'Big Boy' locomotive steaming into Scott City on Saturday

A rolling piece of American history, Union Pacific Railroad's Big Boy No. 4014, will steam through Southeast Missouri on Saturday, making a brief stop in Scott City before heading on to St. Louis that afternoon.

Said to be the largest and most powerful steam locomotive in the world, Big Boy No. 4014 will leave Poplar Bluff, Missouri, at about 8 a.m. Saturday, after traveling Friday from Arkansas. It's scheduled to steam into Scott City at about 10:45 a.m. Saturday and will stop at the Oak Street crossing along Main Street near the Scott City Museum, where ample parking will be available for train enthusiasts and other spectators wanting a glimpse of the 1.2 million pound steam engine.

For safety reasons, and because the stop will last only 30 minutes, there will be no public access aboard the locomotive and spectators are asked to stay at least 25 feet from the engine.

According to Union Pacific's timetable, Big Boy No. 4014 will depart Scott City at 11:15 a.m., crossing into Southern Illinois where it will head north through Alexander, Union and Randolph counties, arriving at about 1:25 p.m. in Chester, Illinois. It will leave Chester at 1:55 p.m. and steam its way to St. Louis, with a scheduled arrival there at 6:30 p.m.

Big Boy's route through Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois is part of a monthlong tour of 10 states, which also includes Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming.

The locomotive was one of 25 "Big Boys" built between 1941 and 1944 by American Locomotive Co. They had a "4-8-8-4" wheel arrangement, meaning they had four wheels on the leading set of "pilot" wheels guiding the engine, two sets of eight "drive" wheels, each nearly 6-feet in diameter, and four additional wheels supporting the rear of the locomotive. With a length of 132 feet, Big Boy frames had to be "hinged" to allow them to navigate curves.

The Big Boy locomotives had a 25,000-gallon water capacity and could carry up to 56,000 pounds of coal, although Big Boy No. 4014 was eventually converted to burn No. 5 fuel oil. They had a top speed of 80 mph and could produce as much as 6,290 horsepower.

Big Boy No. 4014 was delivered to Union Pacific in December 1941 and traveled 1,031,205 miles, mostly between Ogden, Utah, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, before it was retired in 1961. Union Pacific reacquired it in 2013 from a railroad museum in Pomona, California, and spent several years restoring it, completing the process in 2019 in time to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Today, it is the only Big Boy locomotive in operational condition, with seven others housed in railroad museums, including one at the National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri.

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