Big Boy 4014 Rolls Through History in Northwest Ohio
By Ed Bohn
Few machines in American history captured the imagination as the steam locomotive. The massive size, the moving parts, all powered by steam. The last of its kind and the largest ever built, came through northeastern Indiana and northwest Ohio, as part of the coast-to-coast celebration of the United States 250th birthday, Saturday June 6th.
The Union Pacific Railroad recommissioned one of eight “Big Boy” steam locomotive engines, that still existed, back to fully operational, after a number of years of bringing a museum piece back to life. In 2019, Engine 4014 after being restored and repowered to a more efficient means of producing the steam needed to power such a massive locomotive, was converted from being fueled by coal in its original construction in 1941, to No. 5 fuel oil. The restoration took two years to complete and Union Pacific put it back on its rail line, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental railroad expansion out west.
The Union Pacific Railroad decided to do its part in celebrating the 250th years of the United States, by putting together this special train, and having the only fully functional “Big Boy” steam locomotive engine, travel from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast, and back to its home in Cheyene, Wyoming.
Residents in northeastern Indiana and northwest Ohio, got a glimpse of the largest steam powered locomotive in the world, on Saturday, June 6th, as it made it way from Ft. Wayne, Indiana, where it was serviced overnight to Bellevue, Ohio, where it once again received service. Along the way, people in the small towns of Edgerton, Indiana, Payne, Latty, Broughton, Melrose, Oakwood and a brief stop in Continental, Ohio, all took part in history in the making.
This 1.2-million-pound, 133-foot mechanized, marvel piece of machinery, that is able to produce over 6,000 horsepower, for the first time has crossed the Mississippi River and traveled into the eastern part of the United States. Today the Big Boy Engine 4014, remains a symbol of American engineering achievement and industrial determination. The concept of the journey is simple, but an ambitious one, departing from the Pacific coast on April 10th of this year, steaming eastward, across deserts, mountains, the plains, passing through small towns and big cities, before reaching the Atlantic coast. This railroad excursion is a rolling piece of American history. Union Pacific ordered 25 of these mammoth steam locomotives, to transport freight over the Wasatch Mountain Range, transporting military equipment to the shipping ports of the pacific ocean, during World War II and through the economic boom years of the Fifties.
The journey has been a demonstration of cooperation among the major railroad companies to travel from coast to coast, on the different railroads. Norfolk Southern Railroad Company owns the section of tracks that the Big Boy locomotive traveled from Ft. Wayne across the state of Ohio. People lined the tracks along the way, gathered at railroad crossing, in the country as well as in towns and cities along the way. Well over a thousand people, from grandparents, moms & dads, along with their children and grandchildren, all took part in the gathering, in Continental, Ohio. The train stopped for around a half hour for people of all ages to get a look at the mammoth piece of industrial history and the other rail cars of its era, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt personal rail car used during his presidency, that was at the end of the train.
Once the train makes its way to the Atlantic coast, it will take part in this country’s Semiquincentennial in Scranton, Pennsylvania, it heads back across the United States. If you missed it last weekend, you will get a chance to see it once again, in northwest Ohio. It will make a stop in Fostoria, Ohio on Tuesday, July 14th, scheduled from 9:00am to 3:00pm, then after getting serviced overnight, Big Boy 4014 will take off the next morning making its way once again for a stop in Continental, Ohio, on Wednesday, July 15th, from 11:30am to noon,
For more information about the “Big Boy” Engine 4014, go online to the Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 website or get on YouTube and type in Union Pacific Big Boy and watch the number of videos capturing the restoration of the enormous steam locomotive and its journey across this great United States.
