Largest steam locomotive on Earth to run again!

[p51]

Amazingly, after several months of rumor, the Union Pacific RR has announced that they are indeed getting back a 'Big Boy' 4-8-8-4 locomotive to restore and run. File this under the, “I never thought this would happen,” heading!
http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/releases/heritage_and_steam/2013/0723_4014.shtml
Here’s the engine they’re talking about, near LA right now: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/Locopicture.aspx?id=122837

 

[Zemke Fan]

This is VERY good news. Let the bad boy / big boy run again!!

 

[Stearmen]

That is exciting news! If it's going to be up in Wyoming, that means it will rumble it's way down by me. I always hoped I would see a Big Boy under steam in my life time. Never got to see one when they were still operational.

 

[Story]

Life imitates art.

 

[rjb1]

As a tradition-minded mechanical engineer that is great and amazing news! I'm surprised that they can do it, for both cost and technological reasons, but I'm glad they can.

 

[p51]

That is exciting news! If it's going to be up in Wyoming, that means it will rumble it's way down by me. I always hoped I would see a Big Boy under steam in my life time. Never got to see one when they were still operational.

Just an FYI, that engine is a Challenger, a 4-6-6-4. It's sort of a shorter version of a Big Boy. It has a very similar look but not quite as large. 3985, the engine in the photo, has been running off-and-on since the 1980s.
Some in RR preservation circles are wondering if maybe 3985 is getting to a condition that UP can't easily justify further rebuilding (a lot of work to their 4-8-4 # 844 took a great deal of time and money) in the future and perhaps 4014 is in better shape for future work. Some have long said you can't run a 4000 anywhere other than the Sherman Hill line through Wyoming (where they ran back in the day) but railroad curves and clearances are much larger and forgiving than they were, say, 20-30 years ago due to longer and taller cars, and much heavier locomotives. I think a running Big Boy now is far more plausible than it would have been at the time they restored 3985 to operation. If they can turn 844, they can probably turn 4014 in the same places as they use the same types of tenders and the individual engines underneath the boiler of 4014 are the same length. I do agree that there might not be a turntable that can spin a Big Boy still left on the system, though...

 

[David Conwill]

It's so nice to see a corporation that cares about its history. I doubt you'll see United Airlines restoring a DC-3 anytime soon.

 

[Stearmen]

Just an FYI, that engine is a Challenger, a 4-6-6-4. It's sort of a shorter version of a Big Boy. It has a very similar look but not quite as large. 3985, the engine in the photo, has been running off-and-on since the 1980s.
Some in RR preservation circles are wondering if maybe 3985 is getting to a condition that UP can't easily justify further rebuilding (a lot of work to their 4-8-4 # 844 took a great deal of time and money) in the future and perhaps 4014 is in better shape for future work. Some have long said you can't run a 4000 anywhere other than the Sherman Hill line through Wyoming (where they ran back in the day) but railroad curves and clearances are much larger and forgiving than they were, say, 20-30 years ago due to longer and taller cars, and much heavier locomotives. I think a running Big Boy now is far more plausible than it would have been at the time they restored 3985 to operation. If they can turn 844, they can probably turn 4014 in the same places as they use the same types of tenders and the individual engines underneath the boiler of 4014 are the same length. I do agree that there might not be a turntable that can spin a Big Boy still left on the system, though...

Your right, I missed that!

 

[Stearmen]

It's so nice to see a corporation that cares about its history. I doubt you'll see United Airlines restoring a DC-3 anytime soon.

Like Delta Airlines? http://www.douglasdc3.com/delta41/delta41.htm

 

[Shangas]

What a stunning aircraft!

 

[David Conwill]

Like Delta Airlines? http://www.douglasdc3.com/delta41/delta41.htm

Well well. I stand pleasantly corrected!

 

[GHT]

Has anyone seen the reunion photos of the fastest steam trains on the planet? Mallard and her five siblings came together for a 75th anniversary get together. Mighty impressive they look too.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...allard-five-surviving-sister-locomotives.html

 

[Stearmen]

Has anyone seen the reunion photos of the fastest steam trains on the planet? Mallard and her five siblings came together for a 75th anniversary get together. Mighty impressive they look too.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...allard-five-surviving-sister-locomotives.html

126 mph, thats incredible. I remember seeing footage of the Daylight train, inside the engineers compartment at I think 60mph, lets just say it was really Rocking & a Rolling!

 

[Nick D]

I saw the C&O Allegheny at the Henry Ford when I was a kid. Talk about awe inspiring.

 

[GHT]

126 mph, thats incredible. I remember seeing footage of the Daylight train, inside the engineers compartment at I think 60mph, lets just say it was really Rocking & a Rolling!

This fascinating YouTube clip tells the story. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InK3r6xtA4k

 

[Stearmen]

[video=youtube;x8f9VFlNyDQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8f9VFlNyDQ[/video]

 

[Fading Fast]

The Henry Ford museum outside of Detroit has the #1601 C&O Allegheny "Big Boy" and it is amazing / incredible / awe-inspiring and a little bit humbling to stand next to. It is hard to believe anything that big was ever built. A great museum to go to if you are ever near it as it has a lot of train history (and other American industrial history). What an impressive piece of machinery.

 

[ChiTownScion]

The Henry Ford museum outside of Detroit has the #1601 C&O Allegheny "Big Boy" and it is amazing / incredible / awe-inspiring and a little bit humbling to stand next to. It is hard to believe anything that big was ever built. A great museum to go to if you are ever near it as it has a lot of train history (and other American industrial history). What an impressive piece of machinery.

The Allegheny 2-6-6-6 was an amazing locomotive, but it was not a "Big Boy:" that designation is exclusive to Union Pacific's 4000 series 4-8-8-4's. In terms of locomotive only tonnage the Allegheny's 389 tons actually outweighed the Big Boy's 381 tons.

The C&O was, like the B&O, heavily dependent upon coal hauling, and that need of getting a long drag of hoppers over the Allegheny Mountains at relatively low but steady speeds was their reason for being. The Big Boys had a somewhat different role: hauling manifest freight at higher speed over Sherman Hill.

And speaking of the B&O: none of their star articulated locos, the EM-1 2-8-8-4, were preserved. /COLOR]

 

[Michaelson]

The Allenheny was also referred to on the C&O and an H8 and used quite a bit on the Columbus Ohio run out of Russell, Ky. The reason they had all their pumps on the smokebox of the engines was because the engines kept getting bigger and bigger on the C&O, but the tunnels of West Virgina didn't, so they had to hang the hardware someplace so it didn't get ripped off in a tunnel.

Anyway, back to the Big Boy. ;-)

Regard! Michaelson

 

[Veronica T]

No. 4017 lives near me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Gr4lLthgQ