The biggest steam locomotive is whistle-stopping across the U.S.

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The biggest steam locomotive is whistle-stopping across the U.S.

Updated July 11, 202611:14 AM ET

https://www.npr.org/2026/07/11/nx-s1-5872656/big-boy-locomotive-steam?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Jeff Lunden

https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4000x2667+0+0/resize/1200/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6f%2Ffc%2F7f29a95b484f94741f433ddc2d1f%2Fphillytrain-041.jpg

Attendees take photographs and admire Union Pacific's Big Boy No. 4014, the world's largest operating steam engine locomotive, during a stop in Philadelphia on July 5, 2026. As part of the celebration for America's 250th anniversary, the steam engine train is on tour for public display in multiple cities and states across the United States.
Michelle Gustafson for NPR


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Dickens is straight out of central casting, with his overalls and cap with the Big Boy's number on it. He's usually the guy at the throttle of this 7000-horsepower beast, as it hauls the train across the country.

"It's all manually operated, there's nothing automatic," Dickens explained, after a round of selfies with fans of the Big Boy.


Union Pacific Railroad's Big Boy No. 4014– the world's largest operating steam locomotive – has been barnstorming from coast-to-coast in a celebration of America's 250th birthday. Based in Wyoming, the train came east to Philadelphia for the July 4th weekend.

On the hottest day of the year – 102 degrees with a heat index that made it feel like 112 – dozens of people camped out by the side of the tracks at Valley Forge National Historical Park to see the train steam by. Many people brought camp chairs and coolers with water, like John Seibert, who came with a couple of friends from a model railroad club..............

A train and its celebrity

The Union Pacific Railroad Company ordered twenty-five Big Boy locomotives, from 1941 to 1944, to haul freight through the Wasatch Mountains in Utah and Wyoming. The engines had an articulated design, to allow them to take curves, and two sets of pistons, driving eight wheels each. The last Big Boy retired in 1962 - they were all replaced by diesel engines.