I had acquired a Union Pacific Big Boy #4012 locomotive and tender in August of 2025 at a great deal on E-Bay from another train enthusiast in Virginia. I received it a few days later and was anxiously waiting to put it on my track at home, only to see it run 6 inches and then stop and saw the cab light flash intermittently, and would not run again. I waited a couple months as I was reviewing all the reviews from the local train shops around the Inland Empire and Los Angeles areas and was impressed with a majority of positive reviews from Milepost 38.
I called the train store and spoke with their train repair technician Dan who advised me to bring the inoperable Big Boy to the store on certain days of the week when he is scheduled to work. I took a 44 mile drive to Westminster on a weekday and was greeted at the door from another friendly store employee who introduced me to Dan. Without hesitation after meeting him, he took the locomotive and placed it on the track at the store and saw exactly what was happening. He asked how the train was packaged and I advised him that the outer cardboard box that it came in with numerous "FRAGILE' stickers on it had been damaged on the corners. Dan noticed that it had very minimal foam packaging which in his opinion was not adequate protection coming on a delivery truck across the nation.
Dan accepted the locomotive and wrote me a work invoice stating it would be a couple of months before I would receive it, maybe longer due to the Christmas season approaching and that the shop was loaded with repair orders. I said that was fine that time was not an issue, that I would rather have it repaired properly without being rushed. I received a message from Dan on December 23rd, a couple days before Christmas saying the Big Boy is up and running and included a picture of it on the track at the shop. Being that I had other commitments due to Christmas being so close that I agreed to pick it up on that following Sunday. Me and my fiancee took a nice Sunday drive to Milepost 38 and was met at the door again with a friendly store employee from Arnie's trains next door and Dan who was running my fully restored Big Boy on the track. Dan showed me how all the functions were operable including all the smoke features. I was filled with joy that I can now surprise my grandsons and show them grandpa's new addition to his railroad. My fiancee was impressed with all the trains, cars, and clothing items that she even bought me a couple of nice train t-shirts for Christmas. Dan's final repair cost was under what I expected to pay, being that the Big Boy is a large locomotive and he apologized for not having repaired it sooner, which I understood being that it was a busy time of the year for the shop. Dan explained in detail about the smoke features of the locomotive and made it clear that the smoke generators have to have oil at all times to prevent damage to them, and drew me a diagram on a copy of my invoice how to fill the reservoirs properly and how many drops are needed for the various smoke reservoirs. The ultimate cause was the shipping company's mishandling of the package containing the Big Boy locomotive. Dan indicated that the motor wiring and associated connections were all offline, including a loose motor, caused by being thrashed in shipping. My interaction with Dan was like talking to an old friend and I feel that I received great value for utilizing his expertise in train repair and got my Big Boy running again. Dan, you are a great asset to Milepost 38, and can't thank you enough for making me and my grandkids happy and look forward to visiting Milepost 38 for new equipment and servicing my other locomotives. Joe from Upland read more