Free Republic

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific’s Big Boy will return to California this spring in the first leg of its planned coast-to-coast trip for America’s 250th anniversary, the railroad has announced. The first segment of the trip will be a round trip from Cheyenne, Wyo., beginning March 29 and concluding April 24, with two major public displays: April 10-11 in Roseville, Calif., and April 18-19 in Ogden, Utah. A full schedule will be released closer to the start of the tour. The eastern portion of the trip is still being finalized but is expected to begin in late spring. No passenger...

Once one of the heaviest steam locomotives in the world, the Big Boy 4014 recently stumbled into a mission. The famous Union Pacific Big Boy was the heaviest steam locomotive ever built when it became operational in the 1940s. An icon of the American railroads, it was retired from service in 1959 as the diesel age took hold. Recently, however, the last running Big Boy was tasked with the important mission of rescuing a freight train stalled in Nebraska. The video shows the 4014 gently pulling up and coupling with the freight train ahead. After a spell, it roars into...