The sheer size and mass of these engines is nothing short of astounding. The Big Boys were approximately 1.2 million pounds. There are a lot of YouTube videos on the rebuilding effort for these engines, or I should say the one or two of them where one can even imagine rebuilding them to functioning state. There are zillions of Parts, none of which fit anything else in the known universe. They all have to be custom-made and custom machined. For one who wants to see an engine of this size barreling across the Nebraska Plains you can Google up3985. That is a very slightly smaller engine, known as The Challenger. Also operated by Union Pacific there are some videos of this thing running at 75 and 85 miles per hour over the Nebraska Plains and it is simply awesome.
I lived near steam trains——they were filthy things and I do not have any pleasant memories about them.
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A little sootier but out in the countryside, no problem...
My favorite steam loco is the Yellowstone 2-8-8-4 that sits up in the Duluth, MN train museum. It’s just as big and powerful as the big boy, but it’s drivers are geared for low end pulling of 180 fully loaded ore cars from the iron range. It could probably only max out at 45mph where the big boy is a 65-75mph rocket.
This was the problem with steam. You reach a point where the mass required to contain the pressure outweighs the power it can produce. The Big Boy is certainly close to that point. What a machine though! Absolutely beautiful.
The pounding rhythm of the steam exhaust and the sheer mass of the locomotive hurtling along the track inspires such classics as "The City of New Orleans" and "The Wabash Cannonball".
The Illinois Central
Good morning America how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done
Wabash, St. Louis, & Pacific Railroad
From the great Atlantic ocean to the wide Pacific shore
She climbs a flowery mountains o'er the hills and by the shore
She's mighty tall and handsome she's known quite well by all
She's a regular combination on the Wabash Cannonball
Listen to the jingle, the rumble and the roar
As she glides along the woodland o'er the hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of the engine hear those lonesome hoboes call
Traveling through the jungle on the Wabash Cannonball
As long as the engine is, if the wheels are not articulated, how does it go around bends in the track?
Been on a Challenger. Amazing machine.