Big Boys on TV!

[ATSF1927]

I remember this problem, when the railroads went from steam to diesel it was a mess. The steam locomotives had a lot more power than the diesel locomotives. I'm an old steam era railroader. I remember this show and great video.

[LessThanZero0]

i love trains

[kjh495]

black ops lobby here ;dddd /watch?v=NQtYkMzuGtg

[Broncort1]

...."Lucky Strike Theatre"....ahhh, the good old days when things like cigarettes weren't so despised and your doctor smoked while doing a check-up on you....seat belts weren't cool to use and chucking your empty beer bottle out the window on your way home from work was a normal thing to do.

[shnimmuc]

The Big Boy`s Tractive effort was 135,350 lbs of force. The DM&IR Yellowstone 2-8-8-4 was at 140,000 lbs and the Great Northern 2-8-8-2 was also greater. The Big Boy was less heavy then the Allegheny, it was the longest of the great locomotives. The new book [History of North American Steam], by C. Chant states a Yellowstone could pull a train twice as long as a Big Boy, which I find hard to believe.

[thomasVSstewie]

Virginian's 2-10-10-2's were longer & more powerful then UP'S Big Boy believe it or not.

[nimrod4017]

@thomasVSstewie I think you are right they applyed more force onto a train the 4-8-8-4 which applyed a force of about 150,000 pounds I think the 2-10-10-2 put out 200,000. I know the ?-8-8-8-2 put out at or near 200,000 I think the ?=2 not 100 positive. The Big Boy however was designed to get a train moving at 60+ mph. Technically a AEM-7 draws 7000 hp or 5.2 MWatts or Juoles per secound, however it would not pull more cars than a 4-8-8-4.

[thomasVSstewie]

& that's y steam is better then diesel

[steamingpoopfart]

the 2-10-10-2 never worked it was scraped a week after being built

[nimrod4017]

@steamingpoopfart I think if I remember right the ?-8-8-8-2 was a very hard to fire locomotive. the 4-8-8-4 was very easy to fire according to what i have read. these things i can believe I am very good at building fires and when at peoples houses that have fire places I often am asked to tend the fire (grill too) some designs fire better them others. if this is true for the 2 units then the 4-8-8-4 would deff be better than the 2-10-10-2 or the other one.

[breathholdchamp]

@nimrod4017 was that engine the one with driving wheels under the tender? I saw picks of one. The problem was steam was exhausted in a pipe in the tender for the back cylinders and didn't give proper draft to the firebox and boiler flues,also these tender wheels would slip when the weight was lower of water and coal. Geez those guys that lived back then were so lucky to see these living monsters on wheels!!!!!

[Lex5576]

LOL....Spoiled brat don't know what he's missing! The Big Boys were in many ways more sophisticated than the steam powered ocean liners of the day. Many more moving parts to keep up with and maintain....more critical pressures to maintain in the boiler.

[thediremoose]

Good point about resources. We're going to run out of oil long before we run out of coal, and when that happens we might just need to bring back coal-burning locomotives.

[Shipwright1918]

China quit mainline steam operations in 2005, although you can still buy a brand new SY Mikado from the factory,or a used SY or QJ from the railroad, if you have a fortune to spend...

I agree with Ed's character, steamers were built to last forever, and diesil will never be the same, or as good.

[tprdfh51]

Brandon - one day (if we can ever get Dick Cheney's head out of his ass) a UP Big Boy will run again and you better be at the throttle when it happens!

[durangoandsilverton]

you do live steam! what kind of locos are they

[durangoandsilverton]

DD40X were for fast Priority freights and not pulling, the reason they took steam off is beacuse they are labor intensive, but i do belive steam is more powerful

[tprdfh51]

Brandon - thank you for sending me your bona fides. I apologise for unfairly criticizing you on a public forum. It seems that unlike many BS artists who post on U Tube you have run a steam locomotive (CP1057) and have the pics to prove it - plus other certificates showing your involvement with the NPS steam program. I agree, you are not a liar and have my respect for the interest in steam locomotion that you are pursuing. Keep it up and one day you will be running ATSF 3751 on the main line.

