November 13, 2019 – Union Pacific 4014 “Big Boy” locomotive releases built up steam as it sits at the station in Prescott, Arkansas, waiting for time to depart north on UP’s Little Rock Subdivision during UP’s Great Race Across the Southwest steam tour.
According to Wikipedia: Union Pacific 4014 is a four-cylinder simple articulated 4-8-8-4 Big Boy-type steam locomotive owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. Built in 1941 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, New York, No. 4014 is the only operating Big Boy of the eight that remain in existence.
The locomotive operated in revenue service until 1959. It was donated to the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society in late 1961 and thereafter displayed in Fairplex in Pomona, California. In 2013, Union Pacific re-acquired the locomotive and launched a restoration project at their Steam Shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming.[citation needed] In 2019, No. 4014 was operated for the first time after it sat dormant for almost six decades. Part of Union Pacific’s heritage fleet, it now operates in excursion service, in addition to hauling revenue freight during ferry moves.