Area train enthusiasts anticipate viewing the return westward of Union Pacific’s famed Big Boy No. 4014, the world’s largest operating steam locomotive, as it passes through Tipton on Tuesday, July 21. The train is on a coast-to-coast tour to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary and is on its way back to Cheyenne, Wyo.
Earlier this year the Big Boy visited California with a stop at the Central Pacific’s Milepost Zero in Sacramento where eastward construction of the transcontinental railroad began.
This tour is Big Boy’s first journey onto eastern rails since 1941 and included a Fourth of July celebration in Philadelphia, Pa. where an America250 Block Party was held. The ceremonial driving of a silver spike, which travelled with Big Boy from Sacramento, Calif., paid homage to the golden spike that first connected the nation at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869.
A unique collection of rail equipment also is featured on the tour, including Norfolk Southern’s historic Marco Polo rail car, a nearly century-old passenger car once used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Union Pacific’s commemorative No. 1616 Abraham Lincoln and No. 1776 America250.
The tour ends July 29 in Cheyenne after Big Boy travels about 7,000 miles across 14 states.
The locomotive is scheduled to depart Jefferson City at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21, make a 15 minute stop in California at 9 a.m., leave there at 9:15, pass through Tipton and arrive in Sedalia at approximately 10:15 a.m.
