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Big Boy steam engine to start journey to Wyoming on April 28

In this Jan. 26 file photo, spectators view the historic locomotive, Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 at Metrolink Station in Covina.
In this Jan. 26 file photo, spectators view the historic locomotive, Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 at Metrolink Station in Covina.
(Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)
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Daily Deal and Travel Blogger

Union Pacific’s vintage Big Boy 4014 steam engine goes on the road again April 28, leaving its current waystation near Colton to be towed across Nevada and Utah and then on to Cheyenne, Wyo., by May 8. There, it will be restored for several years.

The steam monster built in the early 1940s will be on display for a day in Las Vegas and a day in Salt Lake City during its journey.

Big Boy’s schedule tweeted and posted online shows the engine scheduled to leave at 8 a.m. PDT ON April 28 from Bloomington, an unincorporated area near Colton, and travel on to Victorville and Barstow with the first day ending at a Union Pacific rail yard in Yermo, Calif.

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Rail enthusiasts have thrilled to the movements of the 6,300-horsepower engine. Day 2 brings the engine to Las Vegas, where it will be on display from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 30.

It then heads on a northeast route to Utah, where it will be on display in Salt Lake City from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 3. Scheduled arrival in Cheyenne is 1 p.m. MDT on May 8.

This engine (25 were built by the American Locomotive Co.) had been an artifact at the RailGiants Train Museum in Pomona. The museum took such good care of the engine that Union Pacific decided to trade other equipment to get it back and restore it at its Cheyenne facility.

Big Boy 4014 embarked on its road trip in January when it was moved first from the museum and then on to the rail yard in Bloomington. Since then, it has been being prepared for the Big Tow. Eight of the big steam engines have survived and are on display around the country, the Associated Press reports.

“Restoration is expected to take three to five years,” the story says. “The railroad would like to have the Big Boy operating by 2019 for the 150th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike in Utah, which linked the Union Pacific with the Central Pacific and completed the first transcontinental railroad.”

Learn more about Big Boy No. 4014.
Mary.Forgione@latimes.com
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