Attention, Illinois train lovers: You’ve got one last chance to catch Union Pacific’s iconic 4014 Big Boy steam engine before the locomotive chugs away.
The classic train stopped in three Illinois communities in recent days – Sterling, Rochelle and Watseka – as part of its 10-state “Heartland of America” tour, which began last month in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Ahead of its public debut in Rochelle on Sunday, extensive traffic delays and backups were reported. Photos posted on social media showed traffic backups and a number of people who attempted to beat the traffic and walk along the road to the viewing.
Monday, Big Boy was the star of the show in Watseka as crowds upon crowds waited hours to see the locomotive up-close.
Tuesday, the locomotive will make one final stop in Illinois: in Nokomis, approximately 50 miles southeast of Springfield. The public will be able to view the train between 3-3:30 p.m., at Maple Street Crossing, according to the latest schedule from Union Pacific. Officials had previously announced the train was set to be on display earlier in the day, from 12:15 – 12:30 p.m.
Following it’s last Illinois stop, the train will travel to Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.
According to officials, Big Boy No. 4014 is one of 25 built in the 1940s to handle the steep grades in Utah’s Wasatch Mountain Range during World War II. It is just one of eight to survive, and the only one that remains in operation today.