The largest steam engine locomotive in the world rolled into Ogden Thursday, horn blazing with people crowding to get a glimpse of the iconic Big Boy No. 4014. Thousands of spectators from across the United States crowded against barriers at Ogden's Union Station as Union Pacific hosted the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. You can see photos of both trains, including high-detail close-ups in our gallery above or by clicking here. Utah's leaders, including Governor Gary Herbert, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT), and Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox were there to witness and participate in the festivities. Lt. Gov. Cox told 2News: Unfortunately we've forgotten over the years how important this really is. This is an amazing event. To have an actual Big Boy here, to have the 844 here, they just don't build them like they used to, it's pretty cool stuff. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 into law, creating the Central Pacific and Union Pacific companies to build the railroad. The signed document is on special display at Utah's Capitol building. It's the first time the document has ever left Washington, D.C., and it's a rare sight, only shown to the public once every 10 years. The famous final Golden Spike was laid on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Point, completing the railroad that made coast-to-coast travel across America much faster and accessible. Communication was now a booming technology thanks to the railroad's completion, along with the completion of Telegraph lines a few years earlier. Cox said: You could now go from one coast to the other in nine days instead of six months. You could communicate from Los Angeles to New York in a matter of seconds rather than a matter of months. Ancestors of Chinese immigrants were there to honor the work of their family members making what seemed impossible in the 1860s a reality. Chinese immigrants made up a bulk of the workers laying tracks of the Transcontinental Railroad. Margaret Yee, whose ancestors helped to build the railroad joined Governor Herbert to tap a new golden spike Thursday. Gloria Briones and Joyce Smith are Yee's daughters, both who were in awe of being a part of the event. Briones told 2News: Paying respects and honoring them for the work that they did and the life they gave us to be here and be a part of the American Dream, it's so humbling to be here. Smith added: Our mom's been doing this for 30 years celebrating, going to Promontory Point, paying her respects to her ancestors, this is a way for us to give back to them for the sacrifices they made, it's an exciting time. Cox compared the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad of the 19th century to the moon landing in the 20th century: We talk about landing the first human on the moon, we call it a moon shot, this was the moon shot before the moon shot, it was impossible. 1862 in the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln says; 'You know what? We're going to do this.' and everybody thought he was crazy and then four years after the end of the Civil War it was completed in 1869. UTAH AS THE CROSSROADS OF THE AMERICAN WEST The final golden spike at Promontory Point made Utah the literal crossroads of the American West, connecting the country coast-to-coast by one single track of railroad for the first time ever. Mormon Pioneers blazed trails into what would become the Utah Territory just 22 years prior in 1847. The construction and completion of the railroad made it so people from San Francisco to Boston could travel to and through the Utah Territory for the first time. Lt. Gov. Cox said: Utah became the crossroads of the West, for roads literally but for trains and transportation and don't forget about the telegraph that was laid at the same time. When they tapped that golden spike in, it was the first time the entire country was united with an announcement immediately everyone knew that it happened. Cannons were fired off all across the country. It changed forever the course of our country. In 1860, Utah's population was a little more than 40,000. By 1870, just a year after the railroad's completion, it had more than doubled to more than 86,000. Download the 2News mobile app for iPhone or Android.<doc-sep>To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, Union Pacific’s historic steam locomotive Big Boy No. 4041 made a few stops in Utah and citizens turned out enthusiastically to see it. Click here to check out photos and videos of the train rolling into Ogden Wednesday. "I am really excited by this," said ninth-grader Daniel Dudley. "I am skipping out on school for this." Ed Dickens, project manager of the Big Boy restoration said there were only 25 Big Boy engines built. it was delivered to Union Pacific in December 1941. The locomotive was retired in December 1961, having traveled 1,031,205 miles in its 20 years in service. “You can hear all the sounds it’s making and see all the animation, the ground rumbling when it rolls into town. I think that’s what captures people’s imagination," Dickens said. This engine sat in Los Angeles County until 2012 before the