All about the community of model railroading and rail enthusiasm
October 3, 2025 / Updated October 4, 2025
Class 1 Railroads, Heritage, News
Union Pacific’s legendary Big Boy completed a brief run to Colorado recently in what could be a tune-up for a much longer run in 2026.
Big Boy No. 4014 left its home in Cheyenne, WY, on Sept. 30 and went south to Greeley and Eaton, CO, before returning home the next day. UP said the most recent trip was for customers “to see the railroad firsthand.”
The trip was the second short run this year. In July, No. 4014 joined UP’s newest commemorative locomotive, No. 1616, on a trip to Greeley for two whistle stops.
UP announced that while the steam schedule was limited this year the Big Boy will return “in a big way” in 2026 to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.
No further details were mentioned.
UP’s No. 4014 is one of eight Big Boys still in existence, and the only one in operation. After six decades of retirement, it was restored in 2019 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad and continues to serve as a traveling ambassador.
No. 4014 made its first excursion run in summer 2019 after a massive, multi-year restoration at UP’s steam shop in Cheyenne. The Big Boy was christened May 4 at the Cheyenne Depot Museum and six days later joined UP Living Legend No. 844 head to head for the Transcontinental Railroad celebration at Ogden (UT) Union Station.
Afterward, the Big Boy made two tours on its own − from July 8 to August 8 to the Midwest and a Southwestern U.S. tour from Sept. 27 to Nov. 26.
Since its return, the Big Boy has regularly toured UP’s system with several cross-country runs over several weeks. The tours are popular among rail fans and casual observers who line up along the line for a glimpse.
The most recent was the “Heartland of America Tour” in August and September 2024 when the Big Boy traveled from Cheyenne through Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.
No. 4014 headed another excursion that year across five states on the “Westward Bound Tour” from Wyoming to California that included 19 whistle stops.
In 2023, No. 4014 traveled to Omaha, NE, on the month-long “Home Run Express Tour” during the NCAA Men’s College World Series.
The Big Boy ran in August 2021 through parts of Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. UP cancelled its “West Coast Steam Tour” in 2022 because of supply chain congestion.
Last year the Big Boy got an updated PTC system. The system’s components – computer, GPS satellite and radio antennas – are housed within the locomotive and tender. The equipment used to be mounted and hard-wired to an accompanying diesel locomotive.
Twenty-five Big Boys were commissioned exclusively for UP, the first of which was delivered in 1941. The massive locomotives were built to haul heavy equipment for the war effort, normally operating between Ogden and Cheyenne.
The Big Boys are 133 feet long and weigh 1.2 million pounds.
No. 4014 was retired in December 1961 after traveling 1,031,205 miles. Union Pacific reacquired it from the RailGiants Train Museum in Pomona, CA, in 2013 and relocated it back to Cheyenne for restoration.
