In October..stops in Bryan, Houston, and elsewhere

https://www.kwtx.com/2024/08/23/union-pacifics-big-boy-steam-engine-visit-three-central-texas-cities-upcoming-tour/?outputType=amp

Saw the last Big Boy at Flatonia a few years ago. Worth taking time to see. Plan on doing it again this year.

Cover your ears before the Engineer blows the whistle. I swear I thought it was going to blow my eardrums. We got to see it on static display next to CWS Omaha stadium in 2016, it's huge.

We watched it come through Sugar Land and it was flying. No horns, but I've never heard anything louder than the racket that machine gave off at about 40 yards. It was beyond deafening and you could feel the thumping in your chest. It was glorious!

Saw it roll into the Amtrak station in Houston in 2019 and again in 2020/2021. Big Boy is so tall they had spotters everywhere making sure it would fit under the roof. The locomotive is 130' and articulated. UP spent some money and time to restore this thing to working order, not just cosmetic. It's awesome they do this.

They also bring along some passenger cars and a few that have been turned into a museum. But pretty cool to take the kids to see.

Double post

We saw it at the Lajitas crossing years ago. Was an awesome sight to see it stop out in the middle of nowhere. Felt like it could've been 100 years ago! Engineer made a beeline to my lab pup

It says Top Speed: 65.

I happen to know that that thing will do 88 if you let Doc Brown feed it......

JSKolache said:

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We watched it come through Sugar Land and it was flying. No horns, but I've never heard anything louder than the racket that machine gave off at about 40 yards. It was beyond deafening and you could feel the thumping in your chest. It was glorious!

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Where did you view from?

DP

Charlie Murphy said:

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JSKolache said:

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We watched it come through Sugar Land and it was flying. No horns, but I've never heard anything louder than the racket that machine gave off at about 40 yards. It was beyond deafening and you could feel the thumping in your chest. It was glorious!

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Where did you view from?

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My wife and I watched it in Sugar Land also. We parked on the north side of Kempner between Main and Wood streets, and got out to stand between Kempner and the tracks. As JS Kolache said, it was flying.. The train stopped at the Harlem Road crossing for about 30 minutes, and then put the hammer down.

Neat! We saw it in Fort Worth in 2021. Son would love to see it.

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/3217001

From a couple years ago when it came through Texas

My 9 year old son is a huge rail fan, and a Union Pacific fan because of Locomotive 4014. I'm taking him down to see it in Ft Worth so he can do the walk through car. We will catch it again closer to home as it roughly follows I70 so he can see it in action. I haven't told him yet because this type of news would screw up his sleep schedule.

Unfortunately not coming the the Alamo City or Austin.

He'll have a blast if you get the chance. Back in October of 2012, the UP 844 made a similar tour and stopped in Houston. We got to the exhibit late on Sunday and didn't get a chance to tour the cars, but we got a few shots by the locomotive. On Monday, I took a day off and we chased it from Navasota to College Station. We managed to drive next to it on Wellborn for a little bit, then parked at Olsen to watch it one last time. We didn't have smart phones at the time, so we kept calling our daughter to track it for us on line. It was capable of hitting 100 mph, but is limited to about 60 these days due to track conditions.

Yeah when it left Lajitas towards Del Rio we followed it on 90. Was crazy watching him get up to speed and haul ass through all that desert land out there. Like the Wild West

I imagine that was one heck of a ride following it.

On a similar note, I worked with a guy that took a photo of the SP 4449 in Daylight Express livery as it crossed the bridge over the Colorado river near US 90A as it was headed to New Orleans for the 1984 Worlds Fair.

Charlie Murphy said:

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JSKolache said:

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We watched it come through Sugar Land and it was flying. No horns, but I've never heard anything louder than the racket that machine gave off at about 40 yards. It was beyond deafening and you could feel the thumping in your chest. It was glorious!

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Where did you view from?

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The sugar mill

I'm excited that Big Boy is coming back!

I had heard it was coming through Sugar land but had forgotten about it, was coming from Richmond back to SL and thanks to a few stoplights it caught up with me. This is a screenshot of a :15 sec video I took as it passed me. Damn impressive machine!

Went and saw this a few years back. It's a beast. Love the Big Boy.

It rolled thru Richmond/Sugarland pretty quick, but it looks like it's taking a different line this year. We went and saw it's departure the following day. It slow rolls thru Spring right beside Corkscrew BBQ in Spring. Plan on getting up there early to see the same again this year.

Anyone have insight into what route it will take from Big Sandy to Mexia? We live fairly close to the tracks running from Greenville to Dallas and wonder if it would utilize those?

Robert C. Christian said:

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Anyone have insight into what route it will take from Big Sandy to Mexia? We live fairly close to the tracks running from Greenville to Dallas and wonder if it would utilize those?

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Last time it rolled thru, the website had a tracker that would let you follow the train in real time and showed the lines that it would be running on. Maybe they'll do that again.

CyanideJenkins said:

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Robert C. Christian said:

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Anyone have insight into what route it will take from Big Sandy to Mexia? We live fairly close to the tracks running from Greenville to Dallas and wonder if it would utilize those?

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Last time it rolled thru, the website had a tracker that would let you follow the train in real time and showed the lines that it would be running on. Maybe they'll do that again.

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I expect they would, as they used that when 844 came through Houston. Also, when the CPKC Empress came through earlier this year, they had a tracker to follow it as well, but it didn't seem to work very well.

Thread bump.

We are leaving tomorrow afternoon for Ft Worth to see it and do the UP experience car. Has anyone done this? If so, what can be expected for wait times and crowd size?

really cool

Going to walk from the office at lunch to check it out.

Jay Leno's Garage did a full episode on it

CyanideJenkins said:

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Robert C. Christian said:

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Anyone have insight into what route it will take from Big Sandy to Mexia? We live fairly close to the tracks running from Greenville to Dallas and wonder if it would utilize those?

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Last time it rolled thru, the website had a tracker that would let you follow the train in real time and showed the lines that it would be running on. Maybe they'll do that again.

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https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/track/index.htm

https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm

Went to this event in FW this morning with my wife and grandson...

AWESOME!!!!!

THX to all posters for bringing attention to this incredible event!

Wes '87

Saw it in Bryan on Tuesday, very impressive up close. According to one of the videos I watched, it was designed to pull a 4-5 mile train which would now be pulled by 4-5 modern locomotives.