Union Pacific’s Big Boy makes triumphant return to tracks

      A literal massive piece of railroad history rolled through Franklin County last week and attracted an audience of all ages along the way.

      Children and adults alike lined the railroad tracks to catch a glimpse of Union Pacific’s Big Boy steam locomotive No. 4014, which UP began efforts to restore in 2013. The Big Boy was a staple in UP’s service until the 1950s but until earlier this month, it had disappeared from the tracks.

      Thanks to years of effort, UP was able to restore the 4014 to working order and embark the train on a month-long tour to commemorate the transcontinental railroad’s 150^th anniversary.

      The tour kicked off in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on July 8 and the route brought it through the area on July 16. The occasion was such a unique and rare opportunity, it brought railroad enthusiasts from across the country, including Dick Tubbesing, who traveled from the Minneapolis area with friends Roger Libra and John Chute.

      “It takes me back to when I was 10 years old,” he said. “You sit back and you watch the drivers, the engine going back and forth and the sounds…it’s just an awesome experience.”

      The three planned to follow the locomotive for a couple of days along its tour, starting in Missouri Valley last Monday. They sat along an open spot near the Franklin County Fairgrounds to see it pass through Hampton and planned to follow it from Mason City to St. Paul, Minnesota, the next day.

      The group dedicates their free time to jumping in a car with each other whenever a steam locomotive – especially the Milwaukee 261 – plans a tour. Each trip, they said, is a special occasion but the 4014 tour carried a little more weight.

      “It’s hard to put anything above this because it is the largest locomotive now operating and you have to give credit to Union Pacific for seeing the PR value of pulling it out of California and hauling it to Cheyenne to restore it,” Tubbesing said.

      “It’s once in a lifetime,” added Chute.

      Although they had seen it a couple of times already on their tour, Libra said the experience is still an adrenaline rush each time the train passes where they happen to be stationed that day.

      “You can just hear the thump thump thump as it’s going along,” he said.

      None of the three have much experience working for a railway but for each member of the group, their love of trains began as a child. Libra said he fondly remembers seeing steam locomotives pass through his home town when he was young, but as he grew up, their presence began to shrink before disappearing completely.

      “When I was 10, 12 years old, I saw lines and lines of locomotives sitting there,” he said. “Every time we would go there, there were a few less and then one day when I was about 13 years old, they were coming out in pieces. They were being cut into parts and sold for scraps.”

      Pointing at a group of children that sat on the ground near the tracks to see the locomotive pass through, Libra added that exact situation is how his love of trains began.

      “Do you see those kids lined up? That was me,” he said. “It’s what I would do when I saw a train coming through my hometown.”

      Those memories are why the restoration and reincorporation of the 4014 was an emotional experience for railroad enthusiasts and a can’t-miss opportunity for younger generations who missed the steam era. Tubbesing said he’s appreciative of the efforts of UP to bring the Big Boy back to the tracks because it keeps a piece of history alive.

      “We’re fortunate we have a lot of organizations that have restored steam locomotives and operate them out of museums or as part of non-profit groups,” he said. “We’d like to see more preserved but you really have to appreciate all the hard work these people put in.”