Big Boy, the historic locomotive owned by Union Pacific, will pass through McIntosh County sometime after 9 a.m. on Oct. 14.
Maybe. The trains schedule is subject to change.
It was last seen locally when it passed through Mc- Intosh County in 2021.
The gargantuan engine, on an eight-week “Heartland of America” promotional tour, is supposed to depart Fort Worth, Texas at 8 a.m. on Oct. 13 and head north to McAlester, arriving at McAlester (Louisiana St. Crossing) in the afternoon.
If it arrives and departs on schedule it will leave McAlester at 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 14, headed for Muskogee, where it will stop at the Okmulgee St. crossing for a 30-minute stay and then depart for Claremore and then Coffeyville, Kan.
Big Boy No. 4014 departed on the “Heartland of America Tour” on Wednesday, Aug. 28 from Cheyenne, Wyoming, and has traveled across multiple mid-Western states.
There won’t be any close-up looks for county residents. The best they can do is wave at the engineer as the train passes through.
Big Boy is quite a sight to behold.
The engine is 85 feet long, 11 feet wide, 16 feet high and weighing 67,500 pounds, dwarfing other locomotives.
It is housed in Cheyenne, Wy., when it isn’t on tour.
Big Boy No. 4014 was in service until 1959, when it was donated to the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society in late 1961 and thereafter displayed in Fairplex at the RailGiants Train Museum in Pomona, California.
In 2013, Union Pacific re-acquired the locomotive and launched a restoration project at their Steam Shop in Cheyenne.
In May 2019, No. 4014 was operated for the first time after sitting dormant for almost six decades. It ran its first excursion on May 4, 2019. Now part of the Union Pacific’s heritage fleet, it operates in excursion service, in addition to hauling revenue freight during ferry moves.
