ROCHELLE, Ill. — The vast expanse of Union Pacific’s Ike Evans Global III terminal just west of Rochelle played host to a “Family Days” event for Chicago area UP employees today (Saturday, Sept. 7) prior to a public display featuring Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 on Sunday at the same location.
It proved to be an excellent venue to savor the locomotive.
The Rochelle open house at Global III (at 2701 Intermodal Drive) will be staged from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. The complete schedule of stops and movement days is available here.
Monday’s schedule and route around Chicago
After making a 15-minute stop at the Railroad Park in downtown Rochelle at 8:45 a.m. Monday, Sept. 9, the big 4-8-8-4 will move east on the ex-Chicago & North Western main line to Proviso Yard west of Chicago, where the train will stop briefly to re-crew at about 11:30 a.m.
It will then skirt downtown on the Indiana Harbor Belt, passing under the BNSF Railway “Race Track” at La Grange, then through Argo, Chicago Ridge, and Blue Island to Dolton, Ill. That’s where the train will rejoin UP rails, formerly the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, for the run down to Watseka, Ill. It is scheduled to make a 30-minute stop at North Street crossing there at 5 p.m. before tying up at Villa Grove, Ill., Monday night.
As with all Big Boy moves, the schedule is subject to change.
When is UP going to quit with the “Big Boy” chalk mark on the smoke box? It was appropriate for its first few outings after restoration but that’s no longer the case. The mark wasn’t on any of them in regular service so I don’t see a reason to continue with.
Another point about original service: were auxiliary water tenders painted anything other than black?
Many years ago chatting with an ex-CB&Q conductor inbound from Aurora I casually used the term “racetrack” when discussing current traffic on the line. He snorted derisively with words to the effect that only foamers used it, never the Q.