Union Pacific’s Big Boy steam engine was greeted by a crowd in Omaha on Friday evening, an arrival that resulted from more than two years of restoration work.
Big Boy No. 4014 was retired in 1961 after traveling 1,031,205 miles. The railroad obtained the locomotive from the RailGiants Train Museum in Pomona, California, in 2013 and sent it to Cheyenne, Wyoming, for restoration.
No. 4014, the only operational Big Boy left, rolled out of the shop in May, according to Union Pacific.
Flooding in south-central Nebraska had halted the steam engine’s trip across the state this week, but after a detour to Grand Island, Big Boy continued its journey Friday, with stops in Central City, Columbus and Fremont before arriving in Omaha near 12th and Cuming Streets about 6:30 p.m.