This summer, I had the privilege to witness UP 4014, Union Pacific's restored "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive, ply the rails of the UP mainline once again, this time leading the "Heartland of America" tour through the states of Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado. My portion of the trip consisted of traveling to Grand Island, NE and chasing it back east towards Chicagoland and eventually Momence, IL, where I gave up the chase. While capturing eastbound trains across the Mississippi River isn't necessarily the easiest of tasks, I was able to locate a park on the Illinois side that allowed me to shoot the Big Boy's train from a fishing dock. Here, 4014 steams across the non-truss portion of the bridge, making its first steps into Illinois on the Tour.
