CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The world's largest steam engine is coming back to Colorado.
Union Pacific will bring Big Boy No. 4014 through Colorado from Monday, Oct. 21, to Wednesday, Oct. 23, on its "Heartland of America Tour."
The fall tour, which began in August, has the famed locomotive traveling from its open in Cheyenne, Wyoming, through nine states, including Colorado.
The tour will make two whistle stops in Colorado, but the locomotive will not make longer public visits.
Big Boy No. 4014 in Colorado
Whistle stops in Colorado are scheduled in Strasburg and Greeley.
- Monday, Oct. 21, from 3:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. at the Monroe St. Crossing in Strasburg
- Wednesday, Oct. 23, from 12:35 p.m. to 1:05 p.m. at the 10th St. Crossing in Greeley
Big Boy No. 4014 will also be at Union Station in Denver on Tuesday, Oct. 22, for a private railroad employee event. There will be no public access, but the locomotive will depart Denver at 9 a.m. Wednesday to travel back to Cheyenne.
The 1.2 million pound Big Boy steam locomotive was built in the 1940s to conquer mountains while carrying equipment during World War II.
Big Boy No. 4014 was delivered to Union Pacific in December 1941, built to cross the Wasatch Mountain Range east of Ogden, Utah. Union Pacific said No. 4014 was retired in 1961 after traveling a little over a million miles, reacquired by Union Pacific in 2013 and restored to service in 2019.
The Cheyenne-based Big Boy No. 4014 was last in Denver in July 2022 at Denver's Union Station.
Twenty-five Big Boy locomotives were built for Union Pacific, No. 4014 is the world’s only functioning Big Boy.
Eight Big Boys remain throughout the United States. Big Boy No. 4005 is on display at the Forney Museum of Transportation in Denver. Big Boy No. 4004 is on display at Holliday Park in Cheyenne.
> Below: Big Boy in Strasburg in 2019:
