7-29-19 big boy locomotive rolls through dodge county

Crowds gathered near the railroad tracks in Dodge and Columbia counties this week to get a chance to see an old fashioned steam engine.   The Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 locomotive made a stop in Friesland and passed through South Beaver Dam.   The train is touring the Union Pacific system throughout the year for the transcontinental railroad’s 150th anniversary.   No. 4014 is the world’s only operating Big Boy locomotive and one of only 25 originally built  in 1941.  They were 132 feet long and weighed 1.2 million pounds.  The locomotive began its “Great Race across the Midwest” on July 8.