Mike's Barbaric Yawp

I’m a planner, so it’s rewarding when a well-laid out plan comes together. Especially one that involves a lot of contingency planning. Chasing 4014 through the Poconos of Pennsylvania is certainly not the easiest terrain to chase, so flexibility is key.

As I have mentioned in other blog posts, my son is nuts about trains. He always has been, and the Union Pacific Big Boys have a special place in his heart. His goal is to see all 8 surviving locomotives, and he only has two remaining (Omaha, NE and Green Bay, WI).

We chased Big Boy previously in September 2024 through Illinois on its Heartland of America Tour. In 2025, the train had only a very short excursion, but Ed Dickens hinted at VERY big things for 2026. We had thought that he could come East for 2026, and when Steamtown National Historic Site announced last fall that it would be moving their Big Boy 4012 in anticipation for 2026 events, we knew it was a distinct possibility. Steamtown moved the locomotive across the parking lot from its longtime position near the entrance as a centerpiece. It involved heading into the roundhouse for a ride on the turntable to a track that was adjacent to the main yard. It was a rainy day, but my son drove down there to watch 4012 make the move. My son and I discussed the possibility of 4014 making the trip and having the two parked side-by-side since last summer. Logistically it would be tough, but not impossible.

Over the Winter, Ed Dickens makes the following post on Facebook. While cryptic to some, we knew exactly what was about to happen…

Those are pictures of him measuring track clearances. They also include pictures of Letchworth State Park in NY, the Tunkahannock Creek Viaduct, and Steamtown’s Big Boy 4012:

Meanwhile, Union Pacific, whose tracks don’t go east of Chicago, is in the middle of a merger with Norfolk Southern, which is really what makes this possible at all, as 4014 would need to use Norfolk Southern’s tracks to head east.

In late February, the official announcment of the Coast to Coast tour is announced, along with the dates of the first leg west. There is a mention of stops in Scranton and Philadelphia for July 4th to celebrate the Nation’s 25th Birthday.

While no schedule was announced, we knew that Scranton was going to happen and we needed to be there. We booked a hotel for every single weekend in June! The Eastern dates were announced at the end of April, and all we had to do was cancel all the dates we didn’t need!

We were tipped off ahead of time of the exact dates it would be in Scranton due to the announcement of excursions by the RBMN Railroad earlier in April.

The schedule posted by UP was pretty ambiguous, so we had to do a little investigating. The plan we concocted was this:

Saturday, June 13th: Leave our house in Massachusetts when my son got home from work (around midnight) and drive to Nicholson, PA to the Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct. We’d take two cars. After the Viaduct, we’d split up. My won would drive to Jim Thorpe, PA to rent a bike and start riding up the trail at Lehigh Gorge State Park to meet up with it somewhere in the gorge. Meanwhile, my wife and I would head to just south of White Haven, PA and meet up with 4014 as it crossed the Lehigh River. From there, I would check out the tunnel-like underpass at Hunter St. in Nesquehoning. Since our day was ending down there (and the next day beginning there too), we decided to scrap our night in a hotel in Scranton and instead book a campsite in Hickory Run State Park, which ended up saving us almost a half hour in travel time each way.

Sunday, June 14th: My son was planning on going to the Hunter St. underpass. I would just a few miles away at the sharp turn where the train would cross over the river and enter the Lehigh Gorge to head North. From there, we’d try our best to beat the traffic and race up to White Haven to see it pass us. From there, we’d find a place close to Scranton or maybe head to the hotel, check in, and then attempt to watch 4014 come into Steamtown.

Monday, June 15th: I wanted to wake up for a possible sunset picture of 4014. We’d then have breakfast and all head over to Steamtown, grabbing the earliest (9am) timeslot. While Steamtown entry was free, they enacted a timed entry policy and tickets were needed to be secured in advance online ($1/each). Then, we’d drive home.

Seeing RBMN’s 2102 was just the icing on the cake. It wasn’t a priority, but if it happened to be there we would check it out.

Then, two days before our trip, this is released:

This information was GREAT to know! It did change a few things, because NOTHING like this ever goes exactly as planned. Since 2102 was basically going together with 4014 from Pittston to Nesquehoning on Saturday and from Nesquehoning to Pittston on Sunday, why not see them run side-by-side? Up until that point, I figured that they would travel separately, a few miles apart. Having both pass us at the same time was something I never considered (and I tried to plan for everything…) The double track at Oak St. is far more accessible than the one at Mountain Top, since it is literally a half mile from both I-81 and I-476. This made it possible to quickly relocate without getting stuck in traffic.

