photo by: Mike Yoder

Union Pacific's historic Big Boy steam locomotive No. 4014 sits near the old Union Pacific depot at 402 N. Second St. in North Lawrence on Nov. 19, 2019.

Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014, the world’s largest operating steam locomotive, will travel through Lawrence once again, this time as part of its coast-to-coast tour to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Big Boy will be at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, as it makes its way back to Wyoming from the East Coast. It is expected to arrive at Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Road, around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday and will be on hand until 8 p.m. for public viewing. On Wednesday, the steam engine will also be on public view from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Big Boy will leave Union Station at 9 a.m. on Thursday and head toward Lawrence, where it is not scheduled to stop but can be viewed as it slows down to pass the Union Pacific depot in North Lawrence. An arrival time has not been set, but people can check the Steam Tracker for updates.

After steaming through Lawrence, the train is scheduled to stop in Topeka at 12:15 p.m. at the Great Overland Station, 701 N. Kansas Ave. It’s scheduled to leave Topeka at 12:45 p.m. that day, when it will progress through Kansas and Colorado, then to its home in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on July 29.

Earlier this year, Big Boy visited California with a stop at the Central Pacific’s Milepost Zero in Sacramento, where eastward construction of the transcontinental railroad began.

Big Boy was built in 1941. The locomotive rolled through Lawrence in 2024, 2021 and 2019, after the Union Pacific reacquired the engine following its 1961 retirement and restored it as part of a celebration of the 150th anniversary of America’s transcontinental railroad.

Lawrence train enthusiasts have consistently turned out in large numbers to see Big Boy, take photos and throw an appreciative wave to its engineers.

At 132 feet long and 1.2 million pounds, the engine is a massive machine. It carries 25,000 gallons of water to make its steam, and back in the day carried 56,000 pounds of coal to create its fire. Today, it uses oil instead of coal, according to Union Pacific.

The 4014 — one of 25 Big Boy locomotives built — traveled more than 1 million miles before it was retired from service in 1961.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Engineers wave to onlookers as Union Pacific’s historic “Big Boy” steam locomotive passes through Lawrence Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Leslie Alldritt, 3, looks hopefully down the tracks for another train after Union Pacific’s historic “Big Boy” steam locomotive passed through Lawrence, without stopping, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024.

Editor’s note: The headline of this story has been updated to reflect that Big Boy will pass through Lawrence this week.