This really *ties* things together.
The weekly digest list of topics is down below.
Posted on 05/08/2026 4:43:42 PM PDT by KitJ
Union Pacific's famed Big Boy No. 4014, the world's largest operating steam locomotive, will journey to the East Coast this summer for the first time as part of a historic coast-to-coast tour to celebrate America's 250th anniversary. The tour includes a Fourth of July celebration in Philadelphia, major display events in eight cities and more than 50 whistle-stops in 10 states, including stops for the first time in Indiana, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania.
Yup. Norfolk Southern merger helped facilitate this trip.
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Union Pacific’s Big Boy to Tour the Northeast for First Time in Honor of America’s 250th Anniversary
https://www.up.com/press-releases/heritage-steam/big-boy-northeast-260428
“Self-serving PR stunt”?
A little bit. There are practical, safety, and regulatory reasons for this. The train’s destinations are posted on the web-link from the original post, the routes are there also.
Believe it or not, this marvel beast built in 1941 requires a LOT of maintenance to keep it safely on the tracks. I get frustrated that there are so few whistle-stops. However, every time they bring this thing to a halt it takes a while to slow it down and then get it moving again.
The reason the overnight stops are closed to the public is because the guys on the train are working 12-hr shifts+ to inspect, oil, grease, refill, fuel, etc.
The company lawyers will not allow the public in the railyards. For good reason. That is a truly dangerous place!
There are trainspotting sites and forums where people track the 4014 and other special trains. Sometimes you need to catch it on the fly as it passes through, but they always slow down before they get to a town or city. That’s the time to catch it in action, feel the rumble, and smell the smells.
I think it takes about three days to get the boiler up to pressure, and maybe five days to shut it down. When it stops overnight, they keep the boiler ‘at idle’. Lots of steam, lots of heat, not a safe place for someone that doesn’t know what they’re doing.
Picture a democrat with a hot oven in the room. Dummies just can’t stop themselves from touching it. Heh heh.
“The smell of the steam and coal was intoxication.”
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Sadly, the Big Boy has been converted to burn heavy oil and not coal. The former coal-tender now carries an astonishing amount of heavy oil and not coal anymore.
Environmental and fire concerns, with a little recycling tossed in for the greenies.
Coal burners made a lot of smoke and smog. Oil burners are more efficient and comply with voluminous environmental regulations gifted to us for decades by commies/dems and rinos.
The real problem in the West is wherever the coal burning locomotives ran, they belched glowing embers onto the Plains and started lots of brush-fires.
For the greenies, the oil burned in the Big Boy is used, filtered oil from the modern Diesel-Electrics. Thus recycling something that would have normally been discarded.
I just hope the UP accounting department keeps funding the steam program at higher levels in the future to keep these on the rails!
You’re welcome.
Thought the pic was needed to go along with the article.
Thank you for all this information. I am sure it would take a lot of effort to set up viewing sights and see the train in action. It’s something I certainly would have traveled a bit to see.
I do some genealogy and most people have no idea how important trains were to our economy and our infrastructure. So many of us have ancestors who worked for railroads. They even had their own retirement program like social security.
We are big railroad fans from our days being stationed in Germany. We have taken most of the long distance Amtrak lines out west and really enjoyed the trips. Only the New Orleans to LA route has not been done so far. The Empire Builder across the northern plains was my favorite but crossing the Rockies from Denver to SF was great too.
This really *ties* things together.
The weekly digest list of topics is down below.
here's the Gods, Graves, Glyphs digest for this week -- the other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha:
Union Pacific has announced their Eastern Leg of the cross-country journey of the Big Boy, 4014.
Big Boy is resting in Cheyenne, WY, right now for a few days after the Western trip. The Eastern trip will start next week.
I believe that Big Boy will be in Washington D.C. in time for the 250th Anniversary of our beautiful nation.
Looks like fun.
Thanks!
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