In another historic first, Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 will take to the rails this November for a limited holiday tour in support of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Nov. 21 from Cheyenne to Denver, it's first-ever holiday tour (thank you George!)

The public is being offered a rare chance to purchase tickets for the holiday tour and ride in vintage passenger cars pulled by Big Boy as it travels from Cheyenne to Denver. 

 The trip will support the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America and include a donation from Union Pacific’s Community Ties Giving Program. 

Ticket sales for patrons of the Union Pacific Railroad Museum will begin Oct. 16. Any remaining tickets will be available to the general public Oct. 19.

https://www.up.com/press-releases/heritage-steam/big-boy-holiday-tour-260917

the Amish also came to cheer on the 4014, in Northern Indiana, near Argos, and Ironwood Crossing, june 5th. They were watching a steam train “for the first time in their lives”

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10240634740341931&set=a.1230532759441

4014 on the 4th

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1675267034608939&set=pcb.1675267294608913

someone got the 4014 to drag race the 2012 up a hill!

see the video at https://www.facebook.com/reel/1649648539456499

and this happened next, the 4014 caught up and over took the other

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1037143169236833

The new Genesee Arch at Letchworth State Park Upper Falls, on the former Erie Railroad, has been officially weight tested to handle a locomotive that weighs 1.2 million pounds.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/812309041813872

comparative sizes

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122126164119226390&set=pcb.122126164239226390

Andrea Hair met the 4014 Big Boy in Carroll Iowa to honor her family’s connection to Union Pacific. (thank you George!)

“I wanted to come out to honor my grandpa’s, great grandpa’s heritage with Union Pacific,” Hair said. “He was a machinist that lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I’ve always wondered if he worked on locomotives like this or this specific one, but yeah, so that’s kind of the heart behind that is like, you know, hey, that’s part of my heritage and I’m proud of it.”

https://www.ktiv.com/2026/06/01/big-boy-4014-draws-hundreds-iowa-during-cross-country-tour

4014 on the first leg of its journey through Iowa this morning.

 https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=4332641017064720&set=pcb.1714087363272817

This will be the first time No. 4014 has ever steamed east of Chicago

May 30 – Omaha, Nebraska

June 3 – West Chicago, Illinois 

June 10 – Buffalo, New York 

June 15-16 – Scranton, Pennsylvania 

July 4-5 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

July 9-10 – Altoona, Pennsylvania 

July 14 – Fostoria, Ohio 

July 19 – St. Louis, Missouri

the Union Pacific Museum will be selling tickets for rides in vintage passenger cars pulled by Big Boy through the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania on June 14

https://www.up.com/about-us/history/steam/schedule

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1372748874888396&set=a.300196882143606

A superfan of Big Boy 4014 has submitted a motorized, 3,920-piece Big Boy 4014 LEGO kit to the company. If his idea gets 10,000 votes, it will be among designs advanced to LEGO’s review pool for potential production.

Big Boy fans have 500 days to support Dupon's project. 

With nearly 4,000 pieces involved, the model is also complex to put together, requiring 987 pages of instruction.

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/04/25/big-boy-4014-superfan-pushes-to-make-legendary-locomotive-into-lego-set/

they've announced the Big Boy's basic schedule, but no detailed schedule yet. Here's the basics: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania.

The Eastern leg begins May 25 and will include display days in Omaha, Nebraska; Chicago, Illinois; Buffalo, New York; and Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia for Independence Day. 

Additional display days are anticipated in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, before the tour concludes July 29.

interesting update on the nationwide Big Boy tour, the Union Pacific Museum will be AUCTIONING OFF two CAB RIDES in the locomotive on April 17 in Utah, with proceeds going to the nonprofit museum. The auction starts Monday, March 2, and ends Thursday, March 19.

the Big Boy will leave its home base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on March 29, traveling across Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California

Four public display days are planned for this mighty steam locomotive during the western leg of the tour, with two days each in Roseville, California, April 10-11 and Ogden, Utah, April 18-19.

In addition to the public display days, rail fans can see this historic machine in action at whistle-stops in communities along its journey. Whistle-stops are generally 15- to 30-minutes long.

Details of the eastern leg of the coast-to-coast tour – including whistle-stops and public display days - will be released at a later date.

https://www.up.com/about-us/history/steam/schedule

The 4014 was retired in 1961, restored in 2019, and hasn't been to the East Coast since is was built in 1941... but if the plans for a cross country trip, coast to coast, happen as planned to celebrate America’s 250th, it will. Thank you George!

The train operated primarily between Cheyenne and Ogden during its revenue years

Union Pacific spokesman Mike Jaixen said he could not discuss any of Big Boy’s 2026 plans other than to say, “We’re still in the planning process for determining what is possible in 2026,” and that the train would “return to the rails in a big way in 2026 to celebrate America’s 250th.”

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2025/10/27/big-boy-4014-may-make-its-first-coast-to-coast-run-for-americas-250th/

1959 short documentary movie about the Big Boys, and the 9000 series, and teh evolution of trains from simple to the last of the biggest steam powered trains. Also, it's cool to see the 4313 on the round table (thank you George!)

 

I've posted more than enough about the Big Boy 4014 since they removed it from the Pomona Fairgrounds and restored it and took it out around the country on exhibition runs... I don't need to post anything else about it, not unless a really cool photo is taken of it, like this one

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article294008769.html

hard to believe infographics are still so damn effective at getting the point across.

 https://www.eastidahonews.com/2024/07/a-massive-80-year-old-steam-engine-will-travel-through-eastern-idaho-next-week/

size comparison... I think that locomotive might be a big boy

https://forum-auto.caradisiac.com/topic/376665-photos-des-trains-avec-des-anciennes/page/48/#comments

Phil Brey wrote a song about the Union Pacific Big Boy, it's good, and catchy

 
https://journalstar.com/news/local/union-pacific-big-boy-locomotive-songs-success-surprises-lincoln-creator/article_aa2d1871-49a5-5ac4-8b67-3eadb73ec6c4.html

compliments to the dreamers and the builders.... here's a Big Boy made the hard way, without a official production set of Lego

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/5825f3eb-124e-40be-8ce4-1a0e6c3c4e10?utm_source=facebook

carved from a walnut stump in 1953, in under a year, capping off a 40 year career of carving

In the winter of 1952-53, a man approached Mooney and asked him if he would be interested in using a massive walnut tree stump for one of his carvings. Mooney traveled to Charm, Ohio, saw the gnarled stump and in it he could see the Union Pacific Big Boy. He started carving on January 13th and would finish it that year on October 30th, his 68th birthday. The Union Pacific Big Boy is one of the most beautiful carvings that Mooney created from walnut. 

Mooney captured the last of the steamers with a great tribute to steam history through swirls of walnut that only can be found in nature. He selected which parts of the stump to use and did not shy away from the difficult knots and swirls in the wood. In fact, he chose the most difficult part for the tender, carving from the most inner part of the burled tree stump.

for more intricate hand made models, see https://www.facebook.com/thewarthermuseum/