Big Boy steam locomotive chugs to post-restoration debut

The Big Boy No. 4014 rolls out of a Union Pacific restoration shop at the Cheyenne Depot Museum in Cheyenne, Wyo., Saturday, May 4, 2019. One of the world's biggest and most powerful steam locomotives is chugging to its big debut after five years of restoration work. From there, it goes to Ogden, Utah, to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad. (AP Photo/P. Solomon Banda)

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — One of the world’s biggest and most powerful steam locomotives is chugging to its big debut after five years of restoration work.

A worker walks past the wheels on the Big Boy No. 4014 at a Union Pacific restoration shop at the Cheyenne Depot Museum in Cheyenne, Wyo., Saturday, May 4, 2019. One of the world’s biggest and most powerful steam locomotives is chugging to its big debut after five years of restoration work. From there, it goes to Ogden, Utah, to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad. (AP Photo/P. Solomon Banda)

Big Boy No. 4014 rolled out of a Union Pacific restoration shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Saturday morning as hundreds of spectators looked on. From there, it goes to Ogden, Utah, to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Big Boy engines hauled freight between Wyoming and Utah in the 1940s and 1950s. Of the 25 Big Boys built, eight remain, but only this one will be operational.

The Big Boy locomotive measures longer than two city buses. It’s heavier than a Boeing 747 jet plane fully loaded with passengers, yet powerful enough to pull 16 Statues of Liberty over a mountain range.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

I agree to these terms.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.