Big Boy steams across the Rockville Bridge. (photo: Noah Lopez)
By sunrise Tuesday, rail enthusiasts had already begun gathering along the Susquehanna River in anticipation of one of the rarest railroad events central Pennsylvania has seen in decades.
Some arrived with lawn chairs and cameras. Others simply wanted a glimpse of a locomotive they had only read about or seen in photographs. A group of local musicians even relocated its weekly Tuesday jam session to Fort Hunter Park, providing entertainment for the growing crowd as spectators waited nearly 10 hours for the train to arrive.
Just before 4 p.m., the wait ended.
Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 slowly crossed the historic Rockville Bridge, drawing thousands of spectators to Harrisburg and the west shore before continuing to the Enola Railyard for an overnight stop. Although the locomotive has visited several Pennsylvania communities as part of Union Pacific’s America250 Tour, its journey through Harrisburg and Enola highlighted two of the nation’s most significant railroad landmarks while bringing together generations of rail enthusiasts.
For local photographer Greg Geiss, the day was unlike anything he had experienced.
“I’ve seen steam engines,” Geiss said. “I used to live in Scranton for a while, so I’ve been to Steamtown, but I’ve never seen this particular enormous, impressive engine of Big Boy.”
Kristen Giorgione attended for a different reason.
“This was just a great opportunity to see a historic train cross one of the most historic bridges in the country right here in our own backyard,” she said. “When else are you going to have this kind of opportunity?”
Giorgione also credited Union Pacific for building excitement leading up to the visit, saying the railroad’s public relations efforts helped generate interest in the cross-country tour.
Celebrating America250
A closeup of Big Boy. (photo: Tyler Coleman)
The enthusiasm surrounding Big Boy is easy to understand. Stretching nearly 133 feet long and weighing almost 1.2 million pounds with its tender, Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 is the world’s largest operating steam locomotive and one of only eight surviving Big Boy locomotives ever built. Originally constructed by the American Locomotive Company between 1941 and 1944, the locomotive hauled freight through the mountains of Wyoming and Utah before retiring in 1961.
Following a five-year restoration, Big Boy returned to service in 2019 and has since traveled thousands of miles across the country. Its current America250 Tour celebrates the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary while highlighting the railroad’s role in American history.
For central Pennsylvania, however, the locomotive’s arrival represented more than a stop along a national tour.
Few places have shaped American railroading like Enola. Opened in 1905, Enola Yard eventually became the world’s largest freight classification yard during the late 1950s and early 1960s and remains one of the busiest freight yards in the region today.
Jim Leonard, executive director of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society, spent 38 years working at Enola Yard and said the facility continues to play a vital role in freight operations.
“They have to break down trains and create new trains out of all those cars that are coming in here because they might be going to different destinations,” Leonard said. “It’s very functional.”
Leonard said the yard also supported generations of workers throughout central Pennsylvania.
“There were thousands of men working in the yard back in the day,” he said. “There’s still probably a thousand men out there working different jobs, still providing a living for men and women.”
Golden Age
Just east of the yard sits another railroad landmark. Rockville Bridge remains the longest stone-masonry arch railroad bridge in the world and continues carrying both freight and passenger trains across the Susquehanna River.
“A lot of people might think that it’s just a passenger train bridge,” Leonard said. “There’s more. I’d say it’s a split between freight and passenger going over that Rockville Bridge.”
Although Big Boy earned its reputation climbing mountains in the American West, Leonard said bringing the locomotive across Rockville Bridge connected two of the nation’s greatest railroad traditions.
“It’s really one of the last of the golden age of steam,” Leonard said. “To be able to come over here on its way across the country, it’s going to be just a sight to see.”
Local musicians play for the crowd awaiting the arrival of Big Boy at Fort Hunter Park on Tuesday. (photo: Noah Lopez)
Tom McCurdy, a member of the board of directors for the West Shore Historical Society, said visits like Big Boy’s help preserve the region’s railroad heritage for future generations.
“We need to tell the story of what the railroad was and see what it is today,” McCurdy said. “There’s still a lot of railroad transportation today, but not really what it was then.”
The excitement surrounding Big Boy extended well beyond its crossing of the Rockville Bridge.
After making the five-minute trip across the Susquehanna River, the locomotive continued to the Enola Railyard, where it remained overnight before departing for Altoona on Wednesday. Although Union Pacific’s website noted there would be “no public access,” hundreds more rail enthusiasts gathered along North Enola Road, which carries U.S. Routes 11 and 15 through East Pennsboro Township, to catch a closer look and photograph the locomotive from nearby public areas.
For Tyler Coleman of Harrisburg, the trip to Enola was one he couldn’t pass up.
“I’ve always been a fan of trains,” Coleman said. “To see a Union Pacific train running on Norfolk Southern rails on the East Coast is history.”
The stop in Enola also highlighted another connection between Pennsylvania and Big Boy. While No. 4014 continued its journey across the commonwealth, another member of the famed locomotive class, Big Boy No. 4012, remains on display at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton.
Big Boy comes to rest in the Enola Railyard after crossing the Rockville Bridge. (photo: Paul Miller)
For many spectators, Tuesday’s visit offered something even rarer than seeing a historic locomotive. It was the opportunity to watch a living piece of railroad history operating exactly as it was intended, crossing one of the nation’s most iconic railroad bridges before traveling through one of its most historic freight yards.
By Wednesday morning, Big Boy was once again rolling west, departing Enola for Altoona before making its final Pennsylvania appearance at Horseshoe Curve scheduled for Saturday. The locomotive’s visit to central Pennsylvania lasted less than a day, but the crowds that lined the tracks from Harrisburg to Enola demonstrated that its appeal extends well beyond rail enthusiasts.
More than 80 years after entering service, Big Boy continues to connect generations through a shared appreciation of history, engineering and American railroading.
Paul Miller contributed to the reporting of this story.
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