A locomotive named Big Boy is making grown men cry

ALTOONA, Pa.—This summer’s tear-jerker isn’t a rom-com. It’s Big Boy 4014.

The 1.2-million-pound locomotive, built in 1941 to haul heavy freight across the Wasatch Mountains between Utah and Wyoming, is traveling east of the Mississippi for the first time.

At every stop of its coast-to-coast tour, grown men are welling up, said Ed Dickens, Union Pacific’s chief locomotive engineer for Big Boy.

Gordon Tobias teared up each of the four times he went to see Big Boy 4014 in action in Pennsylvania—twice at Valley Forge and twice at Conshohocken.

“I never saw myself as a rail fan,” said Tobias, a 64-year-old semi-retiree from Wayne, Pa. But after his first sighting, he was hooked.

“Nothing beats feeling the ground vibrate, seeing the charting of the wheels and hearing the whistle,” he said. “It’s such a sensory experience.”

Trainspotters have been studying Big Boy 4014’s schedule and traveling long distances to catch sight of the iron giant.

In June, thousands came to Tunkhannock Viaduct in Pennsylvania to see it traverse the concrete arch bridge.

Groups chatted under the hot sun, until the distant sound of a whistle caused a hush to spread.

“I was choked up,” said Matthew Di Gioia, 25, who works as an Amtrak signalman. “It looked like my model train from afar.”

His Big Boy 4009 train set wouldn’t miss another meeting. Di Gioia brought it along when he went to see Big Boy 4014 in Altoona. “I thought, ‘I’ll probably never see it moving.’ And now, heh.”

Big Boy 4014 and 4009 are among 25 Big Boy locomotives built in Schenectady, N.Y., for Union Pacific in the 1940s. Within two decades, railroads had replaced steam engines with diesel-electric trains, which are cheaper to maintain and operate.

Only eight Big Boys exist today, and Big Boy 4014 is the only one working—making it the world’s largest operating steam locomotive.

After being retired in 1961, it was on display at the RailGiants Train Museum in Pomona, Calif., before Union Pacific brought it back in 2013 in exchange for a diesel locomotive, a caboose and a boxcar. Railroad employees finished restoring it in 2019, converting it from coal to fuel oil.

“Eighty years ago, they built this machine to do exactly the same thing we do today. It was built to pull more railcars than other locomotives,” said Dickens, the senior manager of Heritage Operations at Union Pacific.

Operationally, a steam locomotive is highly inefficient. On a per-mile basis, Big Boy 4014 uses around 250 gallons of water and 15 gallons of fuel.

But the locomotive has sentimental and aesthetic value. For Union Pacific, it’s also become a builder of goodwill for its proposed multibillion merger with East Coast-based railroad Norfolk Southern.

Union Pacific Chief Executive Jim Vena said Big Boy’s tour in the East wouldn’t have been possible if not for the deal, which still requires regulatory review and approval. Union Pacific’s tracks are west of the Mississippi.

Tobias, the newly minted rail fan, said he was so moved after seeing Big Boy that he called his investment adviser to buy Union Pacific stock.

“He said it’s not a good idea. I told him it’s not about the money,” said Tobias.

Big Boy 4014 started its tour in April in Sacramento, where the eastward construction of the transcontinental railroad began in 1863. After stops including Indiana, Ohio and New York, the train is traveling back west toward Cheyenne, Wyo., where it will park on July 29.

Along the route, families arrive with lawn chairs, tents and tripods. Some wave the American flag. Others wait on bikes, ready to track the train as it barrels forward. On stretches of waterfront, people linger in boats, kayaks and pool floats.

A whistle sounds in the distance, and the ground rattles as the train comes into view, plumes of steam billowing out. Union Pacific warns rail fans to stay at least 25 feet back; few follow the guidance.

As the din of clanking metal dims, the smell of grease and exhaust lingers. No one seems to mind the industrial grime.

The public isn’t generally allowed to touch the locomotive, but the crew makes exceptions during stops. “There are several people who just want to touch it, and when they do they break down,” said Dickens.

The engineer—who looks like he stepped out of central casting with his dimpled grin, 6’2” frame, striped shirt and Dickies denim overalls—has been known to shed a tear of his own. “I get emotional sometimes when I experience the sheer crowd size.”

Jeff Bartlett had good reason for his tears during a second viewing at Norfolk Southern’s Rose Yard in Altoona.

The 63-year-old model-train enthusiast told Dickens, who stopped for a chat, he was there for his best friend, Roy, who died several years ago. “I wish he was here to see it,” Bartlett said.

Dickens had an idea. “I’ll get my crew to blow the whistle to honor the memory of your friend,” he said, before relaying instructions on his radio.

When a shrill roar cut across the train yard a few seconds later, Bartlett promptly broke into tears.

Write to Esther Fung at [email protected]