WEST CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- With the deafening roar of its horn as it spewed huge clouds of steam, the world’s largest operating steam locomotive arrived in West Chicago Friday afternoon as hundreds of people waited for hours for the giant engine to roll in.
It’s “Big Boy,” a 133-foot-long locomotive that first went into service for the Union Pacific in 1941, was retired in 1961, but was then lovingly restored for trips such as this journey to West Chicago. It is part of its Great Race Across the Midwest tour to mark the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Barbara Strayve, 76 of Sycamore, remembers riding a train pulled by an engine just like Big Boy when she came from Florida to West Chicago.
"It's like going back 60 years," Strayve said. "You see this big cloud of black city stuff coming out at you and see one light and it's massive."
Big Boy will be in West Chicago until Tuesday, when it leaves for Iowa to continue its Transcontinental Railroad anniversary tour.