SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A rare sight in Scranton is about to roll out. Tuesday was the last full day to see two massive Big Boy locomotives side-by-side at Steamtown. 28/22 News Reporter Colby Hughes explained how one visit brought huge crowds, big energy, and more than 100,000 people to the Electric City.

The Steamtown National Historic Site has an annual visitation of around 60,000 people. Just within the two weeks that Big Boy 4014 was in Scranton, they brought in around 110,000 visitors.

Two weeks of massive crowds heading into the Steamtown National Historic Site. It’s all part of Big Boy 4014’s journey from coast to coast, and it spent two weeks on display next to Big Boy 4012 in the city of Scranton. Visitors described it as something they didn’t want to miss.

Pittsburgh resident Ethan McMinn said, “They don’t really run that much, and this is probably once-in-a-lifetime for us because we live further away.”

“I can’t believe I’m actually seeing it in person,” Pittsburgh resident Gabriel Reitmeyer explained.

“It’s a pretty big train; I think it’s pretty cool,” Pittsburgh resident Ben Reitmeyer added.

This visit from Big Boy 4014 sent the Historic Site barreling past its annual visitation.

Steamtown National Historic Site Superintendent, Jeremy Komasz, explained, “We crushed it. We did about 65,000 in the first six days of this visit. We did approximately 30,000 on day one and 20,000 on day two.”

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Even after all the display days throughout the month of June, people still traveled to the Electric City and made it a point to see what else the city has to offer by the last display day, like Eric Neidermeyer, who traveled from Atlanta, Georgia, to see the two trains side-by-side.

Georgia resident, Eric Neidermeyer, said, “This one has such a deep guttural sound, so seeing them blow the whistle and burn the smoke and everything, the experience is just really cool.”

Big Boy 4014 is headed to Philadelphia for the Fourth of July, but many people will remember the steam locomotive’s stay at Steamtown.

“I think what I’ll miss is just this buzz and this energy. Everybody here is excited to be here. Everybody wants to talk about the Big Boy, and then they want to talk about, ‘Hey, what else can I do here at Steamtown?’” Komasz added.

Big Boy 4014 is set to depart from Scranton Wednesday morning around 10:00 a.m.

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