red Caboose. I then fill-out the train with about a dozen other western road's reefers.

Like most others have already posted.  A scale mile of reefers ought to cover it. 

hoppers with coal.

I have seen movies of bigboys pulling mixed freights.I just like mixed freights by the late 1940 and 1950s.The 50ft boxcars were starting to show up.I was suprised by how fast they could move.You can,t go wrong with mixed freights or unit refer and coal trains.

I have 45 PFE refeers and 29 coal hopper waiting on the VL Big Boy!  Yeah, I am going to run it hard.

Bad boy coming to my railroad.  If it is too much, a Legacy BB is waiting to pick up the slack.

I am really hoping for VL PFE Reefers!

I wish it was 4th quarter 2014.

Were boxcars and coal hoppers ever in the same consist?

At a Chicago March Meet a number of years ago I was speaking with noted photographer Bruce Meyer. We were both studying a new Yoder Norfolk & Western hopper and he said he saw one go over Sherman Hill behind a Big Boy! Presume it was in mixed freight. 

       Additionally Big Boys occaisionly found their way down to Denver on iron ore trains; presume those were in UP hoppers carefully filled to avoid overloading the cars, due to iron ore's very dense, heavy weight. The ore was destined for the CF&I rail mill in Pueblo, CO.

Dave,

 A suggestion of what NOT to run (directly) behind it, modeling the "in Service" era, is an Auxillary Water Tender. Regardless of what many Catalogs say about their advertised Aux tenders being "A Great Match, for your Big Boy, Challenger or FEF class locomotives", UP did not use Aux tenders during regular service. Modeling post revenue service, the aux tenders could be used behind the 844(4) and 3985, and most likely the 4014 after she is returned to service(D**N, I like writing THAT)

Doug

I plan on putting everything I own behind it, and this include some tin plate.

This is a different link from the same archive posted above which should show the 81 thumbnails of the BigBoy photo's in that archive.  There are a number of GP freights shown,

archive

two high angle shots from "Dale Creek" give a decent view of the consist.

I run my JLC BB with sixteen PFE reefers, and a half dozen flat cars with UP, Railway Express trailers, etc., etc., on them to provide some visual relief from the monotony of reefer after reefer, with a couple of tank cars and a CA-3 caboose.  It makes for a total train length of about 25 feet, which is about the longest good-looking train I can run on my layout since my longest loop is only a bit more than five times that length.

I'm sure he would.  But to me these are just toys.  And I'm sure many times it'll be running nose to caboose as my boys and I try to see just what this thing can pull, all the while it'll be smoking and making noise.  Kids don't care for prototypical operations and looks, they want fun and excitement, and that's what I'll give not only my boys, but their friends and my friends, and that might just pull more into the hobby.

Wait for the catalog guys!

Something that has not yet been mentioned is a train of military vehicles headed for the Pacific theater. Tanks, halftracks, tank destroyers, Jeeps, deuce and a halfs, etc. would make perfect flatcar loads behind a Big Boy. MTH has made a bunch of flatcars with Sherman tanks (including some lettered for UP) and the other loads could be made up with 1/50 diecast vehicles. Corgi even made a Sherman lettered for the Tarawa invasion.

For 4014, start collecting your well cars, autoracks and passenger cars.

Old pictures I've seen, ice reefers and big box cars.

Jack

With UP going to fire up a big boy you would be able to use modern era cars as they might be testing it. So double stacks or autoracks could look good................Paul

Yes, but the question is if the MTH flatcars depicted in their catalog with the Sherman tanks are appropriate for the era the BigBoy was in service.  I believe they actually may be too modern as the PS-4 flatcar that MTH and Lionel's scale flatcar is based on was not around until around the mid- or late- 1950s, (keeping into account that I don't know if any military loads on flats were pulled by any Big Boys during that timeframe, and considering the very last revenue run of a Big Boy was around July of 1959) but I could be wrong; I don't have handy Edward Kaminski's Pullman-Standard Freight Car book to verify as I think that is covered in it.

It would be nice to see a matching UP "home of the Big Boys" caboose. MTH did one many years ago and  it is very well done.

Dave, you might want to start looking for one.

Jon is correct. The MTH flats with tanks are, indeed, PS-4 cars - both the one and two tank versions. I just checked mine. However, they could still be prototypical for the Big Boy. The tanks could be on their way to Korea rather than the Pacific islands. In fact, the tank on my one-tank PRR flat is painted in a winter camouflage pattern that could well be appropriate for Korea There are no specific unit or theater markings. The car has a built date of 1950. Since the Korean War was largely fought with WWII weapons and vehicles, the MTH flats are time-appropriate.  

Do you anticipate Lionel will be releasing a variety of rolling stock for the bigboys?

Well, what ever, get about 100 of them!

I agree with Hot Water.  A block of about 40 reefers would make one fine looking train.  Anything less would prove to just a waste of (O-Scale) horsepower.

If your layout can handle more, then go for it.  Buy, beg, borrow, steal or rent as many as you can.  I'm guessing that "Bad Boy" can pull 100 cars without breaking a sweat.