Though I have no good way to quantify this claim, I believe last week’s visit by the historic, world’s largest Union Pacific Big Boy steam locomotive to be the most photographed event in local history.

People lined the UP railroad tracks everywhere they could get close to them to record a memory of the steam-and-smoke belching monster.

I cannot even begin to estimate the number of photos and videos viewed in the days following the all-too-quick visit to Wood County last Tuesday. The mechanical marvel is quite photogenic.

I can only assume that being four and a half hours behind schedule, through no fault of the Big Boy’s crew, had something to do with their elevated speed coming through Mineola (not the planned five miles-per-hour).

It seemed the whole town was there, and many others, and almost all of them captured some sort of image, whether it be stills or video on cell phones, regular cameras or drones.

One fellow shooting photos next to us from the Metroplex (his photo appears in this edition) had already been in Big Sandy to see it stationary. He said there are folks who will follow it for its entire cross-country journey.

So what is it about trains, and especially this train, that attracts so much interest and become the subject of so many songs?

The Big Boy is a piece of history, built during World War Two, the largest in the world, restored and still operating.

Steam engines led the way for America’s westward expansion, among the most vital chapters of our history as a nation. Months-long wagon journeys were shortened to a few days.

And despite a technology that can now be measured in centuries, rail remains a critical and important part of our national infrastructure. Just look at how many come through here each day on the UP line, including two Amtrak passenger trains.

The romance of the rails continues, as witnessed by the number of former railroaders who came out for a look and who help keep alive Mineola’s own history as a railroad town. No telling how many of those runs were steam-driven in the early days.

We recently viewed another historic Union Pacific locomotive, housed indoors at the George H.W. Bush presidential center at College Station.

There was a much more somber mood the day that engine rolled along, as people lined the tracks to see a train pass by, carrying the former president who was laid to rest in a peaceful garden on the presidential library property.

Now you can walk around that modern locomotive and gaze at its magnificence, along with an adjacent Marine One helicopter.

They are quite a sight in that huge facility that houses nothing else.

Both engines are reminders of important chapters in our history.