Ask Trains: Who named 4-8-8-4 steam locomotives, a ‘Big Boy’?

Question: Reportedly, Union Pacific had a name picked out for it’s 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotive but someone at American Locomotive Co. in Schenectady, N.Y., beat them to the punch by writing the name “Big Boy” on the smokebox door. Was this person ever identified by name or recognized by the rail community? — William Hornbrook, New Martinsville, W.Va.

Answer: According to Patricia LaBounty, curator at the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, a man named Bill Young claimed to have been the Alco worker who chalked the name on the locomotive. She says there is no record of Young ever being publicly recognized. The railroad had previously chosen the name “Wasatch” for the locomotive class. — Tyler Trahan, a Trains contributor