Ah, well, I don't think I was being " disingenuous and arrogant"-if you look at the population as a whole; those of us with steam knowledge, at least first-hand knowledge, are a very, very, small segment of the population. Even I grew up in a nearly steam-free society; but I was around folks who were steam oriented, and the McCloud was nearby. With my interest in anything steam powered I nurtured friendships with steam knowledgeable folks. Granted, much of my steam experience was with boats, automobiles, and stationary stuff, but there was some railroading involved, and I've been at the throttle of both scale steamers and some small full-sized steamers (very limited time on those!). As I am now of Social Security age, I would say there are a LOT more people out there now than folks similar to myself. The folks coming trackside to see the Big Boy are, for the most part, not even railroad-oriented folks.
That's what is so wonderful about this publicity event (and really, that's all it is; a publicity event). It is giving UP great positive attention in the general public, and also making folks more aware of railroads. And gee, we railroad "nuts" get to see a really, really big engine run (OK, sort of, for those of you who want it to shake the ground).
So, if I seemed disingenuous and arrogant, I apologize; I thought I was just stating a fact, that few folks watching trackside today know that the 4014 is mostly just "along for the ride."