Big Boy 4014 First Test Run
 

Last night they took Big Boy for its first test sequence. Left Cheyenne to Greeley ~50 miles. I understand the run was limited to max of 25 MPH. Generally you would want to keep it under that until the side rod bushing were broken in...Enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jt4_Hiq_rQ

What is it about locomotives from that era? Simply cool.

Thanks!

Another view!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNpaKHiyvRo


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nIawf-FK8M

Puts a smile on my face

Made my day. Absolutely made my day... thank you so much for posting this.

Boy and their BIG toys to the extreme. Cool.

1:01 awesome

Glad you liked it Jeff!

I'm leaving Wednesday to Ogden to see it and go to the 150th anniversary of the Golden Spike ceremony at Promontory Summit. Big Boy and 844 will double head to Ogden for the ceremony!

Bob

Such a great sight to see!
Always liked trains.

But one question...who's the drunk person filming the first video? It actually gave me vertigo. :p

That is just so awesome. Color me envious. Very, very envious.

I had the opportunity to ride behind a similar Northern class locomotive back in what must have been the early '90's. The Southern Pacific 4449 was up here in our area, so my wife and then maybe four year old son took a dinner ride down the Yakima River Valley from Ellensburg to Yakima. Or maybe he was only three... At any rate, somewhere tucked away in an old photo album I have photos of us sitting on the locomotive. Priceless memories...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1556916982.jpg

Too cool. One of our engineers is currently in NM getting checked out as a steam locomotive engineer, after which point he will get to drive the train on the main line.

A living, breathing thing.

I have to wonder just how many are out there that are still qualified to do this. What a cool thing to get to learn. There almost has to be some weight of "historical responsibility" or something that goes along with this. Preserving it for the next generation and all. How cool...

They are all retired or dead. I think the for prospects for a steam engineer would be to look at historical groups involved with restoring steam locomotives. Got to be some ol' timers that never wanted to not use those controls.

It would be fantastic to ride in the cab and watch. YouTube is as far as I will ever get.

Camera operator jumps when it blow the horn. Sweet.

I love those old steam engines.

When people dream of winning the lottery,

I dream of restoring old locomotives,

and when the railways that originally ran them won't consider running them on their own mainlines for XXXXX reasons....

buying out the railways and using the steam engines as my own mid 20th century toyota corolla's.... ( and hauling along 20 or so passenger cars for the ride! ) :)

- - 0 - sure sounds different from a steam whistle rather than air horns (I had to listen twice to make sure that's what he was signaling)

Go Dawg, I sure do want to thank you for posting all these updates and videos. That train is magnificent. And it looks just brand spanking new, too.

Thanks Oberst...:)


Watch this great video!...This has some great footage. lengthy but high quality!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR7Q27cIEvo

My grandfather was an agent for the Santa Fe RR. If I was in his car on a road paralleling the tracks and there was a train, he knew the 'code' to honk in his Buick Roadmaster and the engineer would blow his whistle back at us. You can imagine the grin on my 10 YO face.

As a kid I saw the end of the steam era change over to diesel. They took on a modern look towards the end:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/t_rM30ihMZY/maxresdefault.jpg

I'd be lucky if all I did was jump. I get the impression that those steam whistles fill the air with noise that would make Spinal Tapp at 11 jealous.

From yesterday - don't worry, the video gets better real fast:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dwmXDZ8J_Jo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

That is soooooo cool. Hats off to anyone and everyone involved in getting this behemoth taken apart, rebuilt, polished and ready for the big do.

BigBoy is Howlin'Wolf personified.
'The number's goin' out now friend is Smokestack Lightnin'


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9eIQIMYnPvw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I took my (then) little boy to see her in Pomona maybe 12-14 years ago:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1557256702.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1557256702.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1557256702.jpg

They also had the largest diesel electric there at that time, but I can't find the pics.

This one? http://www.railgiants.org/images/exp...ennial/001.jpg

RailGiants Train Museum | Union Pacific Centennial #6915

I just remember it was freaking looooonnnngggg.

Thanks for the vids.

Why didn't 844 make the trip on its own?

I just watched a vid of 844 cranking along at 75 mph. It was chugging away!

Various reasons.
1. "Double Heading" steam locomotives is always impressive.
2. Union Pacific wants to display both of their steam locomotives that are currently in operation. The 3985 is down for an overhaul but should be back running in a few years.
3. Running both engines in the same train is less complicated and does not impact their freight operations as much by taking up track that could be used to haul freight. After all the UP is still in the business to make a profit.
4. Having all the passenger cars in one train is a bigger party for those on board. ;)

Thanks

Good explanation

844 pulled the train from Denver to Cheyenne for "Cheyenne Frontier Days" since it's been restored.... went down to watch; it's beautiful.

Even then there's a diesel 'helper' with it, like there is with Big Boy... just in case, maybe?

BTW, 844 is a fast passenger engine, 4014 is a high torque freight up steep grades engine; designed to haul long freight consists up the Sierra Nevadas

844 large diameter drivers = high gearing
4014 small diameter drivers = low gearing.

Driver size is the 'gear ratio' with steam engines.

A friend suggested that, while the UP is pretty cool for doing this, if there was mechanical trouble they’d never want to block their rails. So perhaps it’s there just for braking and in case of breakage?

Bump

This shouldn't be on the second page.


Go, Big Boy, go! Blowing some steam!

https://jalopnik-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/jalopnik.com/heres-the-biggest-steam-locomotive-in-the-world-flying-1834641096/amp?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&a mpshare=https%3A%2F%2Fjalopnik.com%2Fheres-the-biggest-steam-locomotive-in-the-world-flying-1834641096

I love steam engines. They are the most basic of carbon powered machines.
My experience is mostly from ag engines (powering threshing machines) but I've sat in on some heated discussions on what are the best steam valves (it's a big deal. Baker wins - hands down) and what are the best engine formats (mostly tandem compound vs cross compound).
I got to interview a man who ran a Case 110 in the 1920s. They didn't have stokers then, all the coal was shoveled in. He talked about how a good engineer would open the firebox and throw a shovel full of coal in and catch a glimpse of a "cold" spot and know that's where he would throw the next shovel full. Steam engineers were gods in their day.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RR7Q27cIEvo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This was probably already posted here on this thread, so at the risk of repeating what someone else already posted, this is a rundown of the cars that are being pulled by 4014 and 844:

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/04/25-big-boy-no-4014s-first-passenger-train-will-be-nine-cars-long

I did a search for the "standard Flag car" mentioned in the article, but found very little that pertained to the car I'm seeing; does anyone know what the purpose of the "standard Flag car" is?

Nope. New stuff, thanks

I think that should be "a standard UP flag unit" referring to a diesel. In railroad jargon a unit is a diesel and in this case they wanted one with a flag on the side (not all diesels have flags on the side).
Here is one.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1557523181.jpg

^^

Thank you.
I amaze myself at my lousy reading comprehension sometimes!

Did you make the show?

Yes! still in Ogden and ready to get some better pictures without the crowd! 4014 leaves tomorrow back to Cheyenne. I met most of the crew and Ed Dickens is a class act.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1557587622.jpg