Millions of Americans have flocked across the country to see the largest locomotive make its trip across the US in celebration of America's 250th birthday, including an unlucky Nebraska man who fell off the train and fractured his spine. Trevor Allen Bentley, 34, of Kearney, has been a long-time train fan and has always dreamed of riding in the cab of Big Boy 4014, a Union Pacific train that is the largest operating steam locomotive in the world. It's making a celebratory cross-country run for America's 250th birthday across 14 states, starting in California in April and ending in its home state of Wyoming and the end of July. So when Bentley heard the 133-foot-long manually operated train was stopping in his hometown, he emailed the rail giant and asked to take a ride in the cab. Union Pacific agreed to allow the local writer to ride the hulking train 40 miles from Kearny to Grand Island, he told Cowboy State Daily. Unfortunately, his dreams were cut short when Bentley fell off the train as he was boarding, video posted to social media showed. He had one more rung to clear on the rain-soaked ladder into the cab when he suddenly slipped and fell eight feet, landing flat on his back on the rails. Not only did Bentley fracture his back, the fall caused the train to delay departure by 30 minutes. Trevor Allen Bentley, 34, fractured his back after he fell off Big Boy in Kearney, Nebraska 'A boyhood dream got dashed as I fell eight feet off of Big Boy 4014 before I got the ride of a lifetime,' the lifelong train enthusiast said 'I felt fine,' he told Cowboy State Daily about the fall. 'Obviously, I was sore. But I just wanted to get up.'I just couldn’t get that last step in.' The train, unfortunately, would take off to Grand Island without him on May 28. 'A boyhood dream got dashed as I fell eight feet off of Big Boy 4014 before I got the ride of a lifetime,' the lifelong train enthusiast told the outlet. The train would go on to make stops in Omaha, Chicago, Buffalo, and Philadelphia, among other smaller locations, on its eastbound journey before making its way back westward. Its drawn millions of visitors, including to a small Ohio town called Fostoria, which is known to locals as Train City USA, as three major rail lines converged at the town's station. The crossing of the paths is known as the Iron Triangle. More than 46,000 people crammed into Norfolk Southern's railyard just outside of the town of 13,000 on Tuesday, with locals and tourists alike beginning to line up to get in around 4am. The gigantic train was scheduled to take off at 9am on Wednesday, but the public was able to view the behemoth the day before, starting at 8am. Visitors were able to tour the inside of some of the passenger cars, as well as take photos on the train and more. The Big Boy train stands at 17 feet tall, weighs 1.2 million pounds, and is the size of roughly half a Boeing 747 Train 4014 is the only operational Big Boy left in the country. There are currently seven others there not scrapped for metal