Yall like trains? You're gonna love this...

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RustyRatRod

RustyRatRod

I was born on a Monday. Not last Monday.
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Get a load of this. Union Pacific Big Boy #4014 and #844 4-8-4 Berkshire double headed. This is after an extensive restoration effort on #4014. #4014 is the largest steam locomotive in the world. It has 135,375 lbf of tractive effort. Its weight on the driver wheels alone is 540,000 pounds.

Now, I was aware they were restoring this thing, but its finish date was out sometime in 2020. I don't know who, but somebody who loves trains with DEEP pockets stepped up and sped up the process.

Here's the video.




Here's the wiki page regarding the Big Boy class if you're interested. Very cool stuff.

Union Pacific Big Boy - Wikipedia
 
Restored to coincide with the anniversary of the transcontinental RR meet in Promontory UT.


...and "largest" has an asterisk, because there is another that is IIRC longer, but not as heavy.
 
YY1 said:
Restored to coincide with the anniversary of the transcontinental RR meet in Promontory UT.


...and "largest" has an asterisk, because there is another that is IIRC longer, but not as heavy.
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That's correct, BUT it wasn't gonna make it. Somebody made sure it did. lol
 
YY1 said:
Restored to coincide with the anniversary of the transcontinental RR meet in Promontory UT.


...and "largest" has an asterisk, because there is another that is IIRC longer, but not as heavy.
Click to expand...

Not as heavy.......and not operational. Kinda don't count. lol
 
abodyjoe said:
they need to remove that crappy *** diesel from that line.. :)
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Yeah.......well it's there "just in case". Look up the specs on it, it's no slouch itself. Even if both the steamers broke down, the diesel could keep the whole thing goin all by it's lonesome. It's huge. I do agree though, it takes away some nostalgia.
 
Did UP find this project? If not then some railfan club has some deep pockets!
 
doogievlg said:
Did UP find this project? If not then some railfan club has some deep pockets!
Click to expand...

I know they "reacquired" it from "wherever" or "whomever" had it. There was a spot on their web page regarding the restoration where you could donate, so it was not 100% funded by the UP. I'm glad it got done. Nothing screams America like a huge steam engine. It was even originally made by The American Locomotive Company.
 
Here's a good program about two locomotives found in the ocean...

 
RustyRatRod said:
I know they "reacquired" it from "wherever" or "whomever" had it. There was a spot on their web page regarding the restoration where you could donate, so it was not 100% funded by the UP. I'm glad it got done. Nothing screams America like a huge steam engine. It was even originally made by The American Locomotive Company.
Click to expand...

I got a few friends that were railfans and now they work for CSX. They don’t seem to get as excited about trains anymore haha
 
I believe it was the N&W's Y6B that's in contention.

For largest ever built.
 
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YY1 said:
I believe it was the N&W's Y6B that's in contention.

For largest ever built.
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It actually has more tractive effort which made it the strongest pulling, but it's shy of the Big Boy's weight. In any event, the Big Boy still claims it all because it's chuggin down the track, the Y6B is not. I would love to see it restored too one day.
 
Back in Time said:
Here is a story from my home town newspaper. It stopped at a little town about 40 miles East. We have Steam engines stop in Greeley every year.I always went to the old train Depot to see them.Union Pacific’s massive steam locomotive, Big Boy 4014, makes brief visit to Weld County As you can see there are always people who can't just enjoy the article :) Click on the links Karla Bradly put up.Video's of some of the restoration.
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Now that is really cool. They ain't wastin no time gettin that thing out and about. Did you get to see it?
 
I took my lady on the old steam train in Felton Ca.
Roaring Camp Railroads | Felton, CA | Santa Cruz County :: Home

Boy that thing is loud. I was glad I was sitting in the last seat as for form the locomotive as I could get....

We also did the train to the board walk. That was much more fun. The cars are all from the 1800 or so and the ride through the red woods was very enjoyable. If anyone is near Santa Cruz, Ca. Its worth doing.

