Time To Have a Little Crow
Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
Union Pacific 4014 “Big Boy.” (Image courtesy Union Pacific)
ATLANTA –– Kudos to Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific for a Horseshoe Curve performance that will be remembered for decades.
In case you haven’t had a chance to read my “From the Dome” column in the July 2026 issue of Railway Track and Structures (page 40), I commented about the fact that the lone Norfolk Southern locomotive (NS 1776, The Bell) that’s been accompanying Union Pacific 4014 “Big Boy” on the majority of its trip across the eastern United States had virtually no indication on either side of the locomotive that it belongs to NS. Only the Thoroughbred Stallion was placed on each end of the engine, and those were obscured by the fact NS 1776 was spliced between the Big Boy’s tender and the end of an NS business car.
In my column “Merger Voices,” I wrote:
“I noted with interest that the NS 1776 locomotive featuring the Liberty Bell, which accompanied UP’s 4014 ‘Big Boy’ on its eastern tour over NS rails, did not have any indication on it that it belonged to NS other than the “Thoroughbred” horse on the nose at each end. And, both ends of the locomotive were conveniently obscured by the 4014’s tender and the end of an NS business car.
“It appears that NS has tried to rectify that on the engine featuring featuring the Statue of Liberty [Engine 2026, Lady Liberty] [And subsequently Engine 250, The Freedom] by placing its logo and name on the sides of the flared radiators and under the cab windows, but my guess is that the engine[s] will not be part of any train carrying Union Pacific equipment other than freight cars.”
Well, that guess was wrong. As I watched the UP Big Boy train round the bend on Saturday, July 11, to enter Norfolk Southern’s spectacular Horseshoe Curve, which carries NS’s three-track main line for approximately one-half mile (and is located about five miles west of Altoona, Pa.), I quickly spotted five locomotives behind the Big Boy — UP 1616, Abraham Lincoln, NS 2026, Lady Liberty, NS 250, The Freedom, NS 1776, The Bell, and UP 1776. And, of course, NS 2026 and 250 did indeed have NS markings as described earlier, and there were no freight cars around.
I’ve been following railroading for over 50 years, both professionally and as an avocation, and this spectacle was one of the most dramatic I’ve seen. I wasn’t able to obtain approval to use any of the images or videos of this, but I urge you to view the entire 48-minute videos that show the train’s arrival, back-up move, then fast-paced thundering up and around the curve and off to its next destination. A quick internet search will produce a barrel of options.
From a business perspective, the engines on this train displaying NS markings is about as small potatoes as it gets. This was simply something I noted while pondering the merger proposal. However, the beautiful sight of the Big Boy and five modern diesels pulling the UP business train with three cars from the NS business train and the historic observation car Marco Polo was truly a sight to behold. I hope some good videos of this will be commercially available, as they should be real treasures. The refrain we’ve heard during the Big Boy’s eastern tour is true; this will likely never be seen again in our lifetimes, if ever.
