posted
Wildly off topic I know, but thought I’d ask here before asking complete strangers on some railroad newsgroup. Did any of you ever happen to hear a Union Pacific “Big Boy” steam locomotive in action? Some of the photos I’ve seen are so dramatic I can’t help wondering what they must have sounded like. Did they shuffle, thresh, or roar, was the exhaust beat soft or did they chop them off at the chimney like artillery fire when working uphill with the long valve cut-off and 3000+ tons hanging on the drawbar? I’ve heard a recording of a Garrett climbing hard; the exhausts come in and out of synch regularly without either engine unit slipping, presumably due to uneven tyre wear, I wonder if that happened with the “Big Boys?” I have looked around on the net, but the sites I’ve found all seem rather cold and technical or deal with preserved locos, none of which seem to be steamed.
[ February 18, 2003, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: Arthur Vanson ]
-------------------- Arthur Vanson Bucks Signs Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England arthur@buckssigns.co.uk -------------------- Posts: 805 | From: Chesham, Bucks, England | Registered: Mar 2002
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I had assumed the Southern Pacific Cab Forward 4-8-8-2 on display at the California State Railway Museum was the biggest. It is one huge and magnificent piece of machinery. At 475,000 pounds and 124,000 # drawbar pull, it isn't a contest to the 540,000 pounds and 135,000 # pull of the Big Boy. Add this one to the must-see list!
The Alco's were made in Schenectady New York. Last time I was there, the factory was a mostly vacant lot with a Holiday Inn Motel with memorabilia in the lobby.
posted
The Big Boys went by our shop regularly and since they were coumpound units the sound was similar to the Challengers, one of which went by Saturday. It is kept in Cheyenne and when it is being serviced, they run by here to LaSalle and back to Cheyenne. The sound was just a good chug-a chug-a whoooosh as my grandson would say. The thunder of the weight, especially going over the frogs about 75 feet away from where I sit could be felt in the floor.
[ February 18, 2003, 06:05 PM: Message edited by: Kent Smith ]
-------------------- Kent Smith Smith Sign Studio P.O.Box 2385, Estes Park, CO 80517-2385 kent@smithsignstudio.com Posts: 1025 | From: Estes Park, CO | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
What an amazing font of knowledge this forum is. Thanks for the link Vic, now I know what to look for I’ll try to find a source for the PAL versions of those videos. The figures you quote are mind-boggling. As far as I’m aware the 79.240 lbs tractive effort and 178 tons weight of the LNER Garret is the UK record holder, not in quite the same league! Kent, I do envy your proximity to the line and your experiences of the steam giants. Long may the Challenger pass your door and rattle your windows. Good vibrations – sole (sic) stirring stuff.
-------------------- Arthur Vanson Bucks Signs Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England arthur@buckssigns.co.uk -------------------- Posts: 805 | From: Chesham, Bucks, England | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
I've never been a serious train buff, but I did get to go to the B&O museum in Baltimore over the holidays. They have an engine in their yard which was purportedly the largest and heaviest ever made. Now I'm intrigued enough to try to look it up on the net.
-------------------- "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
Cam Bortz Finest Kind Signs Pondside Iron works 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988" Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Cam...I woudl like to know what you saw since I have not been to the B&O since 1970.
DOUBLEHEADER #844 Northern and #3985 Challenger across from my shop a year or two ago.
ENJOY also more info Colorado Railroad Museumweb page
-------------------- Kent Smith Smith Sign Studio P.O.Box 2385, Estes Park, CO 80517-2385 kent@smithsignstudio.com Posts: 1025 | From: Estes Park, CO | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
My dad told me when he was a kid in school in the '20s up in North Dakota he and his buddies used to play in the trainyards. When a "Malley" came through town they could hear it coming for miles and every boy would jump up out of his school desk and ditch the school - run down close to the tracks to experience the rush when it went by, truant officers be damned! I saw a picture of one once, never heard one.
-------------------- "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
Cam Bortz Finest Kind Signs Pondside Iron works 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988" Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Nice site and interesting info. I don't pay that much attention to trains I haven't seen. I used to spend one weekend a year firing and playing engineer on the 346 narrow guage at the museum but it has been down for restoration for the last 4 or 5. Mostly diesel until the reapirs are completed although we had Thomas The Tank Engine there in Oct. Grandsons loved that one and I was just interrupted in my typing taking AJ out to see the 10:45 westbound freight.
-------------------- Kent Smith Smith Sign Studio P.O.Box 2385, Estes Park, CO 80517-2385 kent@smithsignstudio.com Posts: 1025 | From: Estes Park, CO | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
As an 8 year old kid growing up in Pensacola Florida we use to spend weekends fishing in Escambia Bay. Across the bay ran a train trestle that spanned the water by at least two miles.
We would walk the tracks about a mile out carrying our fishing poles and then fish off of the tracks until we heard and felt the train coming.
When a train was coming you couldnt walk back to land fast enough so we would climb down and hold on tight to the trestle structures cross members. The wheels of the freight train were no more than an 18" from your head as the train crossed the bay. The entire trestle would shake and the noise was deafening but when you're 8 years old this was fun!
The only incident I had was dropping my fishing pole over the edge when everything was shaking and I was trying to hold on. I almost fell in to as I tried to reach for it.
I'm not sure but I think the trestle is still there.
-------------------- Bob Stephens Skywatch Signs Zephyrhills, FL
posted
There’s no arguing with the figures, the Allegheny were the giants among giants and thoroughly magnificent. However in purely aesthetic terms, I think, they look woefully short of coupled drivers, compared to the Big Boys. Pure rail trivia but I think it said, on that link, that the Alleghenys were given 68” wheels to allow them to run at 40mph. The BR Standard 9F 2-10-0s freight engines (140tons approx with tender) were designed with only 60” drivers to allow the wide based firebox to be mounted over the rear coupled wheels, maximising the weight available for adhesion. For a period these locos were employed on the Great Central’s “Windjammer” vacuum fitted freights and regularly ran at 90mph (until the authorities found out!). Can you imagine the piston speeds and the amount of valve lead needed to cushion those huge reciprocating masses.
-------------------- Arthur Vanson Bucks Signs Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England arthur@buckssigns.co.uk -------------------- Posts: 805 | From: Chesham, Bucks, England | Registered: Mar 2002
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