[tprdfh51]

No son, I am talking about 1 AC4400 or 1 AC4300 regularly handling more tonnage than Big Boy on our line on a grade as steep and as long as and with sharper curves than Sherman Hill.

[tprdfh51]

I have no experience running a steam locomotive but as I said, I have over 20+yrs as a locomotive engineer running trains on a Class 1 railroad which is the experience you don't have and likely will never get.

[tprdfh51]

0812201 - doesn't take much effort to get a knuckle. It is the weakest link in the chain and they are designed to break at a specified figure before anything else breaks...like a drawbar or pulling a carbody or frame in half. Big Boy could develop 300,000lb T/E but without computerized wheel slip control systems as are on modern diesals locomotives it is wasted power. Power without control doesn't mean jack shiite mate when it comes to running a train. Any wanker can draw/buff a train to pieces.

[chappybolo]

Yeah, steam is the only way to go!

[chappybolo]

Yes over 15,000 hp, not to mention maximum equated boiler horsepower=76,897 bhp at maximum efficiency and 87% max working pressure.

[chappybolo]

These guys don't know shit

[chappybolo]

6,284.7 hp at 28.3 mph, but at full pressure and full speed, It could generate 10,380 HP in the cylinders. Not to mention 16 68"

[tprdfh51]

That's great mate but what kind of HP and T/E does it develop from a standing start? HP figures are meaningless until you convert them to tractive effort and tonnage haulage over a given subdivision.

[chappybolo]

14,465 HP at 68 mph but starts at 6,798hp 193,86 LBS of T/E from a dead start.

[tprdfh51]

Chappy - what source do you get your figures from? Most sources quote Big Boy generating starting T/E around 150,000lbs (on dry rail) & continuous boiler H/P in the 6000hp region. BTW Big Boy was designed to handle 3000-4000ton trains on a continuous 1.5% grade on Sherman Hill - AC4400&4300 units haul 5000+tons single handed on similar grades on our line with much sharper curves than Sherman and they do it using much less fuel and raw materiels (water and coal) - less than 500 gal diesal fuel.

[Stupidaso2]

Man i could die a happy man if i could get behind the throttle of a big boy blasting up sherman hill.

[CPRCanadian]

To trainlover479: Where did you hear that UP is going to restore a 4-8-8-4?

[mcr0928]

Its true. i saw the website.

[trainlover479]

idk, i saw a website( i forgot its name) and it said up is going to restore a 4-8-8-4, but i think 4014 is the best choice

[trainlover479]

if a big boy had a tug of war challenge with an AC6000, big boy will win XD, and guess what people, i hear UP is going to restore a 4-8-8-4 for historical use, think of that!

[SteffanLlwyd]

Awsome news. I'll visit the States just to ride behind it!

[tprdfh51]

@trainlover479 Big Boy won't win a tug of war challenge against an AC6000 or even an AC4300 - either of wihich will generate more than 180,000+ pounds of tractive effort on dry rail. Sorry dude, as good as Big boy was it can't compete against an AC traction motor and computer assisted wheelslip systems.

[chappybolo]

That's BS. Have you even run a steam locomotive? You guys who comment on here about stuff you don't know don't seem to have the experience.

[tprdfh51]

Never run a steam engine son but I've been running diesal engines on a Class 1 railroad for over 20yrs - the last 10 of which has been utilizing AC4400 & AC4300 power. What part of my post don't U believe? All the horsepower in the world don't mean jack shit unless you can transfer that power into tractive effort as measured at the drawbar - sorry Big Boy would lose this one and could not handle the train tonnages and speed singlehanded that 2 AC4400 or 4300 units can handle. Check your facts.

[SteffanLlwyd]

Fix it for me please, and gimme the steam throttle, not the diesel's!

[soohoojrj]

This was FREE on t.v, i'll be damn if i'm gonna pay Pentrex for it!!!!!

[JoeltheSwedishDragon]

I agree with Joe Grant. Big Boys are good for years. I mean, they can pull a 9 kilometer´s heavy-as load alone! If that´s not strength, then I don´t know what is. If diesels tries to pull the load, it takes least five. In comparison, Diesels are nothing.

