Union Pacific's Big Boy: the largest locomotive ever built in SoCal after a major restoration (2024)

Thousands of people welcomed the largest steam locomotive ever built when it returned to Southern California on Wednesday.

The Union Pacific locomotive known as "Big Boy" 4014 was on display at the Pomona Fairgrounds for more than 50 years. But after a large-scale restoration project it is operational again.

“We saw her when she was going to be restored and now she's fully recovered,” said Jeanette Bohman of Victorville. "And we're excited! I don't even have the words for it."

Many spectators gathered at the Amtrak station in Victorville hours before Big Boy 4014's scheduled arrival. The enthusiastic group included photographers, people who called in sick to work and about 200 students from Six Street Preparatory School just down the street.

“Children love trains from nursery onwards,” says director Colin Rowe. “And when we told the students and teachers, they were excited.”

The restoration project of the 30 meter long locomotive was carried out by a nine-strong team led by senior manager Ed Dickens. But overhauling 1.2 million pounds of steel was no easy feat.

“Just old fashioned American hard work,” said Dickens. “Get rid of the spreadsheets, get rid of the pie charts, get rid of the timelines and get to work.”

The completion of the restoration was intended to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the construction of the transcontinental railroad.

“The restoration of a big boy has been the most asked question in the Union Pacific historical society for thirty years,” Dickens said. “It's only natural that when there's a big celebration like the 150th anniversary of the Golden Tip ride, there's a better way to celebrate than with heritage gear.”

Built in 1941, Big Boy 4014 originally ran on coal, but an early decision was made to run the restored version on No. 5 oil. Dickens said the main reasons were cost and safety.

And of course dirty.

“(With coal) you have to remove tons of ash and the fire burns everything in the ash pan,” he said. “Plus, there's a huge amount of ash and cinders flying out of the thing. So that's not possible. We never thought about running it on coal.”

Big Boy 4014 will be shown to the public Thursday and Friday in Bloomington. Tickets are already sold out, so fans can make the trip back over the Cajon Pass to Barstow this weekend.

The locomotive will be back in Bloomington on Monday before heading east and continuing its journey across the country. The stops on Tuesday are Beaumont, Indio and Yuma.