In Virginia Lee Burton's classic 1939 children's book "Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel," Mulligan often boasted that his steam shovel, Mary Anne, "could dig as much in a day as a hundred men could dig in a week, but he had never been quite sure that this was true."

By the end of the story, Mulligan never gets the chance to prove his boast because electric, diesel and gasoline shovels have taken away nearly all of Mary Anne's work. Still, he finds an ingenious way for the old steam shovel to remain useful.

When Burton wrote those words, she was capturing the painful sunset of an era. It was a lament for the living, breathing machines of American progress, cast aside for the newest efficient technology.

For more than half a century, that sentiment seemed final. The same technological advances that displaced Mary Anne also rendered America's steam locomotives obsolete. The machines that had helped build our cities, transported critically needed goods during World War II, and connected the nation from coast to coast were, in a remarkably short time, dumped into gravel pits, relegated to history books, or left to rust in forgotten railyards.

But this week in Altoona, the Union Pacific Railroad's Big Boy No. 4014 offered a thunderous rebuttal. Much of the credit belongs to its engineer, Ed Dickens, who has spent his adult life serving his country, first in the military and now by helping bring this historic steam locomotive back to life. In doing so, he has shown that Americans still value hard work, shared history and community. Across the country, crowds have gathered along city streets, farmland and smalltown rail lines just to watch Dickens and Big Boy thunder past.

Rolling into town earlier this week at 1.2 million pounds and 133 feet long, this steel titan proved that steam engines are not just relics of the past; they still hold a profound utility. No, No. 4014 is no longer hauling daily commercial freight tonnage. Its modern utility is something much more vital to the........

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