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| Marsha Diane Arnold |
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| SLEEPING BEAR PRESS, May 1, 2025 |
SB: Marsha Diane Arnold, welcome back to talk about your new book! Just as I find layers and insights throughout your wonderful picture books, your responses to past questions have revealed layers within your complex writing life. I’m excited to see what you have to say about this newest picture book, BIG BOY 4014. Congratulations on the MAY 1, 2025 release!
The BIG BOY 4014 page on your website notes your lifelong affection for trains. I have the same nostalgic connection to hearing those distant whistles or riding on a highway alongside a rolling train. We’d count cars and wait eagerly for the man in the caboose to “beat us” and wave, sometimes even waving a big red handkerchief. A caboose is rarely staffed these days, but I think of those caboose workers every time I see a train.
You mentioned reading about the restoration project and becoming eager to learn more. Can you share a bit about how your investigative journey began?
MDA: Thank you for having me on your blog again, Sandy!
That journey began quite a while ago. It’s been four years since I began the first messy drafts of Big Boy 4014 and The Steam Team! Plus, my husband often jokes about my busy, idea-filled mind: “There’s a lot of trains running through that station!” (A fitting metaphor.)
Remembering exactly where I started is a bit of a challenge now, but I do recall lots of research – reading, watching videos, and studying train history. Trains magazine, the premier publication for railroads, was especially helpful. It’s been around since 1940 and, until recently, was owned by Kalmbach Media. One of the issues I relied on was their 2019 special collector’s edition, Big Boy Back In Steam. I also bought two DVDs about Big Boy published by Trains, as well as their comprehensive book Union Pacific’s Big Boys: The complete story from history to restoration.
I joined a few Big Boy 4014 groups on Facebook as well. That turned out to be both valuable and fun. The railfans there were most gracious in answering my questions. Some of them know locomotives by number - and even by horn sequence! They are passionate about train history and engineering.
SB: I've known a few train fans (fan-atics) in my time, and they are treasuries of information as well as eager to recruit new fans. Since reading your new book I've checked out multiple youtube and other video clips and I find them both exciting and mesmerizing!
You are notable for your personal travels to the locations/subjects of your books. You certainly realized before arriving that BIG BOY 4014 would be impressive. Can you share any of your first reactions and impressions as you physically arrived at the actual locomotive?
MDA: What I remember is the excitement – not just mine, but everyone’s. Union Pacific employees were there working. Visitors from near and far had come. All for Big Boy 4014. It gave me goosebumps!
But before the public viewing, before Big Boy pulled into Omaha from Council Bluffs, Iowa, Robynn Tysver, UP Communications Manager, met me at UP’s Home Plate. That’s where the public viewing was to take place, right next to Charles Schwab Field during the College World Series. There was lots of activity in Omaha that June day in 2023! Robynn and a couple of others called me over to their utility cart and verified I’d be able to ride with engineer Ed Dickens from a nearby crossing into Home Plate. We headed out to meet Big Boy at a spot near Council Bluffs. Big Boy rumbled in and stopped…just for me! I met Ed and climbed aboard for the ride of a lifetime. Not many have the honor of riding in that beautiful cab with Ed Dickens at the wheel.
Here are a couple of videos from that Omaha adventure. The first shows my excitement. The second shows my husband…who is maybe not quite as excited.
SB: What a moment that must have been! By the time you arrived in person, the project was complete and in operation, right? How thrilling for you, and Fred's dry humor comes through clearly- he's certainly a loyal supporter of you, if not of trains!
Now, again tapping into your first reactions, will you share a bit about your first thoughts when seeing Adam Gustavson’s illustrations?
MDA: First, I smiled - ear to ear. Then I felt thankful. Thankful that Sleeping Bear Press had not only found Adam Gustavson, but had convinced him to bring Big Boy 4014 to life through his art.
I already knew Adam was a brilliant illustrator, but the detail and passion he put into the Big Boy illustrations were beyond anything I imagined. He captured her movement and her power. You can tell Adam did his research, but you can also tell he loved the subject.
SB: I really enjoyed reading your joint interview with Adam on Marie Marshall's blog, THE PICTURE BOOK BUZZ. I urge everyone to read it, HERE.
Other reviews (all glowing, and well-deserved) have commented on the ways your words and Gustavson’s illustrations produce a sense of the locomotive roaring right off the pages. I agree entirely. Did this project cause you to feel differently about trains than before you began? If so, how so?
MDA: After meeting Chief Engineer Ed Dickens and chatting with many passionate railfans on Facebook, I did feel differently. I’ve always loved trains and respected the people who worked on them - like my uncle Dale, a machinist for the Denver and Rio Grande Western, who worked in the roundhouse in Alamosa, Colorado - but after writing Big Boy 4014, my respect grew even deeper. The depth of others’ knowledge and their love of train lore, history, and tradition really touched me.
SB: I have no doubt that your work on this book did not disappoint those folks. You (and Adam) certainly conveyed your own love and respect as well as giving due credit to the team that brought BIG BOY 4014 back to life on the tracks, not just in the pages of a book. Congratulations on that, and on dedicating the book to rail fans everywhere.
The success of your prior picture books will draw even more readers and fans for this new offering, but it is also distinctly different from those. For example, several of your titles have dealt with aspects of nature and conservation. Have you noticed or do you anticipate a difference in the ages/interests of audiences at events related to this book? I am certain that you and I are not the only adults with a deep affection for trains and train lore.
MDA: I’m certain of that too, Sandy. Just look at all the model train lovers around the world - and the hundreds of thousands of people who come out to see Big Boy 4014 on her excursion tours! In 2019 alone, it’s estimated that more than one million people saw her during the tours – people of all ages.