Oh, and my son likes to take pictures. Instead of having him fight with me over my camera, I decided to get him one of his own. Both this trip and our upcomig Alaska trip sealed the deal on that. The bad news (at least for me), is that his camera is better than mine!

Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct, Nicholson PA. 6/13/2026

We arrived around 5:30am, having driven straight from our home in Massachusetts. We stopped for breakfast at our usual Blue Colony Diner in CT and topped off our gas tanks right before we entered PA. Traffic was light and uneventful, with the only notable thing being the travel advisory sign on I-84 on our way into Scranton.

The road into Nicholson was pleasant, and with it being shortly after daybreak, it suddenly became pretty foggy. I could see the viaduct and the end of our route on the navigation screen in my car, but that was it. Oh, and right by the viaduct, traffic on the road was RED. I know that some people were planning on spending the night there ahead of time, and I figured that there would be a large crowd. I wanted to get there asap, which is why we left in the middle of the night.

I chose the field on the far side of the viaduct for a few reasons… First, since 4014 was traversing the bridge in the morning, the lighting was far better on the eastern side. Also, the last thing I wanted to have happen was to be in gridlocked traffic among the town of Nicholson. I figured that the easiest “in and out,” and best view with the best lighting would be to the east. We picked out a perfect spot on Farnham Rd, with a perfectly manicured hay field (along with huge round bales) between us and the creek and viaduct. While I could only see the hay bales through the fog, I could only imagine how amazing it would look once the fog cleared and the famous viaduct became visible.

To kill the time as the crowds started to build, around 8am there was a powered paraglider doing laps around the viaduct, which was pretty neat and good practice for pictures.

It didn’t take long for all of the parking spots to fill up on either side of the narrow country road. Cars started pulling off the road and parking in the actual field. They started on either side. Unfortunately, with zero direction, the rows became more and more spread out, and cars ended up pretty much all over the place. Those of us who actually planned ahead and got great spots by the road, with perfect vantage points for unobstructed pictures became pretty irritated at the people who arrived at the last minute and ruined our pristine shots.

At some point, it was necessary to just embrace the fact that our shots were ruined.

Around 10:10am, we heard the distinct 4014 whistle, and knew that the train had arrived.

It slowly pulled into the middle of the bridge and then stopped.

It was at this point that my son left, as he wanted to get a head start on getting to Jim Thorpe in time to head up the Lehigh Gorge. Ultimately, it was pointless, as he only ended up being about 4 or 5 cars in front of us.\

If anything is capable of making the Big Boy look small, it’s the Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct.

Oak Street, Pittston PA. 6/13/2026

I was a little dismayed at the Viaduct when I overheard someone say that Oak St. was already shut down due to the crowd. I figured I’d stop anyway to check it out since it was right off the highway. I’m glad I didn’t abandon it.

We arrived about an hour before the trains passed by, which turned out to be plenty of time. Parking was easy, and we were able to grab an elevated spot past the grade crossing. We could see puffs of smoke long before we heard them, and we could hear them about 5 minutes before they crossed. They were working fairly hard (at least 2102 was) as they were heading up the hill towards us.

Seeing both 4014 and 2102 at the Oak St. Pittston crossing was super easy, and simply unforgettable. I wish that my son was able to see it, so it was pretty much at this point that I made it a point to make sure that we were there the following day when they passed through here again, side-by-side. They would be coming from the opposite direction, but I didn’t want him to miss it (and I wanted to see it again)!

Jim Thorpe, Nesquehoning, and Lehigh Gorge State Park. 6/13/2023 – 6/14/2026

Meanwhile, my son intercepted both trains in the Gorge. His favorite moments were hearing 4014’s whilstle echoing through the gorge. He tried to capture it on video but was unsuccessful. He did grab a few pics that turned out pretty well.

Google Maps’ Satellite View was a huge help to us in trying to find great spots to watch the action. One of the locations we chose was the very southern end of the Lehigh Gorge State Park. There is a bridge with a very sharp turn that goes over the Lehigh as the track heads up towards Nesquehoning. Because 4014 is so huge, it has the ability to articulate, which would make for a fantastic photo.

