The world’s largest operating steam locomotive will chug through Northern California next month, its glossy black front emitting bursts of steam and its frame stretching more than half the length of a jumbo jet.
Big Boy No. 4014 is the last working locomotive of its kind. Built in the early 1940s for Union Pacific to haul freight across the west, it traveled more than a million miles before retiring in 1961. Over fifty years later, Union Pacific restored the locomotive, and it returned it to the tracks in 2019 for ceremonial trips.
To celebrate the 250th anniversary of United States independence, Big Boy will soon begin its first-ever coast-to-coast tour, traveling first from Wyoming to California before embarking on its eastern journey on May 25.
The Sierra Nevada city of Portola will be Big Boy’s first California stop, on April 8. The train will roll into Western Pacific Railroad Museum and spend the day supporting a ticketed fundraiser.
The train will then continue through several Northern California communities before making a longer public appearance in the Sacramento-area city of Roseville, where visitors will be able to see it up close on April 10 and 11.
Event organizers urge viewers to stay at least 25 feet back from the railroad tracks and never assume tracks are abandoned or inactive. The locomotive is 44 yards long.
Since its retrofit, Big Boy has used a heavy fuel oil to make steam — in contrast to its 1941-1961 heyday, when it burned coal.
Seven of Big Boy’s brothers are on display across the nation — in St. Louis, Missouri; Dallas, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Denver, Colorado; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Cheyenne, Wyoming. Altogether, 25 Big Boy locomotives were built for Union Pacific in the 1940s. No. 4014 is the only one still operating.
Big Boy rumbled through Northern California in 2014, but with fewer stops than are planned this year.