November 21, 2019
Earlier this summer, I saw the Union Pacific 4014 "Big Boy" in Omaha, Nebraska. Today, I'll be watching that same newly-restored engine pull a train through Wilson, Kansas on its way back to its home in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
If you're taking the train across Kansas on the route of the old Kansas-Pacific Railroad (now Union Pacific), Wilson is pretty close to being exactly half-way between Missouri and Colorado
Kansas
Wilson; the Czech capitol of Kansas. I'm here early in the morning waiting for the train (which will not be stopping).
Extra-large "Czech eggs" are found throughout this small town.
I stayed the night in the Midland Railroad Hotel (below, right) which used to serve the passenger trains when they stopped for the night. It remains an attractive hotel with a good restaurant and bar on the below-ground level.
In your hotel room, you'll find a coupon for a Czech Egg in the nearby mercantile. That other egg (below, right) is claimed as the world's largest. I believe it.
School (K-12) is let out in Wilson so everybody can see the world's largest operating steam engine charge through town.
It's a perfect place to watch the trains go by.
And it's here! Moving west at a moderate pace, the 4014 started the morning in Salina and is heading for Hays, where it will stop for the night.
Driving west on I-70 out of Wilson, I soon caught the train. I lowered my window and pointed my camera south. There are too many other cars going much too slowly or even pulling over on the freeway for me to take my eyes off the road just for a photograph.
Russell, Kansas. There's a planned stop for quick routine maintenance.
Many more people are waiting in Russell than in Wilson. Of course, it was never going to stop in Wilson.
There it is! It seems that half the people will yell something like that even though it's an obvious thing. It's hard not to notice that whistle.
The very first "Big Boy" out of the factory had that name written on the smoke-box by an unknown worker (thereby naming all the engines that came later). I'm sure it gets refreshed each morning with chalk.
It's big and it's loud--even when just sitting. This machine is as close to a living animal as you'll ever find--all sorts of snorting and clacking noises along with escaping steam.
Let's look at some details before it thunders down the tracks, once more:
Never miss a chance to see this engine.