A big piece of railroad history is rolling through Arkansas and will make an extended stop in North Little Rock.
Union Pacific's aptly named Big Boy steam locomotive No. 4014 will be on display Thursday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the railroad's North Little Rock headquarters at 1000 W. Fourth St. Admission is free.
The event is part of a tour that began in El Paso, Texas, last month as the railroad commemorates the transcontinental railroad's 150th anniversary.
The Big Boy is scheduled to make a brief stop in Texarkana today, followed by stops in Hope and Prescott. It will leave Prescott on Wednesday and arrives in Gurdon, then Arkadelphia and Malvern, Little Rock and then North Little Rock.
For details and locations, see www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm.
The Big Boy No. 4014 is one of 25 that was built for Union Pacific and was delivered in 1941. The Big Boys were freight haulers in Western states. No. 4014 was retired in December 1961, having traveled 1,031,205 miles during its two decades of service, according to the website. It was on static display at the RailGiants Museum in Pomona, Calif., before Union Pacific reacquired it in 2013 and began restoring it in its former home in Cheyenne, Wyo., the home of UP's steam program. Other engines from that shop have visited Arkansas: the Challenger, No. 3985, and 844.
The hulking 4014 is hard to miss when coming down the track or even just standing still. It stands 17 feet tall and is 133 feet long, and weighs 1.2 million pounds. Its tender hauls 25,000 gallons of water and once could carry 56,000 pounds of coal; the engine now runs on oil.
The daylong stop in North Little Rock will be the best time to take an extended look at the Big Boy. Display days include the Experience the Union Pacific Rail Car, "a brand new, multi-media walk-through exhibition that provides a glimpse at the past while telling the story of modern-day railroading," according to the website.
After leaving North Little Rock at 8 a.m. Friday, the locomotive will make brief stops in Conway, Morrilton, Russellville and Ozark before stopping for the night at Van Buren. It leaves Arkansas the next day and continues through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Colorado before returning to Cheyenne on Nov. 27.
Big Boy’s schedule
Today: 11:30 a.m., Texarkana; 1:45 p.m., Hope; 3 p.m., Prescott.
Wednesday: 9:45 a.m., Gurdon; 10:45 a.m., Arkadelphia; noon, Malvern; 2:30 p.m., Little Rock; 4 p.m., North Little Rock.
Thursday: 9 a.m.-3 p.m., 1000 W. Fourth St., North Little Rock.
Friday: 10 a.m., Conway; 11 a.m., Morrilton; 12:15 p.m., Russellville; 2:30 p.m., Ozark; 4:15 p.m., Van Buren.
Saturday: Leaves Arkansas, reaching Cheyenne, Wyo., Nov. 27.
Style on 11/12/2019