Posted on 04/15/2014 4:27:36 PM PDT by Navy Patriot
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — In its prime, a massive steam locomotive known as Big Boy No. 4014 was a moving eruption of smoke and vapor, a 6,300-horsepower brute dragging heavy freight trains over the mountains of Wyoming and Utah.
It's been silent for half a century, pushed aside by more efficient diesels, but now it's coming back to life. The Union Pacific Railroad is embarking on a yearslong restoration project that will put No. 4014 back to work pulling special excursion trains.
"It's sort of like going and finding the Titanic or something that's just very elusive, nothing that we ever thought would happen," said Jim Wrinn, editor of Trains, a magazine that covers the railroad industry.
"Something that's so large and powerful and magnificent, we didn't think any of them would ever come back," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
It is truly a rush to drive one of these engines.
I say that’s great news.
You an engineer? I’ve chased the 3985 and 4449 and 2472 around. Stayed up all night and driven insane drives for a good shot. :-)
/foamer
ping
I am not a particular railroad buff but there really is something about those old steam engines which is impressive as all get out.
I have read that nuclear powered ships are technically steam powered as the atomic material is used to create the steam.
I visited the Henry Ford Museum in Greenfield MI when I was a kid. There were a bunch of locomotives that were a wall of iron to me. (I was about 8.)
Steam locomotives were not replaced due to lack of power or speed, but for the increased efficiency and ease of maintenance of diesels. Those old engines pulled hard and were damn fast.
The boiler’s fired by coal. Look for the EPA to shut down this project ASAP.
there is one in Scranton Pa
and one in the Midwest Rail museum
(Big Boys that is)
They were all over the place when I was a kid.
They were filthy.
No thanks.
.
IIRC today’s engines are driven by electric motors.
Yes, they are...and diesel motors turn the electric turbines.
Diesel was my favorite when playing Thomas with my son! We both drive diesel trucks now! lol
They’re slowed down by electric motors, too.
I are an engineer, but not a railroad engineer.
Fortunately, my uncle spent his life driving for the Santa Fe, and I was able to drive a couple of their best big steam under his watchful eye.
I saw them (big steam engines) at the Railroad Fair in Chicago in 1949 and in films. Never lived near enough to railroad tracks to see them.
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