By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
SUNSET BAY — Thousands of people in Chautauqua and Erie counties gathered around railroad crossings for a glimpse of Big Boy, the largest operating steam locomotive in the world.
The Union Pacific’s 4014 locomotive, Big Boy, weighs in at 1.2 million pounds, including the tender, and measures 133 feet long.
The railroad commissioned 25 of the locomotives in 1941, eight of which are still intact. Big Boy 4014 is the only one not at a railroad museum.
Big Boy has been traveling across the country over the past two months, drawing large crowds, to help mark the country’s 250th anniversary.
Word spread quickly at the Sunset Bay crossing when Big Boy 4014 left Ripley, N.Y., near the Pennsylvania state line at 12:30 p.m., after spending a half hour to take on water. An hour later, the historic train sped along the Norfolk Southern’s old “Nickle Plate” tracks past the Sunset Bay rail crossing, where those who weren’t taking a video with their cell phones were smiling as they marveled at the sight of the huge locomotive.
Dozens of people who had placed pennies or other coins on the tracks to be flattened by Big Boy 4014 searched for them after the train went through.
Sunset Bay is a community near the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek.
The train is carrying a number of passenger cars for paying customers who reserved seats for the special 250th anniversary trip.
The trip began April 10 in Sacramento, Calif., and left Big Boy 4014’s Wyoming base in Cheyenne on May 25.Before New York, there were stops in Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
After passing through the Erie County Southtowns communities of Angola, Hamburg, Lackawanna, the train spent the night in the Norfolk Southern rail yard in Cheektowaga and public tours were available until 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, with shuttle buses from Galleria Mall. The trail heads east again Thursday at 9 a.m., passing through Cheektowaga, Depew, Lancaster, Alden, Darien, Attica, Warsaw and Silver Springs (where it will stop at the Main Street crossing for 15 minutes at 11:45 a.m.
At 12:20 p.m. the train is scheduled to pass over the Genesee River Arch Bridge in Letchworth State Park on its way to Hornell, where it will stop at the historic Eric Depot Museum, 111 Loder St., from 2-2:30 p.m. It then departs for Sayre, Pa. for the evening.
The train’s journey continues to Scranton, where it will stay at the Steamtown National Historic Site from June 17-30. It leaves Philadelphia on July 6 for the return trip to Cheyenne, where it will arrive July 29
For a full schedule, click here: https://www.up.com/about-us/history/steam/schedule.
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