[hootinouts]

You can't beat steam power. I think China still builds and uses steam locomotives

[JoeltheSwedishDragon]

Amen to that. And yes, they do, and God bless them for it. :]

[MrDaddsie]

The last steam locomotive built in China was SY 1772, finished in 1999

[SwampDaddy7]

@hootinouts

I think India does, too!

[theGUYwho1]

@hootinouts not sure about biulds, but yes they do still use. my father lives there, he keeps me in touch about thies things, wer both rail fans

[IIIJFRIII]

@theGUYwho1 damn thats pretty cool man, i gotta say. same with me and my dad. do you and your father know how big the asian imigrents were in building the rails in the US?

[lukebccb]

@hootinouts: China ended usage of their steam locos back in the mid2000s. Steam locomotives ended in the United States cause the labor costs and maintenance costs were too high relative to the diesels but that wasn't the case for China.

With their (still) cheap labor costs and abundant coal (and non-existent environmental laws) steam locos ARE STILL feasible in China. Nope. The Chinese phased out steam cause it made China appear "backwards". The truth.

[Trainmaster189]

@hootinouts China discontinued steam operation a few years ago when they started the High Speed Rail project.

[90Blakey]

@hootinouts ya but deseil and electric trains are replacing them rapidly

[Tallshipdreamer]

@hootinouts They stopped building them in 1998, but the perfected them to burn cleaner and produce more Hp. but the tree huggers buried the idea they may come back, instead they are actually looking at Battery power. insane isn't it? where the gonna put all that lead when its used, in our paint?

[fghdkjds81]

i want to see this show like right now!

[hudson501]

I use to work for the Chicago & NorthWestern Railroad back in the 1980's and 90's (now I'm with the Soo Line). I met many C&NW locomotive engineers who use to run steam locomotives and not one of them missed running a steam engine versus a diesel. They were filthy to operate, cold in the winter, hot in the summer and a heck of a lot more work to get to your destination.

[DeltaPhi79]

But from what I've seen a lot of the time, people say that steam engines running on coal is a lot cleaner than running them on fuel oil like the UP 844 and 3985.

[CSXer]

Steams neat to watch, but I don't see why a crew would want to work harder for their money. Thought the Big Boys were a maintanence nightmare??

[CGiordano464]

well sittibg in a disel and opening up the throttle has no beauty or sould to it at all. Sitting in the cab of a beautiful steam locomotive powered by steam and feeling the steam pass through the throttle wen u open her up is much more entertaining than sitting back and having a computer drive it. diseles are so boring to run they have to put in alarms to go off cuz the engineers fall asleep

[thediremoose]

@CSXer Not really, the one you're likely thinking of is the 4-12-2 UP 9000 series, which had an inaccessable cylinder in between the axles.

[mafarnz]

Be that as it may, they are a part of our history. Should we just shove it under the rug and forget our past?

[theredraven]

I think Flying Scotsman & Mallard joint hold that title actually.....

Both before and after Big Boy came along.

[gtc1961]

man, can't get that little jingle out of my head!

[killthekiller101]

diesels suck...steam locomotives rule!!!!!

[killersharks]

the big boy is king

those early diesels could only make 1800 hp and big boy could make 6000, i think we all know which is more power full

[1966caprice]

lol i know i was talking about all bigboys in general

[killthekiller101]

i wasnt talking to you but ok

[faronthefiddler]

To Engineer5344. The Japanese Bombed Pearl Harbor.

[madercic3aolcom]

Howdy. I'm sure Engineer5344 knows the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. His comment, and my reply, were paraphrased quotes from a scene in the movie "Animal House". If you haven't seen it, it's generally considered one of the funniest movies ever made, and I highly recommend it if you don't mind rated R type stuff.

[ERNIEMAC2]

I guess it is quaint being sentimental. Big Boys were great IN THEIR TIME. Labour was cheap so that the large amount of maintenance required for both loco and track could be justified. Not now. Multiple diesels are far more economical, even if six are required to replace one Big Boy.