process of restoring it. "My crew and I went and got it, brought it back to Cheyenne, Wyoming." There are eight Big Boy trains in existence, but only one is operational. It left Wyoming on Monday and will arrive in Ogden on Wednesday. It will be on display from noon to 3 p.m. at Ogden’s Union Station. It is a 14-wheel engine with a 24,000 gallon water capacity and burns coal, up to 56,000 pounds of it. "It’s a very emotional experience. When you see so many people who are taking time out of their day to come see this locomotive, to experience it, to watch it go by. All the little kids holding sign, people cheering, American flags, it’s truly you don’t get tired of it,” he said. One of those who came to watch is Jochen Warner, from Switzerland. "We have steal locs (locomotives) in Switzerland, but not such a big one as Big Boy," Warner said. "This is my favorite steam locomotive. I never expect that this machine would come into service again. It is for me an emotional day to see this wonderful engine in service." He wasn't alone in that sentiment. Union Pacific’s Living Legend No. 844 will also be touring the system. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed on May 10, 1869. Download the 2News mobile app on the App Store or Google Play.<doc-sep>(AP Photo | P. Solomon Banda) Big Boy No. 4014 rolls out of a Union Pacific restoration shop at the Cheyenne Depot Museum in Cheyenne, Wyo., Saturday, May 4, 2019. One of the world's biggest and most powerful steam locomotives is chugging to its big debut after five years of restoration work. From there, it goes to Ogden, Utah, to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad. Cheyenne, Wyo. • It’s longer than two city buses, weighs more than a Boeing 747 fully loaded with passengers and can pull 16 Statues of Liberty over a mountain. The Big Boy No. 4014 steam locomotive rolled out of a Union Pacific restoration shop in Cheyenne over the weekend for a big debut after five years of restoration. It then headed toward Ogden for a Thursday celebration, part of its yearlong tour to commemorate the transcontinental railroad’s 150th anniversary. Big Boys hauled freight between Wyoming and Utah in the 1940s and 1950s. Of the 25 built by the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, N.Y., from 1941 to 1944, eight remain. Only No. 4014 will be operational. Engineered for steep mountain grades, each Big Boy had not one but two huge engines beneath a 250-ton boiler able to hold enough water to cover an area the size of a basketball court to the depth of a high-top shoe. The locomotives are not only big, they're so complex that steam train buffs long considered restoring one to a fully operational state all but impossible, said Jim Wrinn, editor of Trains magazine. They were the "pinnacle of steam locomotive design" in the years before diesel engines took over as the less expensive, more efficient standard for U.S. railroads, Wrinn said. "It's a pretty big deal," said Wrinn. "Nobody ever thought that a Big Boy would be restored to operation. Ever." At 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Big Boy No. 4014 and “Living Legend” Northern No. 844, the last steam locomotive delivered to Union Pacific, will meet at Ogden Union Station. The moment will re-create the iconic photo taken at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869, as the transcontinental railroad was completed with the driving of the ceremonial Golden Spike. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz will be joined in Ogden by Margaret Yee and Sandy Dodge to tap a ceremonial spike, according to a news release. Yee’s ancestors were among thousands of Chinese immigrants who forged the railroad for Central Pacific. Dodge is a descendent of Gen. Grenville Dodge, a Civil War veteran and Union Pacific’s chief engineer during construction. Union Pacific no longer has tracks near Promontory Summit, which were removed to support scrap metal projects during World War II. The Ogden crowd will be asked to tweet #DONE, the telegraphed message that let the country know the rail lines from east to west were joined. The Ogden steam meet is a day ahead of Spike 150’s celebration Friday at Promontory Summit, with working replicas of the Union Pacific No. 119 and Central Pacific Jupiter steam engine locomotives. Union Pacific hasn’t said how much the Big Boy No. 4014 restoration cost, but Wrinn estimated at least $4 million based on similar restorations. The result will be one of just six to eight steam engines still operational on mainline U.S. railroad tracks. “Living Legend” Northern No. 844 has remained in service since 1944. Big Boy No. 4014 will join in No. 844′s publicity work as a railroad version of the Goodyear Blimp, Wrinn said. The locomotives will tour the Union Pacific system throughout 2019. Few train engineers these days know what it's like to drive a steam locomotive, though retired Union Pacific engineer Mickey Cox once got a brief turn driving No. 844. The cab had no air conditioning behind the big coal-fired boiler and got dirty, Cox recalled of his jaunt that included driving through a tunnel between Cheyenne and Laramie. "Everybody in the cab is, you