About the Holiday

You just have to love the train. With its storied past and iconic whistle, train travel is imprinted in our minds as a fun, efficient way to get from here to there and back again. Today’s holiday was established in 2008 to commemorate all the mystery and romance of train travel while also remembering the history of the railroad, especially the the May, 1869 completion of the transcontinental railroad, and its importance to the development of the United States. Suddenly, distances didn’t seem as far, and those seeking a new life out West or wanting to visit family back East had a safe, quick way of spanning the miles.

Thank you to Marsha Diane Arnold and Sleeping Bear Press for sharing a digital copy of today’s book with me!

Big Boy 4014 and the Steam Team: The World’s Largest Steam Engine Roars Back to Life!

Written by Marsha Diane Arnold | Illustrated by Adam Gustavson

In 2013, Big Boy 4014, the largest steam train in the world, sat stranded in an outdoor museum in Pomona, California, her work carrying heavy freight across the Wasatch Mountains and her indispensable role in transporting American soldiers and military equipment across the western prairies only a memory (Arnold makes note that trains were referred to as “she” by engineers and crew). She had thrilled museum visitors for more than fifty years, but “cold ashes lay in her firebox / Cobwebs wove through her wheels. / Rust crept into her cab.”

Then one day men came to visit her. As they inspected her, most decided that restoring her would be too expensive, too crazy, impossible. But one voice disagreed, saying “All we need is a great steam team. It can be done.” Nine men signed onto the Steam Team, with the aim to restore Big Boy for the Golden Spike Celebration in 2019 that would commemorate the finishing of the transcontinental railroad—the first railroad to stretch all across the America from East to West.

illustration © 2025 by Adam Gustavson, text © 2025 by Marsha Diane Arnold. Courtesy of Sleeping Bear Books.

To move Big Boy from the museum to the tracks a mile away, temporary tracks were laid and a bulldozer slowly pulled her along inch by inch. She was then pulled and pushed 1,300 miles to Wyoming, where the work on her would be done. There, Big Boy underwent intensive scrutiny, getting new parts, being made to look like new. Years went by, the Golden Spike Celebration was months away, then days away. It was “time to test her out.” 

“Double-headed with the ‘Living Legend,’ locomotive 884,” Big Boy, pulling train cars behind her, chugged “to Ogden, Utah, for the celebration.” All along the route, people came out to watch, “to feel the rumble under their feet as Big Boy passed, to see the steam cloud billowing above her, to hear her whistle, loud and clear.” At the ceremony, Big Boy 4014 and Locomotive 884 faced each other, just as two steam engines had 150 years before, when a set of tracks moving east-to-west and another running west-to-east were united with a golden spike.

illustration © 2025 by Adam Gustavson, text © 2025 by Marsha Diane Arnold. Courtesy of Sleeping Bear Books.

Following the Golden Spike Celebration, Big Boy 4014 took another trip, a tour of more than 8,000 miles “past grasslands and sagebrush. / Past farmlands and rivers. / Past fields and cities and towns.” Whether it was raining or snowing or blisteringly hot, people came out to cheer Big Boy on and feel that awesome rumble as she passed by. No longer is her time only a memory from long ago. With more tours planned, “if steam locomotives could talk, Big Boy would say . . . “I’m ringing my bell and sounding my whistle.” DONG-DONG-DONG-DONG-DONG-DONG WHOOOOOO-WHOO-WHOOOOOO / “I’m chugging up the Wasatch Mountains at top speed, feeling the warmth of the oil in my firebox, as powerful as 7,000 horses.”

An in-depth discussion about the origins of the twenty-five Big Boy steam locomotives; the incredible engineering feat of designing and building them; how a steam engine works, How Big Boy 4014 was chosen for restoration; short profiles of the men instrumental in Big Boy’s restoration; a brief history of the building of the transcontinental railroad; and the research involved in making tours of Big Boy 4014 possible.

illustration © 2025 by Adam Gustavson, text © 2025 by Marsha Diane Arnold. Courtesy of Sleeping Bear Books.

Combining imaginative lyrical text with compelling nonfiction storytelling, Marsha Diane Arnold weaves an immersive tale of the restoration and triumphant comeback of the steam locomotive Big Boy 4014. Where once 25 of these behemoth machines conquered mountains and rough terrain to move freight and people across the country and contributed to our success in World War II, they have been relegated to history as diesel and electric trains took prominence.

Arnold recalls the importance of these storied locomotives for young readers and train enthusiasts of all ages, bookending her story with wistful “If steam locomotives could dream/talk” re-imaginings of Big Boy 4014’s glory days of leaving a station, sounding her bell and whistle, and “chugging up mountains” with the “power of 7,000 horses.” Readers will be wowed by the dedicated and painstaking work that went into moving and restoring Big Boy 4014, a recounting Arnold accomplishes with a deft hand for details that don’t overwhelm. She leaves readers with a new appreciation for steam locomotives and a hope that they too will be able to witness a tour of this earth-rumbling beauty.

Adam Gustavson’s stunning realistic paintings depict Big Boy 4014 from various perspectives, giving readers a sense of her scale compared to the adults and children, the mountainous landscapes she traversed, and the crowds who came out to celebrate her. Up-close renderings allow train lovers to get a glimpse into the steam-powered mechanics that propelled her while also seeing how run-down she had become over her nearly 60 years of disuse. Each page spread is a showstopper to linger and marvel over as readers gain insight and admiration for these trains and those who created them.

For train enthusiasts, history buffs, and those who simply love a story masterfully told, Big Boy 4014 and the Steam Team: the World’s Largest Steam Engine Roars Back to Life! is a book you won’t want to miss. The book is an exciting must-addition for all school and public library collections.

Ages 6 – 9+

Sleeping Bear Press, 2025 | ISBN 978-1534113145

About the Author

Marsha Diane Arnold is a multiple-award–winning author whose books have sold over one million copies. Called a “born storyteller” by the media, Marsha’s works include Badger’s Perfect Garden (Florida Book Awards Bronze Medal), the bilingual Galápagos Girl/Galapagueña (Bank Street Best Book and Campoy-Ada honor book), and Lights Out (Golden Kite finalist). Among her many pastimes, Marsha especially enjoys reading to her grandchildren and visiting schools to talk about writing and books. Born in rural Kansas, Marsha now lives with her husband and dog Sailor in Alva, Florida. Visit her at marshadianearnold.com.

About the Illustrator

Adam Gustavson’s illustrations have appeared in over thirty books for children. He is a teaching professor of art at Rowan University, and lives in a quirky little house in New Jersey with his lovely wife, their two sons, and two rather small dogs.

National Train Day Activity

Steam Engine Coloring Page

Steam locomotives once carried passengers and freight. Enjoy this coloring page of a steam train from days gone by from Monday Mandala!

You can purchase Big Boy 4014 and the Steam Team: the World’s Largest Steam Engine Roars Back to Life! from these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop

Picture Book Review