Union Pacific Big Boy #4014: The Grand Northeastern Tour

It was perhaps the steam event of the century. In many ways, it's hard to believe that it could've even been attempted, but somehow, whether one chooses to grasp it or not, it happened, and it was simply unreal. The summer of 2026 will long be remembered as the summer of the Big Boy, as the Union Pacific Railroad sent their iconic articulated giant of steam locomotion, 4-8-8-4 #4014, the largest operating steam locomotive in the world, on a coast-to-coast tour across the United States, in celebration of our nation's 250th birthday. Following a month-long trip across the west to California and back during the spring, Memorial Day Weekend found #4014 leaving her home base in Cheyenne, Wyoming and heading east to Chicago, before leaving home rails and venturing onto Norfolk Southern trackage for a historic journey across the eastern United States, traveling to destinations where seeing an operating Big Boy was thought to be only a fantasy. Millions of people from all walks of life gathered to see history in motion, as cheering crowds filled with waving American flags flocked to the tracks to see the Big Boy making her very first visit to the northeast. As #4014 embarked on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure, we were trackside to witness it all firsthand, following the train over the course of 10 different days and through 3 states. Along the way, the Big Boy would ply the rails of 7 different fallen flags, and pass through some of the most iconic locations in American railroading, with so many legendary moments happening every day she ran. Our first glimpse of #4014 was in eastern Ohio, as we followed the train through the Cleveland area and up Norfolk Southern's Lake Erie District to Buffalo, New York, tracing the route of the Nickel Plate Road. The Big Boy made a phenomenal first impression charging past the Cleveland skyline, crossing the lofty Ashtabula Trestle, and racing through the lake country vineyards of Pennsylvania and New York, before arriving in Buffalo at the historic drawbridge over the Buffalo River. Following a display day in Buffalo, our travels continued with #4014 as she headed down the former Erie Railroad's Southern Tier Line to Binghamton, NY, and made for an incredible sight as she thundered up the fabled grades of Attica Hill, running alongside the Canisteo and Susquehanna Rivers, and through the beautiful hilly countryside of southern New York state. Heading south from Binghamton, the Big Boy re-entered Pennsylvania on the rails of the old Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, and shortly thereafter spanned the legendary Tunkhannock Viaduct, that was the largest concrete structure in the world upon it's completion in 1915. #4014 then entered the rails of the Reading & Northern, a place where big steam is an already common sight. With T-1 4-8-4 #2102 also in operation at the time of the Big Boy's visit, thousands trackside gazed in excitement, as the two engines made several side-by-side sequences as the Big Boy scaled the steep mountain grades of the R&N system. She passed such familiar locations as Nesquehoning Junction, Lake Hauto, and up Hometown Hill during her travels through Anthracite country. In the interim, #4014 received a boiler wash at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, getting the chance to re-unite with sister engine #4012 on display there, and was the first time the two locomotives had been together since their days on Sherman Hill in the 1950s. After the train spent the 4th of July in Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years earlier, we carried on with our chase of #4014 as she headed west across the Keystone state, starting out on former Reading Company trackage that now serves as NS' Harrisburg Line. The train traveled along the Schuylkill River to Reading before passing through Amish country and arriving Pennsylvania's state capital of Harrisburg, and crossing the prolific stone arches of the Rockville Bridge over the mighty Susquehanna. The Big Boy then traversed the Pittsburgh Line, which was once the four-track mainline of the Pennsylvania Railroad through the mountainous heart of the state, before spending a few days in the famous railroad city of Altoona. On our last day with #4014, we witnessed her storming the legendary grades of the Allegheny Mountains west of Altoona, before finally ending up in the Steel City of Pittsburgh as the train crossed over the Port Perry Bridge, where our coverage concluded. It was a journey that almost felt too good to be true, yet it was, and we're proud to present our feature-length look at #4014's East Coast Tour! We'd like to dedicate this video to the hard-working and dedicated steam crew of the Union Pacific led by Ed Dickens for making all of this happen, as they have earned our upmost respect and gratitude. So sit back, and enjoy all the exciting steam action as Big Banana Productions Proudly Presents: “Union Pacific Big Boy #4014: The Grand Northeastern Tour"!