Union Pacific “Big Boy” 4014 will travel from Wyoming to California and back over four weeks in late March and early April, according to a schedule released Tuesday. The trip is the first part of a highly anticipated coast-to-coast tour to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
For the most part, this western leg will follow the same route the locomotive took back in 2024, when it last visited California. Again, the locomotive will travel via Western Pacific rails heading west and former Southern Pacific lines coming back east. The only difference from the 2024 tour is that this time it will skip a side trip into Idaho. The excursion will depart Cheyenne, Wyo., on March 29 and return on April 24. The full schedule is available online.
While UP has not provided specific details about the East Coast portion of the tour, a recent filing with the Federal Railroad Administration has suggested a possible route via Norfolk Southern. UP and NS are requesting a waiver from the Federal Railroad Administration to operate the locomotive through cab signal territory. The filing indicates that the tour will traverse the Fort Wayne, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg lines sometime between May 25 and July 29.
—Justin Franz
