{"id":234121,"date":"2026-07-02T21:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/234121\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T21:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:06:08","slug":"ems-depleted-in-muhlenberg-twp-as-dozens-suffer-heat-emergencies-waiting-for-big-boy-train-berks-regional-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/234121\/","title":{"rendered":"EMS depleted in Muhlenberg Twp. as dozens suffer heat emergencies waiting for ‘Big Boy’ train | Berks Regional News"},"content":{"rendered":"

MUHLENBERG TOWNSHIP, Pa. \u2014 In Berks County, train enthusiasts and onlookers struggled with the 100-degree heat while waiting for Big Boy to roll through.<\/p>\n

Union Pacific’s Big Boy locomotive rolled into the Reading Outer Station in Muhlenberg Township a little more than an hour after it was expected. That left people standing in the extreme heat for a longer period time.<\/p>\n

Huge crowds of people huddled for hours in whatever shade they were able to find as they waited for the much anticipated Big Boy steam locomotive.<\/p>\n

The heat got the better of a lot of people. First responders say they stopped tracking medical calls for heat-related emergencies on scene and began reporting them to Berks County dispatchers.<\/p>\n

At one point, first responders say there were six calls at once, including a cardiac arrest, and they ran out of ambulances to transport patients.<\/p>\n

Others were treated on scene.<\/p>\n

People say at least 20 people suffered from some sort of medical emergency.<\/p>\n

The Union Pacific Big Boy is going full speed ahead to parts of our area, including Berks and Montgomery counties.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Birdsboro cafe hosts party for Union Pacific’s “Big Boy” train arrival<\/a><\/p>\n

Being the only operational Big Boy, it was rebuilt and put back on the tracks to commemorate America 250.<\/p>\n

The train was in Jim Thorpe until 9 a.m. Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was scheduled to make stops through Hamburg, Leesport, and Muhlenberg Township. It was then scheduled to head to Pottstown.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. We will have the latest update coming at 5:30 p.m. on WFMZ-TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MUHLENBERG TOWNSHIP, Pa. \u2014 In Berks County, train enthusiasts and onlookers struggled with the 100-degree heat while waiting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-234121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}