My girl said I looked like a kid. I was hanging out the window, looking at the Tressels and just realy enjoyed the entire trip.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I know they "reacquired" it from "wherever" or "whomever" had it. There was a spot on their web page regarding the restoration where you could donate, so it was not 100% funded by the UP. I'm glad it got done. Nothing screams America like a huge steam engine. It was even originally made by The American Locomotive Company.
Click to expand...

4014 was on display for a lot of years at Fairplex in Pomona (same place as NHRA Winternationals and NHRA Finals). UP worked a trade to reacquire 4014.
My wife and I, and a car club buddy, "chased" it for a couple of days during its travel from Pomona to Cheyenne a few years ago.

THANKS for posting the video. Great to see both 4014 and 844 alive and back on the rails.
My dad was an engineer for Union Pacific so this has special meaning to me.
 
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Cope said:
I took my lady on the old steam train in Felton Ca.
Roaring Camp Railroads | Felton, CA | Santa Cruz County :: Home

Boy that thing is loud. I was glad I was sitting in the last seat as for form the locomotive as I could get....

We also did the train to the board walk. That was much more fun. The cars are all from the 1800 or so and the ride through the red woods was very enjoyable. If anyone is near Santa Cruz, Ca. Its worth doing.
Click to expand...

Heck yeah! Which one did you ride on? The Shay? Those things are engineering wonders. They could climb some of the steepest grades ever made.
 
I dont remember the name of the locomotive. The first one broke down and they brought in another.

Man, it sure was neat tho!

Well worth the 30 bucks each!

Just the whistle. As strange as it may sound. I'm not a fan of loud noise. I get to much of that at work, I dont wanna hear that for fun.

When they blew off the boiler coming in to the station it blasted all the plants, small trees out of the way and just was impressive!

That thing sure is neat tho!
 
RustyRatRod said:
Get a load of this. Union Pacific Big Boy #4014 and #844 4-8-4 Berkshire double headed. This is after an extensive restoration effort on #4014. #4014 is the largest steam locomotive in the world. It has 135,375 lbf of tractive effort. Its weight on the driver wheels alone is 540,000 pounds.

Now, I was aware they were restoring this thing, but its finish date was out sometime in 2020. I don't know who, but somebody who loves trains with DEEP pockets stepped up and sped up the process.

Here's the video.




Here's the wiki page regarding the Big Boy class if you're interested. Very cool stuff.

Union Pacific Big Boy - Wikipedia
Click to expand...


That is a fantastic Video..Thanks.
 
Cope said:
I dont remember the name of the locomotive. The first one broke down and they brought in another.

Man, it sure was neat tho!

Well worth the 30 bucks each!

Just the whistle. As strange as it may sound. I'm not a fan of loud noise. I get to much of that at work, I dont wanna hear that for fun.

When they blew off the boiler coming in to the station it blasted all the plants, small trees out of the way and just was impressive!

That thing sure is neat tho!
Click to expand...

If it had all the gears and shafts on the right hand side, that's a Shay. The boiler is offset to the left. They are really unique. I have two in On30.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Now that is really cool. They ain't wastin no time gettin that thing out and about. Did you get to see it?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately no. I live in Arizona now but seen many growing up. Great Western Sugar had a railway between two factories that ran within 50 feet of my Gramma's place.During sugar beet season they ran an old Steam Engine back and forth every day from October thru February.I always had to run out and wave at them as they went by.
 
Heres a big surprise. I also dont like people, so when they were boarding I took my lady all the way to the back and right at the end of the train, on the very last car was two seats facing backwards, looking out the rear. Lots of leg room, my feet hanging out the door and the train spends a fair amount of time backing up the hills so it was just awesome! We had a front row seat.

I highly recommend it to anyone in the area.
There is also a very nice national park attached to the land with nice flat walking trails and HUGE redwoods.

It was a very "nice day" both times I've done it.
 
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Ft Bragg California, The Skunk Train. During the ride through the giant redwoods we couldn't find our 8 year old daughter. The hunt begins. We find her in one of the open cars, laying in the aisle way taking photos up at the trees with her Instamatic camera, just havin' the best time. :lol:
 
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