'Big Boy' visits Belle Plaine
World's largest steam locomotive is a mobile attraction
BELLE PLAINE — Little boys love Big Boy. Big boys love Big Boy. On Thursday, hundreds of people turned out to see Big Boy.
“Big Boy” is the nickname of the 25 huge trains built in 1941 for the Union Pacific Railroad. The Omaha World-Herald introduced it as a “mastiff among puny terrier locomotives.” There are seven remaining in museums. That number used to be eight, but No. 4014 was pulled out of a California museum and restored in the 2010s. Five years after its initial excursion in 2019, the last Big Boy returned to Iowa as part of an eight-week, 10-state “Heartland of America Tour.”
John Sutherland, 75, of North Liberty was seeing Big Boy for the first time. “Railroading runs in my family’s blood. My grandfather worked for the Pullman-Standard Steel Car Co. and my great-grandfather was the line superintendent for the Michigan Central Railroad.” He’s not much of a train spotter, but the opportunity to see Big Boy was too good to pass up.
The Iowa-Illinois portion of Big Boy’s 2024 trip followed trackage that was originally part of the Chicago & North Western Railroad and closely parallels U.S. Highway 30 and the Lincoln Highway. Its public stops were in Carroll, Belle Plaine and Grand Mound. Those stops doubled as service periods, since the world’s largest operating steam locomotive requires a high degree of maintenance.
George Kornstead of Iowa City was wearing a Hawkeye Model Railroad Club shirt. He grew up around the rail hub in Duluth and Superior. “Steam is incredible, it really is, to watch how back in the day when people were working on railroad, how hard it was and how intensive it was to keep steam available on the locomotive. Lot of work. The fireman really makes his money.”
The World-Herald in 1941 said at the first Big Boy’s launch, “A single tender loading of coal would heat a six-room home for three years.” This Big Boy has been converted from using coal to using oil.
Steven Ritchie, 6, wore a “Big Boy” T-shirt. His father, Roger, said Steven has seen a lot of train videos and sings “the Big Boy song.” Andrew Schamberger of Hudson wore a C&NW T-shirt. His sister, Becca Scott of West Branch, loves the old steam engines.
According to the UP’s website, No. 4014 racked up a million miles of travel in its 20 years of original service in Wyoming and Utah. It’s nearly twice as long as a standard diesel locomotive and more than half the length of a Boeing 747 jet. The Big Boys “had a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, which meant they had four wheels on the leading set of ‘pilot’ wheels which guided the engine, eight drivers, another set of eight drivers, and four wheels following which supported the rear of the locomotive,” the website says.
Big Boy’s visit was a way to connect with railroad history. Paul Duffy, 85, is from “Tama, really,” but now lives nearer Belle Plaine. He worked for the C&NW and then with UP after the two railroads merged. He had been stationed at multiple points along the railroad in Iowa through his career. His oldest of five daughters, Laurie Duffy, remembers going to the station in Tama with her children to wave at Paul as his train went by.
As Big Boy finally pulled into Belle Plaine 55 minutes after its scheduled arrival, the only rain in a week’s worth of weather showed up with it. It did not dampen the spirits of those who waited, although busloads of elementary school students were only able to get a short glimpse of the train before leaving.
On the other track, a modern UP train with a long line of double-stacked shipping containers prepared to resume its trip west. Freight trains have been going through Belle Plaine for more than a century and a half, and Thursday was no exception.
After the wheels had been greased up and spectators got their fill of pictures, Big Boy’s engineer pulled the whistle and rang the bell. The 83-year-old engine began to chug its way toward Cedar Rapids for the night.
Roll on, Big Boy, roll on.
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Fun story. And apparently No. 8419, a 2-8-2 rig, the last steam locomotive built in China and delivered to the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad in 1989 as part of a cultural exchange, is still there in Boone and intermittently operates using a 10-ton coal tender.