In a Facebook live event in conjunction with the CBS affiliate in Cheyenne, UP steam manager Ed Dickens said the restored Big Boy as well as 4-8-4 No. 844 will travel to Ogden, Utah, for the celebration. He said the engines will re-enact the scene made famous by the two American-type locomotives, the Central Pacific Jupiter and UP 119 on May 10, 1869 at Promontory Summit. Ogden is the closest UP point to Promontory, where the railroad was abandoned during World War II.
He did not provide a schedule, but did say that the journey between the steam shop and Ogden would take several days in order to give the public plenty of opportunities to see the locomotive. Of the 25 Big Boy locomotives built in the 1940s, only eight survive, and none has run since 1959.
He also said that No. 4014 will be seen in other locations on the UP in 2019 – “virtually all over the system.”
Dickens spoke in front of a set of freshly machined drivers that had been repaired at Pennsylvania’s Strasburg Rail Road. The locomotive is still under restoration.
For an update about the Big Boy locomotive, see the June issue of Trains.
Will David Kloke’s Leviathan #63 4-4-0 American make the trip to Ogden as well?
Blair: Perhaps you should point out that Big Boy #4014 cannot get to Promontory unless she grows water wings, and military tank tracks to conquer the hills. That would ruin the appearance of her beautiful self. Perhaps Uncle Pete has not yet decided to lay trackage from Corrine to the Summit. (Although a photo of the Big Boy alongside the Park Service’s replicas of Jupiter and No.119 would be Amazing!)
Just a note to William Mense. The golden spike ceremony was at Promontory Summit. Promontory Point is a spot near the great Salt Lake to the south.
In an era when it takes 10 or more years for a group to break down and rebuild a steam engine, it’s wonderful to have one corporate entity that can get the job done in a couple years. I congratulate UP’s leadership. I am hopeful that 4014 will visit north Texas as part of it’s 2019 or 2020 schedules.
My parents rode behind the 1869-1969 Centenial train from NYC to Promontery Point in 1969 and back put together by Ross Rowland. Another first from memory of a 14 year old was the first useage of a DDX 40 diesel from Kansas City and back under steam to NYC. I have a picture of my mother with goggles and bandana for a Sunday Special in the Cleveland Plain Dealer wind and cinders blowing in her hair.
How do I go about requesting the opportunity to replicate their ride 50 years later. Ther cannot be to many readers with that heritage as part of the history of steam. Sadly the Dutch door experience has been taken away by people inhaling the smoke and cinders of time past.
Can we get a timetable, with lay overs? I was really hoping the big announcement would include that information. People need time to plan. Thank You Union Pacific!
What’s missing is an explicit statement saying whether 4014 will be in steam or not on May 10, 2019.
Thanks for providing us with this information. It’s so good to have a source to go to for rail industry news.
“Virtually all over the system”
oh please tell me that means it’s coming to the Twin Cities!
“CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Union Pacific confirmed Thursday that Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 will be in Ogden, Utah, exactly year from today..”
PLEASE start proof-reading your work. I do believe the correct sentence structure is “…will be in Ogden, Utah, exactly one year from…”
You’re Journalists, with degrees, not bloggers. A TRAINS proof-reader/editor should have caught this obvious mistake, in the opening sentence no-less.
Actually, Corinne is the closest UP location to Promontory Summit, but I’m guessing the Big Boy wouldn’t make it around the wye at Brigham City onto the branch.