know, covered with soot by the time you go through the tunnel on those things. And it gets very hot. By the time you get out to the end of the tunnel, you're welcome to see daylight," said Cox, whose father and grandfather worked in the rail industry in Wyoming. "It would've been a tough job back in the day, I'm sure." Converted to burn fuel oil instead of coal, Big Boy No. 4014 will be less filthy, but even fewer people alive today know the experience of driving it. Big Boy No. 4014 was retired in late 1961, and no Big Boy engine has run since 1962. One retired Union Pacific employee, Jim Ehernberger, remembers the Big Boys well. He joined the railroad at age 16 in 1953. "You could sure tell when a Big Boy left town. The ground kind of vibrated a little more than it did with the other types of locomotives. They were very, very powerful," Ehernberger said. Union Pacific towed Big Boy No. 4014 to Cheyenne in 2014 after acquiring it from a museum in Pomona, Calif. “They had to basically completely disassemble the locomotive down to just the frame and the shell,” Wrinn said. “It was an immense undertaking.” The Salt Lake Tribune contributed to this report.<doc-sep>We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription.<doc-sep>
The United States of America changed forever when the Transcontinental Railroad was completed at Promontory Point on May 10, 1869. One-hundred-fifty years later, people from across the country celebrated that change as the largest steam engine locomotive in the world rolled into Ogden. Ancestors of Chinese immigrants who drove the "Golden Spike" were at the intersection of Harris Street and Pacific Avenue to watch Union Pacific's iconic steam locomotives, Living Legend Number 844 and Big Boy Number 4014 toot their way into historic Ogden. 2News was there to witness the 600-ton, 7,000 horsepower Big Boy 4014 and Living Legend 844, capturing some beautiful photos which you can see in our gallery above or by clicking here. Ed Dickens, Union Pacific Railroad Chief Steam Locomotive Engineer drove the rumbling, ground-shaking Big Boy into Ogden Wednesday: You can feel it in your hands, you can feel it in your teeth. The Big Boy led the Living Legend on the journey to Ogden from Cheyenne, Wyo. It's the first time the Living Legend 844 has not been the lead train car. <="" sd-embed=""> David Lowry came from Los Angeles to witness the historic event with his brothers Glen and Chris. David told 2News' Adam Forgie: You don't get a chance to see this very often, it's a rarity. There hasn't been one alive for a long time. This is a unique engine. It's the biggest engine Union Pacific ever built. David's brother Glen witnessed the massive locomotive come down the canyon, saying: [It's] amazing. Beautiful. It's an amazing machine. All the noise, the steam, it's really quite an experience. <="" sd-embed=""> Ed Dickens, Union Pacific Railroad Chief Steam Locomotive Engineer talked about driving the locomotive into Ogden Wednesday: It's a very emotional experience, when you see people that are taking time out of their day to come see this locomotive, to experience it, to watch it go by to wait by the tracks and see this locomotive, all the little kids holding signs up, people cheering, American flags, you don't get tired of it. We wave and we smile and it's one of the highlights of our careers, and not just my team but all the teams that are helping us with this. Only 25 Big Boy locomotives were built with eight are still in existence. The Big Boy 4014 is the only one operating as the other seven are in museums. Dickens said: Steam locomotives in the year 2019 are really fascinating on the mainline railroad. The Big Boy locomotive, very iconic, possibly the most iconic locomotive in the world because it's the world's largest steam locomotive. Now we have the world's largest operating steam locomotive, you can hear all the sounds it's making, see all the animation, the ground rumbling as it rolls into town, I think that's what really captures people's imagination. The Big Boys were built in two waves. The first wave delivered 20 locomotives to Union Pacific, the first in 1941. The second wave created only five Big Boys as production was limited during World War II. "Because of their size and the legend of the Big Boy, when they stopped operating in 1959 there was a groundswell going through the generations of people: When are they going to restore Big Boy? Why don't they restore Big Boy? We had the opportunity in 2012," Dickens said. So what happened to the Big Boy we see today between 1959 and 2012? Dickens explains: It was down at the Los Angeles County fair. The railroad donated it in 1961 and there it sat until 2012. My crew and I went and got it, brought it back to Cheyenne, Wyoming. We've been working for about 2.5 years on this one and here we are today. We have an operational, fully functional Big Boy steam locomotive back in Ogden again. Watch as the Big Boy backs up: Learn more about Union Pacific's iconic steam locomotives, Living Legend Number 844 and Big Boy Number 4014 in the embedded fact sheets below. FOLLOW Adam Forgie on Facebook and Twitter: Download the 2News mobile app for iPhone or Android.