Union Pacific’s steam locomotive 4014 is trekking across the country to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad. Ed Dickens is the senior manager of Union Pacific’s Heritage Operations and helped lead restoration on the 7,000 horse power, 135 foot long, 605 ton locomotive.
“Nothing gives a testimony better than someone’s firsthand experience watching this thing go by. We try to tell people to please stay back but people want to be up close. They don’t usually get a good picture because half the time they drop their phones,” Dickens said.
Big Boy No. 4014 traveled the rails from 1941 to 1961 garnering more than one million miles.
“The men and women and all the young children and people of the older generation that remember steam locomotives are fascinated with the story of the Big Boy locomotive, the world’s largest operating steam locomotive,” Dickens said.
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