Like the black and white pictures used in this video, the "good old days" of steam have long vanished, thank goodness !

By the way, I am an "old timer" aged 72.

[TheDepotCat]

Darn - Dad feels the same way I do about multiple units taking over from diesel locomotives hauling a train of coaches...{Well in the UK at least}.

[Engineer5344]

VIVA LA JOE GRANT, FOR HIS DESIRE AND PASSION FOR STEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

diesel's are dead, the govt, dead. whats all this diesel shit huh. was it over when the germans bombed pearl harbor. hell no, and it ain't over now. cuz when the goin gets tough, the tough get goin. WHO'S WITH ME!!!!!!!!

[madercic3aolcom]

Engineer5344's right! Psychotic, but absolutely right!...Let's DO IT!!!

[Engineer5344]

thank you madercic for your support

[micahthatrocks]

right here, dude regular diesels only have 4,000 hp. the big boy had- { HAD}- 6,000.

[Engineer5344]

what now takes 6 or 8 diesel's to pull up sherman hill, only took one big boy to do the job or even a challenger.

[SteffanLlwyd]

Bring back steam. Who cares if it cost more? I'll pay 10% extra for goods! Steam locomotives make the landscape look better, cheer people up with their sound 'n fury, smell better, and contribute more to preventing the Earth from cooling. They make steam clouds which turn to rain somewhere far a way, keeping farmers happy. They are 'warm and tender'; character-building, give rodents mighty headaches from their pounding wheels, reducing the work that cats have expend to catch 'em. Steam Now!

[Engineer5344]

THATS THE SPIRIT STEFFAN!!!!!!!! all heil the mighty stefann!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SteffanLlwyd]

Thanks 5344, but there's trully nothing more mighty than a Big Boy shouting its defiance at the mountains, blast-by-blast, blowing chords on a chime whistle and beating four-time on two sets of driving wheels, full regulator and 60% forward valve. Before this spectacle I am not mighty but small. The Big Boy teaches a lot, including the promise of steaming on after we are gone. Even if Concorde never flies again, Big Boy will climb the mountains and pound the plains again. It is written.

[Engineer5344]

indeed, steam will and always forever be king of the rails.

[tprdfh51]

Big Boy (like most UP steam engines) did not use a chime whistle - they used the steam boat type.

[theredraven]

You know, there are nice private railway lines all over the world where they run steam so the main lines which people use can run fast modern trains without paying tons of cash or needing tons of maintainence. So steam is already back, just in places where it doesn't get in the way of everyday rail commutors who need to get places quick and cheap.

It's a very simple thing to understand but lots of people on here can't seem to.

[theredraven]

Two GE Dash 8-40's can do 8000HP. I don't think you need eight of them to get over Sherman Hill considering that's 2000HP more than what the Big Boy does.

[theredraven]

Don't insult me. I might have to break your face.

[1225dude]

yeah but the the big boy is one engine and can go much faster. It also produces more than 6 times the tork of a Dash 8

[trainlover479]

the big boy might be stronger than the ac6000

[callinstead09]

Mr. troll's account got closed. XD

[theredraven]

You say Diesels are dead but virtually every country in the world uses them and relegated the steamers to museums and private heritage lines.

I wonder why. Oh yeah! It''s cheaper and quicker which is what the majority of customers want. Most people who travel on trains aren't railfans who care about steam. They just want to get somewhere quick without paying a ton of cash.

[dalekrueger]

the dad feels the same way about big boys the same way i feel about 2 cylinder john deeres

[trainboy94]

He says you think oil can run an engine, well steam locomotives on the UP burned oil, so what's he saying????

[tprdfh51]

Big Boys burned coal - low grade Wyoming coal. Only one was converted to oil and quickly converted back to coal again when its burner proved unable to heat the firebox evenly.

[SwampDaddy7]

I side with the old-timer. We need to go back to steam engines. We didn't worry about pollution, gas prices, or nothin' until we hit diesel and gasoline.

