Big Boy 4014 and The STEAM TEAM - Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF

Maria Marshall
May 2
4 min read

This week's #PPBF book is an exciting and stunning narrative nonfiction account of the restoration of the largest steam locomotive in the world.

Book cover - big, black steam locomotive Big Boy 4014 billows smoke from its stack and around the wheels.

Big Boy 4014 and The STEAM TEAM: The World's Largest Steam Engine Roars Back to Life

Author: Marsha Diane Arnold

Illustrator: Adam Gustavson

Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press (May 1, 2025)

Ages: 6-9

Nonfiction

Themes:

Steam engines, train restoration, train, and history.

Synopsis:

A picture book about the restoration of Big Boy 4014, the world’s largest steam locomotive.

In the 1940s, the ground rumbled as they thundered across the United States, 25 600-ton steam locomotives called Big Boys. These mammoth engines were built to pull trains transporting soldiers and freight, supporting the war effort.

When less-expensive diesel-electric engines became popular, Big Boy engines were pulled from service, either to be scrapped or sent to museums and other venues as exhibits. Big Boy 4014 pulled her last train in 1959. She spent most of her retirement in California at an outdoor train museum. People came from around the world to visit, marveling at her size.

But one day in 2013, a different group of visitors came to see Big Boy 4014. This group wondered what it would take to get her back on the tracks. May 9, 2019, would be the Golden Spike Celebration, the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Could Big Boy 4014 be restored in time for the celebration? Would she ever roll on the rails again?

Readers of all ages are taken on a journey with Big Boy 4014, from stranded icon to restoration to the 150th Golden Spike anniversary, and then onto excursion tours. Back matter includes photos and additional facts about the Big Boys steam engines.

Opening Lines:

If steam locomotives could dream, Big Boy would be pulling out of the station.

ChugaChuga . . . ChugaChuga . . . ChugaChuga . . . ChugaChug

If steam locamotives could dream, Big Boy would be ringing her bell and sounding her whistle.

DONG.DONG.DONG.DONG.DONG.DONG

WHOOOOOO,WHOO.WHOOOOO

If steam locomotives could dream, Big Boy would be chugging up

the Wasatch Mountains at top speed, feeling the warmth of the coal

in her firebox, as powerful as 7,000 horses.

What I LOVED about this book:

How's that for an intriguing opening? I love it's unique POV. Imagining what an engine could think is possible, is such a fun way to draw a reader into a story, especially one about a ginormous black metal steam train engine.

Internal spread - gigantic, glossy, steam engine stretches across the spread pulling train cars behind it.

Text © Marsha Diane Arnold, 2025. Image © Adam Gustavson, 2025.

It is even more poignant when, with the page turn, we learn that Big Boy 4014, "the largest steam locomotive in the world, sat stranded" at the L.A. County Fairgrounds outdoor museum. For 50 years, this glorious engine rested there as people all around the world visited and "Cold ashes lay in her firebox. Cobwebs wove through her wheels. Rust crept into her cab." Even though she's 'just a train' (and I like trains), it's hard not to have developed an emotional attachment to her and feel sorry for her. I adore Adam Gustavson's illustrations! The way he subtly captures the enormity of the train, by placing people along the wheels., adds motion with the smoke, and uses different vegetation and colors to help ground the reader in the train's locations.

Internal spread - train engine sets at the edge of the woods, in California, gathering dust and, rust, and cobwebs.

Text © Marsha Diane Arnold, 2025. Image © Adam Gustavson, 2025.

After briefly learning the history of these special, massive trains, who served as troop and equipment transports across the country in WWII, and that only 8 of the original 25 still survive, the reader "eavesdrops" on a conversation between engineers examining Big Boy 4014 and debating whether she could be restored.

Internal spread - close up of three men debating whether the steam engine could be repaired.

Popping back into a mirroring of the opening page, the reader learns Big Boy 4014 would dream (if she could) for a great Steam Team and to be roaring across the tracks again, with a wonderful repeat of the train's onomatopoeia sounds of her engine, bell, and whistle. Once again steam billows from the stack and around the wheels as Big Boy 4014 appears to charge straight at the reader. Until she towers over her nine steam team members, craning their necks and wondering how to move her, when the nearest track is a mile away, and whether they can succeed in renovating her in time for "The Golden Spike Celebration, the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad."

Anyone who loves solving problems, discovering how things work, and generally trains will love the next spreads, as the team uses a "giant earthmover," 2 diesel locomotives, a big turntable, and a steam shop. Great illustrations, with the focus pulled back, highlight the enormous physique of this grand engine. Condensing the six years of repairs, Marsha Diane Arnold does a great job producing the feeling of a ticking clock - counting down two months, then "two days to the Golden Spike Celebration." This time, instead of "if she could dream," the refrain shifts to, "if locomotives could feel..." I 'm going to leave you to discover the rest of Big Boy 4014's story, which includes a victory, a celebration, and some significant planning, and lots of emotions.

On the penultimate spread, there is beautiful final twist to the refrain and an exultant last use of Big Boy 4014's onomatopoeia sounds of her engine, bell, and whistle. The back matter explores the history, construction, and operation of the Big Boy steam engines, why Big Boy 4014 was chosen for the restoration, and what she's doing now. This is such a great picture book for train lovers, nonfiction fans, and anyone interested in a working part of our history.

Resources:

make a paper, toilet paper roll, or box train.

check out Union Pacific's numerous activities and rail safety resources and Union Pacific's STEAM Club, with resources, videos - including of a Steam Shop tour, and information on Big Boy 4014 and Living Legend No. 844 and their upcoming appearances.

pair this with Locomotive by Brian Floca, Lonely Planet Kids How Trains Work (How Things Work) by Clive Gifford, illustrated by James Gulliver Hancock, and Steam, Smoke, and Steel: Back in Time with Trains by Patrick O'Brien.

If you missed my interview with Marsha Diane Arnold and Adam Gustavson on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series of blog posts by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.

1 Comment

Leslie Goodman

May 02

I live somewhat near a train museum and love, love, love to venture over in the summer to ride the rails and wander through the train yards where volunteers restore the humongous locomotives. I'm curious to read this beautifully illustrated book and love that the unique POV! Thank you for sharing this gem.