July 21, 2019 1:05p

(WGTD)---The world's largest operating steam locomotive is expected to roll through Racine and Kenosha counties this Friday.

A Union Pacific "Big Boy"--#4014--is touring part of the Midwest as the company celebrates the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad.

#4014 was part of a fleet of 25 engines that were delivered to the railroad in the early 1940s for use primarily in the great plains and Rocky Mountain states. According to the railroad,4014 was retired in 1961 and put on display at a railroad museum in California. It was re-acquired by the Union Pacific in 2013 and hauled back to Wyoming and restored to operational status. In one of the few nods to practicality, the engine was converted from coal to oil.

The locomotive is expected to spend Thursday night at the Union Pacific's rail yards in Butler west of Milwaukee, then depart for Chicago at 8 a.m.

The Union Pacific's web site includes a tracking app.

No stops are scheduled in either Kenosha or Racine counties.

The route is the middle set of tracks that run north and south through the eastern parts of both counties. For reference, in Racine County along Highway 20, it's the set of tracks that are just a block west of Case High School. In Kenosha, the track runs adjacent to Menard's off of Highway 50 and then just east of the Pleasant Prairie Power Plant.

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