DENVER — Union Pacific 4014, perhaps better known as Big Boy No. 4014, will travel from Wyoming to Denver on Thursday to honor the company's 160th anniversary.
The roundtrip tour will start in Cheyenne, Wyoming and ride south on July 28 to Denver, where it will stay on display at Union Station on July 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The following day, July 30, the Union Pacific Museum will host a special Big Boy passenger trip from Denver to Cheyenne as part of the annual gala fundraiser for the nonprofit museum. Passengers, who must be 18 or older, will return to Denver via motorcoach.
"(It) is a rare opportunity for the public to travel on this historic heritage equipment," Union Pacific said.
Big Boy's tour was expected to continue through the west coast this summer, but it was canceled so Union Pacific can focus on improving "network fluidity and service to customers amid ongoing supply chain challenges," the company said.
Twenty-five Big Boy locomotives were built for Union Pacific during World War II and while eight have been preserved, No. 4014 is the only functioning one. They are all 132 feet long and weigh roughly 1.2 million pounds.
Big Boy No. 4014 was delivered to Union Pacific in December 1941 and would travel more than one million miles before it was retired in December 1961. It returned to service in May 2019 after a multi-year restoration process, Union Pacific said.
"Both the communities of Denver and Cheyenne have a rich history that goes almost as far back to the foundation of Union Pacific Railroad," said Scott Moore, senior vice president of corporate relations and chief administrative officer for Union Pacific. "We are disappointed we cannot have our longer Big Boy tour this year but rekindling our great history with Denver and the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo will give us an opportunity to share No. 4014 with the public in 2022."
You can click here to find Big Boy's schedule as it travels from Cheyenne to Denver and click here to track the locomotive.