July 24, 2024 |
Photo – Union Pacific Railroad’s Big Boy steam engine #4014 – Bigfoot99 file photo
Union Pacific Railroad’s “Big Boy” is coming back through Carbon County this week as the historic locomotive makes the return trip to Cheyenne after a swing through California this month.
The historic steam engine’s trip out west began in early July. On the return trip, Big Boy 4014 will make the run from Rock Springs to Rawlins Thursday morning. A stop at Point of Rocks is planned tomorrow at the Black Buttes Road Crossing from 9:45 to 10:15 a.m.
An overnight stop is planned for Rawlins Thursday night. You may catch a glimpse of 4014 in Rawlins, but UP advises that overnight stops are closed to the public for safety and security reasons. The railroad notes that non-employees who access a location where the railroad is stopped overnight, without permission, will be treated as trespassers.
On Friday, Big Boy will begin the final leg of its journey with a stop in Medicine Bow off Highway 30 at Medicine Bow-McFadden Road.
Famed American writer Owen Wister put Medicine Bow on the map of the West with his 19th century Western, The Virginian.
The story begins with the train stopping at Medicine Bow. Passengers, both men and women, on board, were drawn to the windows to watch a western scene unfold. Horses were “plunging, huddling and dodging. They were cow ponies in a corral, and one of them would not be caught, no matter who threw the rope.” Medicine Bow was the forlorn narrator’s destination. His luggage had been lost some two thousand miles earlier on the trip out west. Despite his luck, the unnamed narrator was about to begin an unforgettable journey into the western landscape.
Big Boy is representative of Wyoming’s past. It is scheduled to arrive at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow and depart at 11:30. Bring your camera and remember to stand back at least 25 feet for safety.
The big steam engine then will depart for a final stop on the tour in Wyoming’s Capital City at 4 p.m. for the final Friday of Cheyenne Frontier Days, where special festivities are planned.
Big Boy No 4014 will have some time off for maintenance before departing on one more trip planned for this summer.
The “Heartland of America Tour” takes off from Cheyenne on August 29 for stops in the Midwest, including Colorado, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. The eight week tour concludes in late October.
In all, Big Boy No. 4014 will visit 14 states this year, including five states during this summer’s “Westward Bound” tour from Wyoming to California.
