POMONA, Calif. – Good morning. If you’re reading this on Wednesday morning, I am probably in a hotel room putting on my well-worn steel-toed boots, orange safety vest, and lime green hard hat, or more likely, I am already dressed and out witnessing a true miracle, something those of us who love steam locomotives never expected to live to see happen: The first baby steps of a Union Pacific Big Boy steam locomotive that’s headed toward restoration. Full restoration. Given my excitement about this development as I write this Tuesday night at 35,000 feet on a US Airways A319 high over the Midwest, I suspect I will already be marveling at this spectacle taking place in the southern California sunshine. Sleep can wait. We’re waking up a Big Boy!
You may be wondering why I am so excited about an unrestored steam locomotive True, No. 4014 is not under steam today; it’s only recently been reclaimed by the Union Pacific Railroad for its heritage fleet of historic steam and diesel locomotives. But it is moving, nonetheless, inch-by-inch, foot-by-foot toward a new future. Today’s game: Leapfrog with panel track across 5,000 feet of parking lot at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds. Even without a fire in the firebox, water in the glasses, and steam on the gauge, I expect this engine will begin to take on a personality as it moves. What sounds will it make? What will the rust smell like as it’s worn away? We’ll find out today!
This engine is bound for greatness as an operating locomotive. But today is about the beginning of the journey back home to Wyoming. This is that once-in-a-lifetime day when a 72-year-old steam locomotive is rescued from its museum display site of more than 50 years, moved with the love and care of those who will make her whole once again, and the relationship between man and machine develops. One day, those entrusted to this jewel of the UP, a treasure from America’s industrial past, will used gloved hands to light the oil fire, watch the steam build, pull the whistle cord, and open the throttle. Given the enormous task of this gigantic locomotive, that day is years into the future, but No. 4014’s future begins today. Wake up, Big Boy, it’s time to move. You can go home again.
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