Twenty seconds. That was it. Twenty seconds after waiting 3 hours for Union Pacific Engine 4014 to come into clear view, whoosh past me, and disappear toward its next stop. It is known as the Big Boy because it is the world’s largest, heaviest, and most powerful reciprocating steam locomotive ever built, measuring 133 feet long and weighing 1.2 million pounds. The Big Boy is making a tour across the United States of America to celebrate our nation’s semiquincentennial (gotta love that word!). In my head I had visions of the photographs my friend Marion Pavan took of the Big Boy when it came here on its Westward Bound Tour in 2024. Click here to enjoy his incredible photographs of the Big Boy and read the article he wrote that was published in the Sun City Roseville Magazine. Unlike Marion, I failed to plan, deciding at the last minute to jump in my car and find a good place to shoot. But, I had a great time, I kept the requisite 25 foot distance from the tracks thanks to my Nikon Z70-200 f/2.8 II which gives the distance to subject when manually focusing, and I got some really fun “I was here” shots.