History Is Made. As an outbound Metra train slows to a stop, crowds swarm toward the right-of-way at West Chicago to catch a glimpse of the visitor from the Midwest - UP 4014. Today is a historic day for multiple reasons - the largest (pun intended) being that today is the first time in more than 60 years that an active 4-8-8-4 has traveled this far east on the Union Pacific system. "Big Boys," as they were called," normally operated between Ogden, UT and Cheyenne, WY over the famed Sherman Hill and Wasatch Mountain Range. On a rare occasion, one of these massive locomotives would find their way into Denver, CO or North Platte, NE, but would never travel any further east. The last known recording of a Big Boy east of North Platte, that I can find, is the UP 4022's visit to Chicago in 1949 for the Chicago Railroad Fair. It should also be noted - being that these locomotives were built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) up in New York, each of the 25's engines in the 4000 class did at one time pass through Chicago under steam as they headed west for their home base.
