By Railfan & Railroad Staff
Union Pacific announced that “Big Boy” 4014 will venture west in July as part of its highly anticipated “Four Corners” tour. But steam fans in the Pacific Northwest will be dismayed to learn that the world’s largest operating steam locomotive will once again snub them due to “network capacity,” the railroad announced on April 10.
Regardless, the tour announcement is an indication that the summer of 2024 has the potential to be one of the biggest for true main line steam in a decade with both 4014 touring the U.S and Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 2816 embarking on a tri-nation tour through the U.S., Canada and Mexico to celebrate the CPKC Railway merger.
UP 4014 will depart its home base in Cheyenne, Wyo., on June 30, en route to Roseville, California, before returning to Wyoming by the end of July. The excursion is expected to take the former Western Pacific west of Ogden, Utah, and the former Southern Pacific on the return trip. Coming back east in late July, it’ll also run north into Idaho, hitting Pocatello, before returning to Wyoming. It’ll be the first time the Big Boy has run in Idaho. Additional details are expected to be shared in the coming weeks and so far only two display dates have been announced: July 12 and 13 in Roseville, California and July 20-21 in Ogden, Utah.
“The Big Boy locomotive symbolizes the pivotal role railroads played in shaping our nation’s history, and the technological advances we have witnessed within our industry,” said Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena. “We are thrilled to share this living piece of history with our employees and the public, and we love seeing the enthusiasm this locomotive generates wherever its whistle blows.”
The railroad also said that during the tour the public will have a chance to ride behind the locomotive, although specific details are not yet available. The railroad also plans to put “an assortment of rail cars” behind the locomotive at certain points, “giving spectators a glimpse into what the locomotive looked like pulling freight in its heyday.”
Last year, when it was announced that 4014 would “reach all four corners” of the UP network, it was anticipated that the locomotive would finally visit the Pacific Northwest, including Boise and Portland. The region had been snubbed before after the 2022 tour was postponed due to the Class I service crisis. While some have hypothesized that certain clearances on the main line to the Pacific Northwest have prevented the 4-8-8-4 from coming to Oregon (after all, in the steam era, the largest locomotives to run there were 4-6-6-4 “Challengers”) officials attributed it to traffic capacity issues.
“Last fall, we had anticipated including Boise, Idaho, and Portland, Oregon on the Westward Bound tour. As planning continued, we determined that the network capacity on our northern corridor could not accommodate Big Boy No. 4014 along with anticipated demand on a single track,” the railroad wrote.
The locomotive is expected to visit other parts of the UP system this year, including Chicago and Dallas. Visit the UP steam website for additional details.
