Big Boy No. 4014 rolled through western Pennsylvania on Saturday and was scheduled to stop in Leetsdale at 6:15 p.m., drawing rail fans out to see the world’s largest operating steam locomotive as it moved through the Pittsburgh area.
Ian Luconti made the trip to Altoona to watch it pass. “I just wanted to come and see it,” he said. “It’s historic.”
That reaction has followed the locomotive wherever it has gone. Built in 1941 to haul massive military and freight loads over the Wasatch Mountains during World War II, Big Boy No. 4014 is one of just 25 locomotives ever built. Only eight other Big Boy locomotives survive on display across the country, and this one is the only survivor still under steam and operating on America’s rails.
The train is crossing the country for America’s 250th birthday, and its Saturday run through western Pennsylvania put it in front of more of the public after it celebrated the Fourth of July in Philadelphia. Train experts and Union Pacific said a tentative Saturday, July 11, schedule was available, but exact roll-through times and locations beyond the Leetsdale stop had not been determined. That left watchers tracking the locomotive as it moved west through the region.
Union Pacific has wanted people to come see the engine, but it has also warned them to stay 25 feet off the tracks and never cross or put anything on the tracks. The warning matters because the appeal of the locomotive is part of the point: Big Boy No. 4014 carries about 25,000 gallons of water, weighs roughly 1.2 million pounds and stretches 133 feet from end to end, nearly 60 feet longer than a typical diesel locomotive.
For many in western Pennsylvania, the sight was a repeat of the response the locomotive has sparked before, when thousands gathered to watch it in Erie County on its first trip into Pennsylvania. After Leetsdale, it was set to keep heading back west, leaving behind another stop that turned a passing train into a small piece of living history.
