GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — One of the Union Pacific Railroad’s two largest steam engines will chug and whistle through Grand Island and the Heartland area on Friday, the Grand Island Independent reports.
Engine No. 3985, the world’s largest operating steam locomotive, is scheduled to pass through the Third City about 11:45 a.m., traveling east. U.P.’s press release said the engine “can run ahead of schedule.”
No. 3985 will pull “probably four to five cars” on its way to Omaha; Council Bluffs, Iowa; and ultimately Chicago, U.P. spokesman John Bromley said.
“It’s part of a public relations effort to recognize the heritage of the company,” Bromley said.
“This year, it’s going to the upper Midwest for the first time in some time,” Bromley said, “and to St. Paul, Minn., where it’s never been.”
In Nebraska on Friday, the locomotive is scheduled for a 20-minute service stop in Kearney, ending at 10:50 a.m. The next scheduled stop, again for servicing the locomotive, will be in Columbus at 12:50 p.m.
No. 3985 will also pass through Central Nebraska on Wednesday, June 26, returning to its home base in Cheyenne, Wyo. On June 26, it will travel U.P.’s line from Kansas City through Hastings to Gibbon during the middle of the day.
A Challenger locomotive with a 4-6-6-4 wheel configuration, No. 3985 is an articulated engine. Its hinged frame allows the front set of pistons, drive rods and drive wheels to move independently of the boiler above it.
The locomotive weighs more than 1 million pounds, is 122 feet long, has 6-foot-diameter drive wheels and can reach a top speed of 70 miles per hour.
At a service stop, the engine’s drive rods are given needed lubrication.
“It may also take fuel as well,” Bromley said. The engine burns oil similar to heating oil, although it burned coal when built in 1943.
From the Chicago area, the locomotive is scheduled to pull passenger cars on two excursion trains to Milwaukee. After steaming through Iowa to St. Paul, the engine will also pull an excursion from the Twin Cities to Kansas City.