I’ve had other picture books, like The Pumpkin Runner, that have been loved by readers across generations. I believe Big Boy 4014 And The Steam Team will be such a book. I’ve already heard from adult railfans - and railfans-to-be – who’ve pre-ordered copies for themselves or to share with family.
The cover illustration is especially striking. It has the show-stopping presence of a coffee table book for adults, but is designed to be lifted and explored by little hands.
SB: The visual appeal of this book is unquestionable.
There are so many ways that I admire your use of writing craft in this work (onomatopoeia, figurative phrasing, repetition, purposeful shifts in sentence length, word choice and many more). Can you share a bit about your process of blending love with research on the page? Did you throw a draft down and then go back to rephrase and polish? Did you refine from the first stages? The end result in this work never misses a beat, so I’d love to know if it always carried that pace and rhythm from the start.
MDA: Thank you, Sandy. That means a lot!
A story idea usually lives in my mind for some time before I take pen to paper. My first drafts begin as just a few phrases – a sprinkling of words and impressions. I may write down things I’m not sure are true and go back later to do research. I also ask myself a lot of questions along the way.
With Big Boy 4014 And The Steam Team, I knew I wanted the Big Boy story to be more than non-fiction. I believe most things in the world are sentient and I wanted my reader to relate emotionally to Big Boy 4014 – not just admire her size and power. How could I walk that line between fact and feeling? Thank goodness for that wonderful, walking the line word: “if.”
These are some of the first “sprinklings” I wrote, straight from a messy draft, dated 8-30-21. I don’t always finish sentences in the beginning. I may just know the rhythm – “da DA da DA da Da” kind of thing. I don’t know what the entire sentence will be. But I may have a phrase I want to use, so down it goes. A phrase like “If steam locomotives could dream.”
If steam locomotives could dream, this one would be chugging up the Wasatch Mountains.
If steam locomotives could dream, this one…the largest in the world…would be …..
If steam locomotives could dream, this one…Big Boy 4014…would be….
But now he sat cold, one of 25 brothers, one of 8 saved from the scrap heap. Half a mile from the tracks.
10 years
30 years
50 years
Cobwebs entwined his wheels.
Pine needles fell on his ???cab??? top.
His cab was rusting (Be sure I congratulate team that kept him as good as possible in back matter.)
You can see that I made a note to myself, even then, to thank the volunteers at the RailGiants Train Museum in Pomona, who did their best to keep Big Boy in good condition. I wanted to honor and be respectful of all their work, but I also wanted the story’s emotional arc to begin with the sense of Big Boy longing to be back on the tracks.
And yes, that rhythm you mentioned was there early on, but it was in my mind first. Then I grabbed the lines and wrote them down. Then they deepened and expanded.
SB: Well, that was truly a bonus response- a sort of mini-master-class! Thank you! and the "notes to self" are something I do, too, because it is so easy to let important things slip through in the lengthy writing process. Which lads me to this...
I enjoy asking nonfiction writers about the fascinating factoids that didn’t make it into the book, ones you found in research but now live rent-free in your head!
MDA: There’s always so much research and, in the end, almost all of it must be pared down to those bits that best serve the story being written. I did quite a bit of research about the building of the transcontinental railroad and the golden spike, but most of that still lives in my research files.
And then there are those seven other Big Boy locomotives that were spared from the scrapheap. Six of them were placed in outdoor museums and two are indoors. Each one has a fascinating story of how it was moved to its current home. No one undertakes moving a 1.2-million-pound steam locomotive lightly. Each was saved, moved, and preserved by people who cared, people who loved what these mighty machines represent.
Speaking of spreading the word and sharing stories, do you have events upcoming? Are there related materials available for kids, teachers, or enthusiasts you’d like to mention?
MDA: Mostly I’ll be visiting blogs like yours, around the web, to share about Big Boy 4014 And The Steam Team. I’ll be posting the links on my Facebook and Instagram pages. Sleeping Bear Press has a wonderful sales team and several railroad museums have already ordered copies.
And yes – there will be related materials! There will be a Teacher’s Guide for Big Boy 4014 And The Steam Team. I was hoping it would be available by May 1st, but it’s taking a bit longer. It will definitely be ready for everyone by the start of school in August or September!
SB: I urge readers here to check out your website, too, where you have such interesting nuggets of background about your many books. It's like getting a personal book talk about each, right from the source!
Are there upcoming works you can discuss or are things still at the top-secret stage?
MDA: I love that you understand some story ideas need to stay top-secret for a while, Sandy.
I do have three ideas currently at the forefront. Each revolves around my love for the natural world and wildlife. There are also manuscripts my editor has recently sent out, but no homes have been found for them yet. Lots of very nice rejections, though.
One of those is about an unusual partnership, drawn from real behaviors in the wild. I’d hoped it could serve as a model for those of us with differences finding ways to work together. I love the story, as does my agent, but it hasn’t found the perfect home yet. Time to let it rest for a while and turn to those three new projects. Two have been living in my head for years and one is just now taking shape. And so, the writing journey continues.
SB: Well, I'm excited but not surprised that you have several ideas/works in progress, and that they are richly layered with the natural world, our environment, and relationships of complexity. I will say that I'm shocked that you have anything out on submission that has not been snatched up, but the business side of things is all about finding the just-right fit for that just-right book. Not unlike buying a new home- even the one you thought was perfect but "gets away" may lead you right to the one that was meant for you all along.
My only regret is that a delay in getting these underway means a delay in getting a chance to read them and share them here.
Considering your many projects at various stages, your busy life with family, and keeping Fred on the road, I'm deeply grateful that you would take the time to share your answers to my questions. As always, your responses are expansive and inspiring. I (and readers and railfans) thank you for this towering, powerful new nonfiction picture book, and for sharing your thoughts and back-stories about it. Here's to celebrating and sustaining what matters.
