The world’s largest steam locomotive, Big Boy No. 4014, rolled through Lawrence Thursday morning, and folks of all ages gathered with their train whistles, steampunk hats and cameras to wish it well on its journey.
All 85 feet and 380 tons of the Union Pacific locomotive journeyed to the East Coast for the first time in partnership with Norfolk Southern.
Tavaris Davie, 21, was one of the many train enthusiasts who gathered to see Big Boy at North Lawrence’s Union Pacific Depot, as it chugged through in between stops at Kansas City, Missouri and Topeka.
Davie is a regular trainspotter who travels to La Plata, Missouri to see all kinds of engines, like the BNSF freight that is his reigning favorite sighting.
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He said one of the best parts of the Thursday festivities was “just the fact that everybody is really excited to see Big Boy 4014 coming westbound.”
Dalenette Voigt-Catlin, Davie’s grandmother, lives in Kansas City but skipped the Union Station festivities to join her grandson in Lawrence. The two just got back from a reunion in La Plata where train fans from all over the United States — and even the world — gathered.
A love of trains is in Davie’s blood. Voigt-Catlin said Davie’s grandfather worked for Santa Fe railroad his entire career.
“I’ve been supporting my grandson and his love of trains all of his life,” Voigt-Catlin said.
Davie bought a radar gun to measure Big Boy’s speed. Once the steam crested the trees, he announced, “It’s here! It’s here!” to the crowd.
Don Kantorv grew up in Paola, Kansas and moved to Lawrence in 1984. Prior to Thursday, he had already seen Big Boy two or three times.
His passion for trains started when he was 7 years old and got his first model railroad set at Christmas. He’s invested thousands of dollars in building his collection since. Now, he doesn’t have enough room at home to set it all up.
“Trains are very important in building the country, and you hear sometimes people say that trains are in decline, they’re a thing of the past — that’s not true at all,” Kantorv said. “They still haul a great deal of freight and traveling by train is, I think, more comfortable than any other means.”
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He’s gone back and forth to New York on passenger trains about five times, and has lost count of his trips to Chicago.
Cyprus Hartford’s interest in trains grew out of her time in punk rock and crust punk communities. While she didn’t partake, she knew many people who would train hop, or use freight trains as a form of transportation.
“Union Pacific is doing a propaganda press tour in order to garner public support for their merger with Norfolk Southern,” Hartford said of Big Boy’s East Coast trip.
She doesn’t support the merger because she’s anti-monopoly.
“The more that the the big railroads in the USA consolidate into one monopoly that stretches from coast to coast, the worse that workers at railroads will be treated, the the worse the railroads will be scheduled, the less chance there will be for a better passenger rail network in the country, and the more accidents will happen,” Cyprus said.
Big Boy did manage to draw her out to the station, because “I want to see the big train,” she said.
After Big Boy had come and gone, folks snapped their final pictures and collected pennies they had laid on the tracks to get flattened.
Davie said that, according to his radar gun, Big Boy No. 4014 was traveling about 16 kilometers per hour, or just under 10 mph.
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Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at [email protected].
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Jacob Rice (he/him), photo editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since March 2026. He can be reached at [email protected].
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