Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 ready to run!!!

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by daepp

Wow - you learn something new every day.

I went and watched 3985 come through/down Cajon Pass, then raced to meet it at it's next stop - circa 1992. All this time I thought it was a Big Boy.

I'd seen 4014 at Fairplex, and had seen the cab-forward Big Boy in Sacramento, but still I thought 3985 was one of them.

Thanks for the info!

The cab forward steam locomotives were pretty much a Southern Pacific Railroad thing. It was a way of dealing with the many tunnels on their line. They figured the crews would do better if they were ahead of the smoke. Pretty cool, distinctive locomotives. I believe they were 4-8-8-4's, mimicking the Union Pacific's conventional Big Boys' wheel arrangement.

[LWJ]

The cool factor in this thread is off the charts.

[SCadaddle]

"Big boy is 132 ft long and weighs 600 tons. this should be quite a site!"

Note to Train Engineer: Do me a favor and stop short of crossing the old bridge over the deep canyon. I'll get out and walk across and wait for you to pick me up on the other side!

[Jrboulder]

Originally Posted by SCadaddle

"Big boy is 132 ft long and weighs 600 tons. this should be quite a site!"

Note to Train Engineer: Do me a favor and stop short of crossing the old bridge over the deep canyon. I'll get out and walk across and wait for you to pick me up on the other side!

That's hardly more than the universal UP main line freight car approval of 286,000 lbs per 42 feet.

[GO DAWG GO]

Its about wheel/ load distribution. It is well within the heavy side of the UP spec. UP has looked at and factored these weight dynamics.. We're still good!

[Superman]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

That is just so freakin' awesome. Just so awesome...

You got that right.

[Jolly Amaranto]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

I believe they were 4-8-8-4's, mimicking the Union Pacific's conventional Big Boys' wheel arrangement.

The later cab forwards were 4-8-8-2s (or backwards 2-8-8-4s with the 4 wheel truck under the firebox/cab area). The first cab forwards that the SP had were 2-8-8-2s and 4-6-6-2s.
This is one of the 2-8-8-2s.



A 4-6-6-2.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by Jolly Amaranto

The later cab forwards were 4-8-8-2s (or backwards 2-8-8-4s with the 4 wheel truck under the firebox/cab area). The first cab forwards that the SP had were 2-6-6-2s and 4-6-6-2s.
This is one of the 2-6-6-2s.

Thanks - I really wasn't sure what the later ones had under the smokebox. It makes sense to only run a two wheeled truck, since it doesn't have any "pilot" responsibilities, and the weight on the smokebox end does not require it.

As long as we are talking big articulated engines, up here in our neck of the woods, the Great Northern had their share. Most were used further east, on the Iron Range or in the Rockies, but some did make the haul up and over our Cascade range.

Their penultimate version was the R2, a 2-8-8-2. Some were made in their own shops, some came from Baldwin. They claimed one of the highest tractive efforts of any locomotive:



GN also ran one of the better "Northern" class, or 4-8-4 locomotives, in their "S" class. Beautiful locomotives, with their green boilers and silver smoke boxes. They had a pretty distinctive pilot truck as well.

[Jrboulder]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

GN also ran one of the better "Northern" class, or 4-8-4 locomotives, in their "S" class. Beautiful locomotives, with their green boilers and silver smoke boxes. They had a pretty distinctive pilot truck as well.

Great Northern gave my grandpa an N scale model S-2 on some occasion in the late 60s. Of course we warrantied it and got a cheezy UP 2-8-2 in return

[jcommin]

A number of years ago I traveled to Lincoln Nebraska. As you drive to Omaha, you can't help seeing Union Pacific Company. It is big! At their entrance is a Big Boy Steam Engine which is just massive. At the other end is an EMD DD, the diesel equivalent to the Big Boy.

I Dad worked for the Santa Fe RR and I have vivid memories going to the yard with him and going thru the car barns.

[GO DAWG GO]

Here is two of my G scale Big Boys running around my mountain home. These locomotives weigh 75 pounds and are ~5 feet long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYQjlt7hk9Q

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by GO DAWG GO

Here is two of my G scale Big Boys running around my mountain home. These locomotives weigh 75 pounds and are ~5 feet long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYQjlt7hk9Q

Damn

[Steve F]

^^^^^

Beyond cool!!

[billybek]

Really really cool!

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by SCadaddle

"Big boy is 132 ft long and weighs 600 tons. this should be quite a site!"

And about 90% of that is boiler, the actually engines are small comparatively.

Anyone who has worked on and around high pressure boilers knows how dangerous they can be.
I'd venture to guess that over the years more people have been killed in boiler and steam accidents than any other category of industrial accidents.
We don't hear about it much anymore with all the regulations and licenses and controls, but in the late 1800s and early 1900s it was really bad.

[GO DAWG GO]

BRIDGES!

[scottmandue]

Not a big boy but the first steam train to enter Los Angeles on display in San Pedro for 'train days'

[GO DAWG GO]

Santa Fe 3751 is beautiful!

Watch this: Too cool!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp-b4Ce4Mf4

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by jcommin

A number of years ago I traveled to Lincoln Nebraska. As you drive to Omaha, you can't help seeing Union Pacific Company. It is big! At their entrance is a Big Boy Steam Engine which is just massive. At the other end is an EMD DD, the diesel equivalent to the Big Boy.

I Dad worked for the Santa Fe RR and I have vivid memories going to the yard with him and going thru the car barns.

Many years ago on our way through Ogden, Utah (on the way to our yearly antelope hunt in Rawlings, Wyoming) my wife and I visited the Union Pacific museum. They had a DD40 there and, I believe, a Big Boy. Might have been a Challenger. It's been too long...

[edgemar]

So exciting!!!