What It Took to Host 110,000 People in Two Weeks: Inside the Big Boy Reunion

BY IHS President, Mike Rinkunas

This article originally appeared in the August 2026 issue of Railpace Newsmagazine and is reprinted here with permission.

The moment Union Pacific 4014 rolled to a stop next to Steamtown's own Big Boy 4012 on the evening of June 14, something shifted. We knew two of the largest steam locomotives ever built, together side-by-side for the first time since the 1950s, would captivate railfans and families, but we had no idea of the magnitude.  

The numbers still don't feel real. Steamtown welcomed 60,844 visitors during their 2025 fiscal year (Oct to Sept). Within the first six days of the Big Boy Reunion, the Park had already eclipsed that number. By the time 4014 pulled out on July 1st, the park welcomed over 110,000 visitors. For some perspective: Steamtown's grand opening in 1995 drew 30,000 people over three days. On Monday, June 15 alone, attendance almost matched the entire grand opening total!

They came from everywhere. Guests drove in from across the Eastern Seaboard, flew in from the West Coast, and even crossed oceans — one visitor at the Iron Horse Society's night photo shoot had flown in from the Netherlands for the reunion. And a huge share of the visitors weren't passionate about trains, at least not yet. They were families, many with small children, seeing a steam locomotive up close for the first time in their lives.

That part matters more than any attendance figure. I know, because I was one of those kids once. I was there in 1986, when Steamtown relocated to Scranton, climbing all over Bullard No. 2 and telling anyone who'd listen that I was going to grow up and become a train engineer. Turns out I did. Today I'm one of Steamtown’s volunteer train engineers, and I also founded and now lead the Iron Horse Society, Steamtown's philanthropic partner.

A longtime Steamtown volunteer put it to me simply: "The potential of this Park is maddening." He'd know — it's the same reason he walked away from the Park for a few years. Nothing seemed to be getting done, and all that potential stayed just that: potential. He came back recently, drawn by the transformation underway under Superintendent Jeremy Komasz, and today he says the "maddening" cuts the other way — the sky's the limit now. Watching tens of thousands of first-time visitors walk through those gates, many of them kids who'll remember this the way I remember 1986, it's hard to disagree.

None of it happens by accident. The National Park System, the City of Scranton, Union Pacific, Lackawanna County Commissioners, the Lackawanna County Visitors Bureau, and a long list of other agencies and partners too numerous to name, all coordinated to move and host more people over two weeks than live within Scranton's city limits — more than 75,000 residents. The weather cooperated too: sunny skies, cool temperatures, and barely a drop of rain for the entire run.

Union Pacific's crew deserves real credit here. Time and again, their people stopped what they were doing to answer a kid's question, pose for a photo, or just talk railroading with a stranger. They weren't just maintaining the locomotive — they were ambassadors for the whole hobby.

But if UP's crew were the visiting ambassadors, it was Steamtown's own staff and volunteers who carried the real weight of the Reunion — showing up early, staying late, staffing the gates, and answering the same questions hundreds of times a day. They didn't do it alone, though: NPS brought in more than 50 additional personnel from other national parks around the country to help staff the Reunion, reinforcements on top of the Park's already deep bench of local volunteers.

For NPS and the Iron Horse Society alike, that scale cut both ways: it was a two-week stress test, and it also introduced Steamtown to tens of thousands of people who'd never set foot in the Park before. A good number of them left as new supporters — future volunteers, future members, future advocates — which is exactly the kind of long-term return an event like this is supposed to generate.

It wasn't entirely smooth. NPS had been coordinating with partner agencies for months, but several admitted they didn't believe the Park's attendance projections until ticket sales started climbing — which created some friction as everyone scrambled to keep pace. Behind the scenes, Steamtown couldn't sell those tickets until the eastern leg of the Big Boy’s tour was formally announced, which created a compressed planning timeline right up to the wire. But the friction sorted itself out: everyone who came through the gates got to see two Big Boys side by side, and that's what people will remember.

What comes next is the part that excites me most. Superintendent Jeremy Komasz is a former Navy SEAL, and he talks about Steamtown's future the way you'd expect given his background: in audacious goals. I've heard him say, only half-joking, that his target for this year's Railfest is to double last year's attendance. A year ago that might have sounded like a stretch. Not anymore — the Park just proved it can handle a crowd, and Jeremy knows it. The track ahead is clear. Jeremy's in the conductor's seat calling the moves, but it's Steamtown's staff and volunteers stoking the fire — and right now, they've got a full head of steam.

The bigger point, for a railfan audience especially, is this: Steamtown's mission isn't just to serve people who already love trains. It's to reach the public at large — to connect, inspire, and become a gateway for the next generation of people who care about the preservation, presentation, and interpretation of railroading history in America. Not just the steam era, but everything railroading did to build this country, and everything it still does to keep it running. That's the real measure of a moment like this — not just celebrating railroading, but inspiring someone new to pick up a shovel and keep the fire going.

Speaking of which: Consider this your invitation to join the Iron Horse Society, Steamtown's official philanthropic partner. Right now we're funding and managing the restoration of a World War II troop sleeper car, and fundraising toward the operational restoration of Meadow River Lumber Company Shay #1. Want to help either project — or the Park's broader mission? Join us at theironhorsesociety.org.

About Mike Rinkunas

Mike Rinkunas first climbed aboard a Steamtown locomotive as a kid in 1986. Today, he's a federally certified engineer and conductor as part of Steamtown’s Volunteer-In-Parks program and the founder and president of the Iron Horse Society, the Park's official philanthropic partner.