Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. July 13, 2026 1:00 A.M.
(Beaver County, PA) Thousands of spectators lined the tracks over the weekend in anticipation of a potentially once in a lifetime opportunity. Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 was the star of the show, making his local appearance as part of a long tour across America.
The historic most powerful and largest steam engine ever built is the only one of it’s kind to be in operation. The last time a Big Boy engine ran was in 1962. Most assumed the legendary locomotive type would never be seen anywhere except a few select museums ever again.
That changed in 2019 when Union Pacific completed a massive, thought to be impossible, 5 year project to restore one.
Big Boy 4014 was built in 1941 and weighs 1.2 million pounds. One of eight remaining Big Boys, it was previously on display at a museum in Wyoming prior to restoration.
In honor of America’s 250 celebration, Union Pacific decided to allow the country to see 4014 for themselves, embarking on a cross country trip from California to New York.
Following a short stop attended by thousands in Leetsdale Saturday, Big Boy entered Beaver County around 7pm and took a rest for the night at the Conway Yard, once the biggest rail yard in the world.
A private invite only event was held at the yard to celebrate the arrival of the train. The event was mostly attended by Norfolk Southern employees and their families. Beaver County Radio was invited to share in the festivities and witness the event.
4014 rolled in blowing his whistle and ringing his bell at approximately 7:15pm. Attendees gazed in amazement and cheered at the massive locomotive while
children blew their wooden train whistles that were handed out.
Beaver County Radio had the opportunity to speak with Brian Barr, the Chief Operating Officer for Norfolk Southern. Barr himself is familiar with area, saying that Conway Yard is “kind of a special place for me”, noting he received a good bit of training at Conway when he was first hired by Norfolk Southern in the 1990s.
When asked about the success of the Big Boy trip so far, Barr relayed “I want to thank all the volunteers, the community, the mayor’s here from Conway. You know, it’s been an enormous turnout. It’s been an enormous support from all of our employees, all of our volunteers, and really all of the communities we operate through to be here in Conway for America’s 250th birthday, with the steam engine, the two railroads coming together. Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific to operate this through our communities, you know, is something that’s really special for America’s birthday”.
We asked Barr if he has had a chance to ride on the historic train. The answer was yes.
“I rode it from Philadelphia to Harrisburg. I had the opportunity to ride it and we
got to spend some time on all of the UP (Union Pacific) cars and the NS (Norfolk Southern) cars there. It’s kind of, you think of where we’re at in 250 years for America’s birthday, 200 years for the railroads are coming up for Norfolk Southern, to be able to ride in a car that had such history was, you know, really a powerful situation, especially with the audiences that we’re seeing coming through and celebrating the railroads. It’s, it’s really a special thing”.
One of the special cars Barr was referring to was is called the Marco Polo.
Barr tells us “It was commissioned by Franklin D. Roosevelt when he was the governor of New York. When he became president, he took it with him to DC. In his presidency, the car was parked at the Amtrak station in Washington for three decades. The car was brought back to the railroad and was donated to a museum down South because he used to take the train from New York to hot Springs, Georgia to get polio treatments. We brought that car out of the museum. We brought it up to Altoona, Pennsylvania, reconditioned it with the wheels, with the plumbing and the air conditioning.
And, it’s still in its historical presence”.
Big Boy departed Conway at 9am Sunday morning.
A popular viewing spot by many was to see the train chugging through New Brighton.
Beaver County Radio witnessed spectators lining the town in nearly any place that had visual on the tracks. New Brighton Police assisted in making sure the tracks were clear and crowds were keeping a safe distance.
Beaver County Radio got a final view of 4014 as it came out of the tunnel at the edge of Big Rock Park and proceeded to head north to it’s next destination.
New Brighton (VIDEO):
Conway (Video):
