Big Steam on the Feather River: UP Big Boy 4014 visits Northern California! April 10-12, 2026

As part of America's 250th anniversary the Union Pacific Railroad is sending its Big Boy steam locomotive #4014 on a nationwide tour of the the US, known as the Coast-to-Coast tour. During the first leg of the tour, which began on March 29, the 4014 left its hometown of Cheyenne and traveled across Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada before spending a week in Northern California. It first arrived at Portola on April 7 and then traveled down the Feather River Canyon and on to Roseville and Sacramento on April 9. Since I was unable to see 4014 the last time it came to California in 2024, I decided I wasn't going to miss it this time! I first saw the Big Boy on April 10 and 11 while it was on display at Roseville, CA at the Union Pacific's massive Roseville yard, where a huge crowd turned out to marvel at the world's largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive, despite the wet weather. However this weather forced a change in the steam engine's departure schedule. The original plan for the April 12 departure was to run the Big Boy up Donner Pass, but snowstorms in the higher elevations convinced the UP steam crew to reroute their return journey over the Feather River Canyon, the same route they came in on. On April 12 I first caught the 4014 and its consist passing under the Sunset Blvd overpass in Whitney, CA just a few miles north of Roseville and about 15 minutes after it first departed. It had been lightly raining for much of the time before it showed up, but thankfully a break in the clouds appeared just in time for the sun to illuminate the bright yellow train. My next stop was at Binney Junction in Marysville, CA during which the train encountered its first major setback of the day. Just south of Marysville the steamer had to take the siding to let a few freight trains pass by, one of which was an intermodal that came to a halt and blocked the steam train's path after its crew out of HOS and had to be relieved. After an over 2 hour delay, the big engine finally started moving and I managed to catch it transitioning from the former Southern Pacific Shasta Route onto the former Western Pacific Feather River Line. The engine then conducted a brief servicing stop at Oroville, CA, which gave me more time to get to my third stop, the curved bridge that crosses Lake Oroville's Thermalito Diversion Pool on the Feather River. Running behind schedule and with the long climb up the Feather River Canyon ahead of them, engineer Ed Dickens wasted no time in getting his train moving, which resulted in some amazing sounds and an excellent shot of the Big Boy coming around the curved bridge! My next stop was an impromptu grabshot at Elsey, just north of Oroville, where I caught a long distance shot of the 4014 beginning its climb up the Feather River Canyon. The next stop, and the first one in the Canyon itself, occurred at Pulga where numerous slow orders further delayed the engine. After another 2 hour wait, and with the rain coming down more consistently, the highrailer running ahead of the train came around the corner with the big articulated closely behind it. Shortly after, the 4014 once again came to a halt to let another freight train pass by and I managed to film a few brief clips of it stopped while caught in the mad foamer traffic jam! After getting ahead of all the traffic, I managed to make it to my 6th stop at the Rock Creek Trestle bridge. With slow orders still plaguing the train, and with parking already in short supply when I arrived, I ultimately had to wait another two hours in the cold wet weather. When the train finally did show up the rain was coming down to the point where I had to take my raincoat off and try to shield my camera, which can be seen a few times at the top of the screen. Luckily, the shot still came out pretty good. My final stop of the day was at Serpentine Canyon where Highway 70 and the tracks paralleled each other on a wide open spot, which provided for an imposing and beautiful shot of the train running along the canyon walls before ducking into a tunnel. Once again I had to shield my camera with my raincoat, so I was unable to get a zoomed in shot of the train entering the tunnel. As much as I wanted to continue the chase all the way to Portola, I ultimately decided to end things here due to the persistent rain and with how late it was getting. Driving back through the Feather River Canyon in wet weather at night was not a prospect I wanted to experience. Despite the rain and long wait times, this chase ended up being a success as I managed to see the Big Boy at every stop I planned to up until this point. Special thanks to Ed Dickens and the UP steam crew for putting on another amazing show for all of us railfans!