Big Boy draws big crowds

Large steam locomotive pulling a passenger train around a curve. More of the Big Boy story.

DENVER—In what will most likely be its sole trip of 2022, Union Pacific No. 4014 — Big Boy — is attracting large crowds during a three-day excursion between Cheyenne, Wyo., and Denver. The proceeds from Sunday’s ticketed excursion will support the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Leading a 12-car train, including an […]

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UP releases schedule for Big Boy trip

BigBoy_Speer_Wrinn

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific has released details of its excursion later this month with Big Boy No. 4014. In a message to members of its Steam Club, the Railroad says the 4-8-8-4 will depart Cheyenne for Denver on Thursday, July 28, at 10 a.m., with an intermediate stop in Greeley, Colo. The locomotive will […]

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Union Pacific postpones Big Boy tour to Northwest

BigBoy_Speer_Wrinn

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific has postponed its planned tour this summer for Big Boy No. 4014, citing a need to “focus on efforts to ease supply chain congestion.” The trip to the Pacific Northwest via Northern California had been scheduled to begin June 26. The railroad said it would announce updated plans once service […]

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Big Boy heads west in June

Large steam locomotive pulling a passenger train around a curve. More of the Big Boy story.

CHEYENNE, Wyo.  — Union Pacific’s famed Big Boy steam locomotive No. 4014 is set to return to the tracks this summer for what UP’s Steam Club is calling the “West Coast Steam Tour,” kicking off on June 26 from the railroad’s heritage headquarters in Cheyenne. This year’s tour celebrates Union Pacific’s 160th anniversary, its heritage, […]

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New Sherman Hill line conquers gravity for Union Pacific

The new Sherman Hill line in 1953 was Union Pacific’s latest improvement over the massive undertaking of building and maintaining a transcontinental railroad begun about 90 years earlier. Since the first surveyors ventured into the uplands west of Cheyenne in 1865, the Union Pacific has been waging intermittent war against the geography of southeastern Wyoming. […]

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Chasing Big Boy 4014 to Las Vegas

Crowds for Big Boy 4014’s 2019 and 2021 tours have been immense. I haven’t taken part in any concerted effort to chase for these tours, but I got a taste of the madness back in 2014 when Big Boy moved from Southern California to Cheyenne, Wyo., for restoration. I covered it for two days with […]

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Big Boy Mississippi crossing, August 2021

  The Union Pacific Big Boy Mississippi River crossing is one for the history books. So far as Trains editors know, this is Union Pacific Big Boy 4014’s first foray to the “Big Easy,” New Orleans! Join Trains contributor Steve Smedley for this portion of Big Boy’s 2021 tour through Texas and the Mid-South with […]

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Big Boy in Texas and Mid-South photo gallery, August 2021

Big Boy locomotive moving over a rural grade crossing.

  Trains contributors Steve Smedley and Sol Tucker present some of their choice images from chasing Union Pacific Big Boy in Texas and the Mid-South. Big Boy’s 2021 trip from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to New Orleans and back is the locomotive’s first excursion since 2019. For more information, see the Union Pacific steam schedule online. Also, […]

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