Our thinking was that both locomotives would travel straight through to Jim Thorpe, then switch onto the Nesquehoning track and back up the grade towards the town and station. That way, the next morning when they were loaded with passengers, they would just pull out forward. This ended up NOT being the case. Apparently, there is a wye a few miles past Nesquehoning, and that’s where they turned around earlier in the morning on Saturday. So, we were very surprised when 4014 came through and made the tight turn on the bridge to head up the hill. We weren’t prepared.

My wife and I took a moment to do a little recon at a spot that I really wanted to be at the following morning. There is a very small tunnel just outside of Nesquehoning. The easiest way to get down to it is by using a private road associated with Whitewater Rafting Adventures. On Saturday afternoon, this area was blocked off and there were two town officials guarding the spot preventing people from going down there. While their instructions were to prevent vehicles from going down there, I didn’t want to trespass, so the tunnel was unfortunately out for the following morning when both trains departed Nesquehoning and went through the tunnel.

We spent the night at Hickory Run State Park’s Campground, which was much closer than our original accommodations in Scranton.

A very long story short, my son DID want to head to the tunnel in the morning because he wanted to catch a shot of the trains from above as they passed below him. I didn’t realize that they had turned around already and thought they’d back through the tunnel. We parked nearby, off the road. I was able to scramble down to the tunnel without trespassing on the Whitewater property. I ran into the owner of the property, who was a very nice gentleman. His main concerns with people parking on his land were both the liability and the fact that the small parking area that he has is reserved for his customers who then board busses to head down to raft in the gorge. Railfans who park there don’t seem to be considerate of his business needs. His concerns are very valid. It was at this point when I was speaking with him that I called my son, who was on top of the tunnel, and said that he had permission to head down. ….so he joined me for one of my favorite pics. This is actually one that he took.

Meanwhile, I was shooting pictures and video.

I was on the phone with him when 2102 came past. It completely surprised me and I was unprepared. It put on quite a smoke show and I wish that I was set up and ready to go. I also wish that I would have been down at that tight cure.

Next, we headed back up to Oak St. in Pittston. It was more crowded than on Saturday, as I think news spread. But, we were just early enough where we could grab the same spot we had the day before.

This time, instead of hammering their way up the hill, they took their time. Over the past 2 days, 4014 and 2102 had several side-by-side moments. Since this was to be their last, I think they cherished it and went very slow. They paraded past. 2102’s hooter whistle hit us head-on, and it was the loudest thing I’ve ever heard.

That was all we had scheduled for Sunday. We then took our time and headed up to Scranton. We got an early start to the day, so we called it a night pretty early.

Steamtown National Historic Site, Scranton. 6/15/2026

I woke up super early and walked from the hotel to Steamtown in hopes to snag a beautiful sunrise picture with both 4014 and 4012. It was cloudy, and I didn’t have access. Even if the sky was blazing, I would have had to shoot through a fence, and it wasn’t ideal. But I didn’t know, so I figured I’d check!

Went back to the hotel, woke everyone up. Got ready, packed, checked out, had breakfast, and walked back over to Steamtown. It was necessary to purchase timed entry tickets. Our time was 9:00am, and we got over there around 7:30. There were already thousands of people. Folks were cutting the line, and one group ahead of us had an 11am time slot! Thankfully as we got closer to the front of the line, they separated us into time slots and we were able to get right in. The good news is that we were some of the first to go in, so we had some of the best unobstructed spots of both Big Boys. Also, we had some of the shortest lines for merchandise. The bad news was that the early morning lighting was horrible for taking pictures of both locomotives.

It was very cool taking in both locomotives. It was the first time that ANY Big Boys have been side-by-side since the early 1960s.

My son was able to get his 4014 hat signed by Ed Dickens, which was the definite highlight of the day. To quote my son, “Holy S###! Ed F###ing Big Boy’d my hat!”

It was a pretty successful Big Boy weekend! Looking back at the pictures and video, and other people’s posts, this past weekend was billed as the “Railfan Event of the Century.” I agree, as I honestly can’t see anything topping this for a while. Even as 4014 heads to Philadelphia and then back west, I can’t see anything on its schedule that quite comes close to this.