USA: The Union Pacific Big Boy tour ended in Cheyenne on July 29 after locomotive No. 4014 covered 7,145.48 miles during its months-long America 250 journey.

Union Pacific Big Boy Tour Ends in Cheyenne
Photo Courtesy of Union Pacific.

A 7,145-mile run through 14 states

Big Boy left Cheyenne, Wyoming, on March 29 for a round trip to California. The eastern leg began May 25, and Union Pacific’s official itinerary carried the locomotive through the Midwest and Northeast before its return home.

The route ultimately crossed 14 states. The final mileage recorded for the tour was 7,145.48 miles, a figure displayed on the locomotive’s smokebox door after its arrival in Cheyenne.

Union Pacific said No. 4014 visited communities from Sacramento to Philadelphia, making more than 75 whistle-stops and appearing on 16 public display days. Tens of thousands of rail enthusiasts and other spectators watched from stations, display sites and trackside locations.

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Big Boy reached the Northeast for the first time

The eastern journey took the locomotive to Tunkhannock Viaduct and Horseshoe Curve, while Philadelphia hosted it over the July 4 weekend. Union Pacific’s tour announcement said the trip marked Big Boy’s first journey across the Mississippi River and into the Ohio Valley since it was built in Schenectady, New York, and delivered in 1941.

Union Pacific Big Boy Tour Ends in Cheyenne
The Union Pacific steam crew back home in Cheyenne, Wyo., with “Big Boy” 4014. Photo Courtesy of Union Pacific.

East of Chicago, the locomotive travelled mainly over Norfolk Southern tracks. The tour therefore placed the two railroads together before large public audiences while Union Pacific promoted its proposed merger with Norfolk Southern; the transaction remains a proposal rather than a completed combination.

The only operating Big Boy returns to its base

No. 4014 has a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, measures 133 feet long and weighs 1.2 million pounds. According to Union Pacific’s technical profile, it is one of eight surviving Big Boys and the only one still in operation.

The locomotive retired in December 1961 after travelling 1,031,205 miles in revenue service. Union Pacific reacquired it in 2013, restored it in Cheyenne and returned it to service in May 2019.

Its July 29 arrival closed the announced 2026 coast-to-coast program. Union Pacific’s current schedule lists the journey in the past tense and does not yet provide a date for another Big Boy excursion.

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