The Savvy Yinzer’s Guide To: Big Boy No. 4014

PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK

The Big Boy is coming to town. It’s the greatest show on rails, and it’s pulling into nearby Altoona this month. Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 is on a coast-to-coast tour celebrating America’s 250th birthday, and Western Pennsylvania gets a front-row seat.

This iron titan is the world’s largest operating steam locomotive; seeing it in person is the kind of thing you’ll be telling the grandkids about for years.

Here’s the choo-choo news:

• Twenty-five Big Boys were built exclusively for Union Pacific, but only eight survive today. No. 4014 is the only one that still runs and breathes fire. After racking up over a million miles of service, it was retired in 1961 and sat dormant for decades before Union Pacific retrieved it from the RailGiants Train Museum in 2013 for a full restoration.
• Big Boy No. 4014 stretches 133 feet (longer than three school buses) and tips the scale at 1.2 million pounds. It carries 25,000 gallons of water and runs on No. 5 fuel oil — a far cry from the 56,000 pounds of coal it burned when it first rolled out of the factory in 1941.
• No. 4014 was delivered to Union Pacific in December 1941 — the same month Pearl Harbor was bombed — to haul heavy freight in support of the war effort. The locomotive’s frame is actually “hinged,” or articulated, so the massive engine can flex and navigate curves despite its enormous length.
• After its 2013 retrieval, No. 4014 underwent a multi-year restoration at Union Pacific’s facility in Cheyenne, Wyo. It returned to service in May 2019 to mark the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad — steaming again after 58 years of silence.
• Big Boy No. 4014 will be on display from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 9-10 in Altoona. Admission is free, and tickets are not required, but there’s no parking at the site. Catch a free shuttle from Peoples Natural Gas Field in Altoona instead. All aboard!