This summer, I had the privilege to witness UP 4014, Union Pacific's restored "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive, ply the rails of the UP mainline once again, this time leading the "Heartland of America" tour through the states of Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado. My portion of the trip consisted of traveling to Grand Island, NE and chasing it back east towards Chicagoland and eventually Momence, IL, where I gave up the chase. Today the Big Boy was on public display inside of UP's Global III yard in Rochelle, IL. My original intention was to go view it, but the traffic backups around town quickly put the kibosh on that, so I hung around the Railroad Park all day to experience the vastly increased presence of railfans milling around. Thankfully, the fans were not without entertainment as UP sent loaded coal train CNASH for Sheboygan, WI past the park, with UP 1983, the Western Pacific heritage unit, acting as nose-out DPU. I'm not entirely sure if the fans were more excited for this or the Big Boy. I guess it's all exciting!
