Union Pacific Railroad

Railroad enthusiasts’ version of last year’s piggyback space shuttle landing at L.A. International Airport got on track April 28 as Union Pacific Railroad sent its Big Boy 4014 steam locomotive to Cheyenne, Wyo., for a complete restoration.
Departing the company’s Colton railyard in Southern California, the amazing, colossal 4−8−8−4 power plant (two sets of eight drive wheels – essentially a double locomotive) built in 1941 started its 11-​day trek by climbing Cajon Pass, fronted and pulled by a UP diesel-​electric locomotive not-​so-​coincidentally also numbered 4014. The loco behind Big Boy, used for braking, is numbered 4884 (get it?).
Its first scheduled stop at Canyon, near I-​15 and Route 138, was viewed for about 30 minutes by several hundred railfans parked along dirt roads, and on the shoulders of 138 overlooking the track. There, shutterbugs milled about the 600-​ton, 132-​foot-​long mechanical marvel (including tender) that served for 17 years, and was donated in 1962 to a rail museum at L.A. County Fairgrounds in Pomona.
For those with more patience and who sought a more conventional train arrival, its next stop was at the Victorville Amtrak station, and major stops and longer viewings on its tour were scheduled at Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Ogden.
Kudos are due to UP for procuring this historical hulk, and for gathering a workforce to perform an almost-​lost art – steam locomotive restoration. The project is estimated to take about five years, ready for the company’s 150^th anniversary celebration of The Golden Spike ceremony that completed the Transcontinental Railroad. UP demurs in estimating the cost, but some railfan bloggers speculate around $ 3 million.
After completion, the railroad says it plans to run the locomotive around the country as a live-​steam movable museum, worthy of any rail buff’s bucket list.