Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 travels side by side with the Reading & Northern 2102 and makes its way to Pittston Yard last Sunday.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Largest operating steam locomotive passes through the area
Train enthusiasts set up their cameras, waiting for the Big Boy No. 4014 to come around the bend.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
A woman places a penny on the tracks so the copper will be flattened and stretched by the train.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Onlookers sit in folding chairs near the train tracks on Oak tracks, waiting to catch a glimpse of Big Boy No. 4014.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Onlookers crowd around the Oak Street rail crossing to watch as Big Boy No. 4014 passes through Pittston Twp.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Onlookers crowd around the Oak Street rail crossing to watch as Big Boy No. 4014 passes through Pittston Twp.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
PITTSTON — History was made last weekend when the largest operating steam locomotive passed through Northeast Pennsylvania for the first time as part of a coast-to-coast tour in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.
On Sunday, hundreds gathered at the Oak Street rail crossing in Pittston Township to catch a passing glimpse of Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014, traveling side by side with the Reading & Northern 2102, as it made its way to Pittston Yard.
People crowded on both sides of the tracks, some in lawn chairs, awaiting the train’s arrival for about three hours. Some onlookers set up tripods to capture the event, while others placed pennies along the tracks so the copper would be flattened and smoothed by the train.
Marlene Arnold, 70, who lives over an hour away in Easton, came down to see Big Boy 4014 because of her grandson, who is a huge fan of the famed locomotive.
“He has been tracking it across the country,” she said. “He’s taken trips to see it as many times as he could.”
Although her grandson was in Scranton on Sunday, awaiting the train’s arrival from Pittston, she was happy to experience something that gives him so much joy.
“It’s nice to be a part of his world for a little bit,” she said.
Arnold never expected the locomotive to pass by so close to her home, let alone have a front-row seat to the event.
“It’s been beyond my wildest dreams so far,” she said.
According to Union Pacific, Big Boy 4014 was one of 25 commissioned in 1941 exclusively for the railroad company.
According to the National Parks Service, which oversees the Steamtown National Historic Site, where another Big Boy, No. 4012, has been on exhibit since 2021, the ‘Big Boys,’ once seen as a high point of locomotive technology, “became obsolete as more efficient, reliable, and cost-effective diesel-electric locomotive technology was refined during the 1950s.”
No. 4014 was eventually retired in 1961, after traveling 1,031,205 miles. Of the eight Big Boys in existence today, it is the only one still in operation.
Lee Ann Wesolowski, 56, of Larksville, came to see the train along with her husband, Mark. They were on their way to Walmart when they saw the crowd and decided to stop.
“To see something like this is really exciting. We’ve been here for a while just waiting,” she said.
Bill Pfeffer, of Bear Creek, was also waiting. He sat on the grassy lawn beside the train tracks with his 3-year-old daughter, Cecilia.
For him, deciding to come and see Big Boy No. 4014 was a no-brainer.
“We had to do it,” he said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime sight.”
Following its stop at Pittston Yard last Sunday, the locomotive headed to Scranton, where it will stay until June 30 for servicing.
For details on the remainder of Big Boy No. 4014’s coast-to-coast tour, visit up.com.
