Big Boy No. 4014, a massive steam locomotive weighing 1.1 million pounds, is returning home as Union Pacific’s “Westward Bound Tour” continues. The locomotive is scheduled to arrive at the Morgan Depot in Utah on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. before departing for Salt Lake Central Station at noon. It will be on display at the Salt Lake City station until 4:30 p.m. before heading to Elko, Nevada on Saturday.
The locomotive is set to return to Utah later in July, with a stop at Ogden Union Station on July 20. It will be on display from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on July 20 and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 21 before departing for Montpelier, Idaho on July 22. Big Boy No. 4014 was one of more than two dozen locomotives produced by the American Locomotive Company for Union Pacific between 1941 and 1944.
These locomotives were known as the “world’s largest” steam engines and were designed to pull freight through the mountains between Ogden and Cheyenne, Wyoming. The last Big Boy was taken out of regular operation in 1959, and only eight remain in existence today. Union Pacific restored No. 4014 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 2019, and it now operates on industrial heating oils as part of the restoration adjustments.
The “Westward Bound Tour” began in Cheyenne, Wyoming and will end on July 26 back at the depot where the locomotive is housed, with plans for another tour in the Midwest beginning on Aug. 29 and ending in October.