There are moments as a travel creator when something big—really big—comes right into your own backyard. And this summer, that moment is happening for me.

I live here in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and I’ve spent years exploring roadside attractions, hidden gems, and pieces of history across the country. But this? This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences I don’t have to travel far for… because I’m going to be tracking it down right here at home.

The legendary Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy is coming—and I’m already planning where I’ll be standing when it rolls through.

The Big Boy locomotives were built for one purpose: to conquer the impossible. Designed by Union Pacific in the early 1940s to haul freight over the grueling Wasatch Range in Utah, these behemoths stretched over 130 feet long and weighed more than a million pounds fully loaded. They were the pinnacle of American industrial ambition — a thundering, fire-breathing monument to what this country could build when it put its mind to it.

Eight of these giants survive today, but only one breathes fire. Union Pacific No. 4014 — affectionately known simply as Big Boy — was painstakingly restored to full operating condition and returned to service in 2019. Since then, she has toured the western United States, thrilling hundreds of thousands of spectators. But the eastern seaboard? We have not seen one of these since 1940. Until now.

Big Boy begins her historic eastern tour on Monday, May 25, 2026, departing from Cheyenne, Wyoming — Union Pacific’s spiritual home — with a destination of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the Fourth of July celebrations. Think about that for a moment: the largest steam locomotive ever built, rolling into Philadelphia on Independence Day. It almost sounds like something out of a Ken Burns documentary.

After her Philadelphia appearance, the 4014 turns west for the journey home — and that’s where things get very interesting for those of us in western Pennsylvania. The Big Boy enters Altoona on July 8th, and will work her way into the Pittsburgh area within 72 hours. That means the locomotive I’ve been tracking obsessively on every railroad enthusiast forum I can find will be close enough for me to hear her whistle.

I’ll be out there with my camera, my coffee, and an embarrassingly large amount of enthusiasm. I hope you will be too.

The Curve became so strategically vital to the nation’s rail network that Nazi Germany actually targeted it for sabotage during World War II — a 1942 plot that was foiled by the FBI before it could be carried out. That’s how important this single stretch of track was to the American war effort.

Today, Horseshoe Curve is a National Historic Landmark and one of the most visited railroad sites in the country. Thousands of freight and passenger trains still use it every year. Watching a massive modern locomotive navigate that graceful bend is already a spectacle. Watching the world’s largest steam locomotive do it — with steam billowing and that unmistakable whistle echoing off the mountainside — will be something entirely different. If you can make the trip to Altoona on July 8th to see her come through, I would not blame you one bit. Personally, I’m saving my energy for the home stretch.

122 ft

ELEVATION GAINED

Journey east begins

Goal arrival

Westbound

Arrives 5:45 pm

Arrives 6:00 pm 

Departs 9:00 am

Continuing west

I’ve been thinking about this for weeks, and I have a plan — and I think it’s a good one. My first stop on the evening of Saturday, July 11th is going to be the Ambridge Bridge. If you know that bridge, you already know why. The railroad tracks run directly underneath it, hugging the Ohio River, and from up on that span you have an absolutely unobstructed view for miles upriver. On a clear evening in July, I’m hoping I can actually see Big Boy coming all the way from the Leetsdale direction — a giant steam locomotive rounding the river bend with a full head of steam, whistle screaming, smoke rolling off into the summer sky. I cannot think of a more dramatic vantage point in all of Beaver County.

I’ll be filming everything for my YouTube channel, and that bridge shot is the one I’ve been picturing in my head since I first heard this news. The combination of the river, the rail corridor stretching into the distance, and a 1.2-million-pound steam locomotive bearing down the tracks below — if that doesn’t make for a stunning shot, nothing will. Get there early and stake out your spot, because I have a feeling I won’t be the only one with that idea.

Once Big Boy passes under the bridge and continues into Conway, I’ll be heading straight to the railyard. The locomotive is expected to arrive by 6:00 PM and will be overnighting there — which means there’s an incredible second opportunity on Sunday morning. She departs the Conway yard at 9:00 AM westbound toward Struthers, Ohio, and I plan to be there for that departure too. Two chances, one weekend, right here at home. I’ll make sure everything ends up on the channel so those of you who can’t make it won’t miss a single frame.

Union Pacific has live tracking available for the entire journey. As Big Boy works her way toward us, you can watch her progress in real time — and I’ll be watching that tracker obsessively from the moment she clears the Pittsburgh area. I’ll be posting updates here as well, so stay close.

Here’s something I think a lot of Beaver County residents take for granted: we live next door to one of the most significant railroad facilities ever built in the United States. The Conway Yard in Conway, Pennsylvania isn’t just a local landmark — at its peak, it was the largest railroad classification yard in the world, and its story is inseparable from the industrial identity of our entire region.

The Pennsylvania Railroad began developing the Conway site in the late 19th century, recognizing that the Ohio River valley provided an ideal corridor for moving freight between the industrial heartland and the eastern seaboard. By the early 20th century, Conway had grown into a massive hub, and in 1943 — right in the middle of World War II — the Pennsylvania Railroad completed a sweeping modernization that transformed it into an automated hump yard of extraordinary capacity. At its height, Conway could classify and sort more than 8,000 freight cars every single day. Think about that number for a moment. Eight thousand cars, every day, in our little corner of Beaver County.

The yard stretched for miles along the north bank of the Ohio River, employing thousands of workers from communities all across Beaver County. For generations of local families, Conway Yard wasn’t just a place to work — it was the economic engine that put food on the table and kept the lights on. The roar and clang of the yard was simply the sound of home.

Penn Central absorbed the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968, and Conrail took over from Penn Central in 1976 after that merger collapsed into the largest railroad bankruptcy in American history. CSX eventually acquired the Conway corridor and continues to operate the facility today, though at a fraction of its wartime scale. The hump yard infrastructure — the long ridgeline of track over which cars are nudged and sorted by gravity into their respective classification tracks — is still there, still working, still part of the daily rhythm of this valley.

When Big Boy rolls into Conway on the evening of July 11th and settles in for the night, she’ll be resting on ground that has felt the weight of American history for more than a century. I find something deeply fitting about that. The world’s greatest steam locomotive, overnighting in one of the world’s greatest railroad yards, right here in Beaver County. It doesn’t get more appropriate than that.

PRR

PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD ORIGIN

I’ve been writing about events in Beaver County for a long time, and I can tell you there are moments that come along once in a generation — the kind you talk about for the rest of your life. Watching the world’s largest operating steam locomotive roll through your hometown is that kind of moment.

Get your cameras ready. Find your spot along the tracks. Bring your kids, bring your grandparents, bring anyone who has ever looked up at a passing train and felt something stir in their chest. This is history, and for one brief evening in July, it is rolling right through us.

I will see you out there on July 11th.

See ya on the tracks in Leetsdale or on the bridge in Ambridge

or maybe in the yard in Conway.

Susan