[dixiegurl2303]

@SwampDaddy7 i agree with you what are we gona do when we run out of natural resources we'll have to use steam engines

[SwampDaddy7]

@dixiegurl2303

We won't need to use a natural resource, just any way we can to heat the water to make steam . . . even if they gotta lay down the 3rd Rail like in the Metro.

[SteffanLlwyd]

'Diesels! Dammit!'

('Take it easy.')

'Who in their right mind would want to drive a diesel instead of a Big Boy?'

('That kid's half insane!')

'If he's my boy, he should have steam in the blood too.'

('Know how you feel. But what if steam runs no more?')

'Why; that doesn't bear thinking about.'

Seriously. Hats Off to US steam from a UK railfan. Nothing comes close. If ever over in UK by the way, try real ale. Any beer which requires pulling using a 14inch pump handle...

[4chrissy]

Kinda funny how some fool built a rail line up a mountain...THEN...later,someon­e else had to invent a engine large enough to pull loads up the formention mountain. Ah well...either way. Love the ol' steamers. My grandfather was a security guard at The Strasburg Railroad Museum,in Strasburg,Pa,before he died.

[Stupidaso2]

Union Pacific should resore a big boy. But i think they're pusses cuz they are afraid to spend a few dollers to do so.

[pythonbill]

hey southernrr4501,damn right!the c&o h-8 allegeny&virginians2-6-6-6,had­ a maximum hp of 8,000(7,500 @40 mph)vs bigboys 6,200 drawbar hp!

[Jsusfrk20]

It'll take a lot of work and a heck of a lot of money but it's totally worth it. I am trying to get a book of mine published and it involves restoring a Big Boy to operating condition for kids at a local orphanage as a special Christmas Train for them. I thought maybe if people got an idea of what can be done then maybe they'll do it. You should talk to the people who own Challenger, they'd know for sure and for certain!

Forever Steam!

[gingermegstillrockin]

My dad drove steamies and was put on diesels.

He hated them Now the first generation diesels are themselves gone.

Nothing is as special as a steamie and its great that some were kept for future generations to see in working condition.

Thanks for the video.The fireman would have had his work cut out in those monsters or were they oil burners.

[drippinglass]

The Challenger kicks balls. The Big Boy has MASSIVE BALLS!!!

[parails]

Actually, the most powerful locomotive ever built was the PRR Q2 by the Altoona Works, a 4-4-6-4 that had the highest rated horsepower ever recorded at 7,987. 26 of these units were built in 1945, and were scrapped between 1953 and 1956.

[dspf85]

what a waste they would have been good for years more service, bloody "progress"

[SouthernRR4501]

Don't forget the C&O 2-6-6-6 Allegany.

[murdochthebigengine]

there was a 2-8-8-8-0

[shifta65]

It's true that the Big Boy was the LARGEST steam locomotive ever built, BUT not the most powerful. The Alleghenny locomotive was heavier and more powerful.

[BigUnitBeef]

I think the 2-6-6-6 was a little heavier and put out about 7000HP. So now who's the worlds largest?

[RichardSwayne]

But the big boys were built as must for speed as well as hallage.

[BigUnitBeef]

...the 2-6-6-6 can acheive the same speeds as the Big Boy but didn't have the opportunity in the mountainous territory the often traveled between WV and the east coast. The 2-6-6-6 is by far the better as far as Horsepower, tractive effort, and can take a shorter turning radius.

[Rachmaninov08]

The big boys weren't originally intended for speed, but they decided to put on pistons that were capable of reaching speeds up to 80mph. So the speed was just a bonus. The main thing was that they could carry incredible loads without stopping.

[syncplay]

I know that a lot of people miss and long for steam now, but I never realized that the transitional era was that tough, aside from obvious issues pertaining to general operations and the fireman's job.

Things come and go, and it's the same story all over again.

[floatpool]

that looked so corny it makes me wonder if the Big Boys hauled a lot of grain

[trainxing100]

Dont talk that way about those trains! They are like Thomas the tank engine always loved and respected and they ran on the first railroad to cross the country!!

[floatpool]

I stand corrected..even though I'm sitting