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Wrong arrival time, a missing or incorrect stop, or you saw 4014 out on the line — tell us and we'll fix it fast. Leave your email and we'll reply.
Wrong arrival time, a missing or incorrect stop, or you saw 4014 out on the line — tell us and we'll fix it fast. Leave your email and we'll reply.
Big Boy 4014 · By the numbers
Crowd figures for the 2026 tour, each tied to its source — plus a widely repeated mix-up worth getting right.
Setting the record straight
Two different record crowds get blended together. Rochelle, Illinois drew an estimated 61,000people on the 2024 Heartland of America tour, when 4014 stopped at Union Pacific's Global III facility. per shawlocal.com That is a separate event from West Chicago, Illinois, which drew 45,000 in 2019. per dailyherald.com Some outlets have conflated the two figures; they are different towns, different years, different tours.
| Stop | Date | Reported attendance |
|---|---|---|
| Omaha, NE | May 30 | Thousands per omaha.com |
| West Chicago, IL | Jun 3 | Thousands per dailyherald.com |
| Fostoria, OH | Jun 5–6 | Thousands per fox8.com |
| North East, PA | Jun 9 | 4,250 at Lake Shore Railway Museum + ~1,000 trackside per cbsnews.com |
| Buffalo, NY | Jun 10 | Thousands per btpm.org |
| Letchworth, NY | Jun 11 | Thousands per 13wham.com per rochesterfirst.com |
| Scranton, PA (reunion) | Jun 15–16 | 28,500 tickets/day → 57,000 two-day capacity per fox56.com |
North East, PA figure per cbsnews.com; Scranton capacity per fox56.com and wvia.org. Stops marked “thousands” are sourced to each city's local outlets (linked), which reported strong turnout without publishing a single hard count.
The whistle-stop and display ranges are our rule-of-thumb framing, not a single published figure.
Steamtown National Historic Site normally sees about 60,000 visitors a year and generates an estimated $5–6 million in annual economic impact. per wvia.orgLocal officials have called the Big Boy reunion the park's biggest single event since it opened in 1995 — meaning the two-day reunion approaches a typical full year of visitation. per fox56.com
Plan the Scranton stop →