Big Boy locomotive rolls through NLR

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Over a thousand people of all ages flocked to see Big Boy No. 4014, Union Pacific's sole operational Big Boy steam locomotive, in North Little Rock on Sunday evening.

The train arrived in North Little Rock on Saturday night as a part of Union Pacific's eight-week "Heartland of America Tour," which runs through late October.

Big Boy No. 4014 departed from Cheyenne, Wyo., on Aug. 28 and as part of the tour will travel across nine additional states, giving many a chance to view the 133-foot-long, 1.2 million-pound behemoth.

Although the public viewing of the train was scheduled from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, a large crowd arrived over an hour early to see the Big Boy up close.

"We're die hard fanatics," said Heather Smith, who drove from Newport with her brother, Noah, to experience the Big Boy for the first time. "We'll stay out here in the rain and wait till 5:00 (p.m.) to see it because it's just that cool."

Smith explained that the siblings' love for trains began during childhood when their father worked as a Union Pacific diesel mechanic.

"This is the stuff he told us about, the cool stuff ... and it's a piece of history, of American history. And it's a cool piece of American history," she said.

"Union Pacific is very proud of our history," Union Pacific spokesperson Robynn Tysver explained during a telephone interview on Friday as she rode through Poplar Bluff, Mo., in a car pulled by the Big Boy. "The Big Boy is a symbol of our heritage. And it symbolizes the men and women who have worked on the railroad past, present, and in the future."

"I've been loving trains ever since I was a little boy," said 19-year-old Darius Davis, his gaze fixed on the huge train. "My grandpa worked for the railroad 42 years, so I mean, it's in the family pretty much."

Davis, who is currently in the Diesel Technology program at the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton, hopes to one day follow in his grandfather's footsteps and work as a diesel technician for Union Pacific or Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited.

"Growing up and being around trains all the time, I mean, what else would I want to do?" Davis said.

Glenn Hebert, who traveled from Murfreesboro, Tenn., with his wife, Terrie, to see the Big Boy said that the train brings fond memories from his childhood. As a kid, Hebert would visited train tracks in Lafayette, La., with his grandmother to see his grandfather, a steam locomotive engineer.

"The train would come by and of course he had to blow his big whistle," Hebert explained with a smile. "But he had a little tiny whistle he put on the locomotive just for her. And he would toot that every time he went by."

Of the 25 Big Boy locomotives commissioned by Union Pacific in 1941, only eight survive today. Union Pacific reacquired Big Boy No. 4014 in 2013 from the RailGiants Train Museum in Pomona, Calif., and transported it to Cheyenne, Wyo., where a multiyear restoration process took place and was completed in 2019.

"They basically stripped it down and rebuilt it," Tysver said. "Unlike auto parts, we couldn't go to Home Depot to find Big Boy parts.

"And now it's an antique if you will. ... Our crew treats it (very carefully). They're very proud to work on it. They're continuously maintaining it. Just as if you had a (Ford Model T) car, you would treat it like gold, like a baby," she continued.

Ed Dickens, senior manager of Union Pacific Heritage Operations, headed the restoration efforts and is serving as the locomotive's chief engineer during the tour. Dickens is also on the six-person team that maintains the locomotive year round.

"There's about 14 of us that are assigned to the steam locomotive (during the tour)," Dickens said Sunday while stationed in the Big Boy's cab, which was as very warm due to its proximity to the train's engine located only a few feet below.

"And there are literally dozens and dozens -- in some cases hundreds upon hundreds -- of people helping us at each location. ... This is a company-wide effort to run this Big Boy locomotive, to keep it running, and actually operate it on the railroad," he added.

Dickens compared the atmosphere at each of the tour stops to that of a rock concert.

"It never gets tiring, it never gets old," he said. "The cheering, the young children, the older children. The folks from a generations that remembers these steam locomotives back in the 1940s and 50s when they were operating. ... I think it brings back memories for them and they talk about that, and they share that with their children and grandchildren."

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Big Boy locomotive rolls through NLR

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