Union Pacific Big Boy!

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I found this a few years ago.  It's a flashback from my 1960's childhood when we would get to see 16mm films as a welcome diversion from the classroom rote.  Many Big Biz Companies  would make films to try and influence the little kids...lol. 

BTW  Bell System made some pretty cool films back then. 

As a total nerd, I knew how to thread and run the Bell and Howell Film-O-Sound projector in Grade Screwel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-WvuK0l05A

Bri
 
I've actually seen a Big Boy up close when I was a kid. There used to be a place called Steamtown in Bellows Falls VT, and they had a massive steam engine collection, including a Big Boy, and they had a couple working steam engines that took you on rides.

In '83 or '84 the collection moved to Scranton PA where it still is.
 
I like the way that long trains pulling heavy cars over a mountain pass, only have to pull the first stretch of cars up, then as they roll down the other side, their weight pulls the cars behind them up...

JR
 
> powerful steam locomotive

Uh, if it is so powerful, why is a Diesel hitched behind?

The film in #5 shows *two* Big Boy steamers, and *again* there is a Diesel in the consist!!

The BB won't pull??

They don't trust it/them to finish the trip?

(Some obscure labor-contract forces them to hire and seat some Diesel engineers on any run?)
 

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PRR said:
> powerful steam locomotive

Uh, if it is so powerful, why is a Diesel hitched behind?

The film in #5 shows *two* Big Boy steamers, and *again* there is a Diesel in the consist!!

The BB won't pull??

They don't trust it/them to finish the trip?

(Some obscure labor-contract forces them to hire and seat some Diesel engineers on any run?)

I was wondering the same thing.

Maybe it's in case of a breakdown the diesel can drag them back to the shop.
 
Maybe it's in case of a breakdown

+1 on having backup.  Maybe stress testing too?  If a gasket goes you can lighten up and share the work back to the garage.
I imagine in-transit replacement parts are in short supply as well!
 
It occurs to me..... a busy modern railroad is probably all about communication and the DATA. Log every mile traveled. Report position via sat-nav. You sure do not want the Big Boy coming up on a slow freight's caboose.

As this is a Special, you'd think "everybody knows" where BB is. But confusion and accidents happen, and the UP may have a strict policy that !ALL! trains have electronic reporting, no exception even for Big Boys.

Big Boy was not built for electricity. They could regulate the lighting generator and screw wires and boxes as needed. But BB doesn't run that often. OTOH all the UP's Diesels have all the electronics onboard and working every day. So while BB smokes and puffs, the idle Diesel is logging the miles and pinging the train tracking system so all the data is available.

And of course for limp-home. Though two steamers should not both fail at once, and if they fail on the steeper grades the one Diesel may not have the weight/traction to finish the climb even at low speed. But it could back-down (making data-tracking extra important!) or shunt the train on the level into a side-track to clear the main line.

And of course featherbedding, labor contracts specifying how many crewmen must be hired. Although their work was obsolete by 1960, coalers and brakemen jobs were protected. In the Arkansas statute a crew of six was required on freight operations: "an engineer, a fireman, a conductor and three brakemen, regardless of any modern equipment of automatic couplers and air brakes." link Much of this was knocked-back in the 1960s. However "obviously" a train needs an engineer! But what if the available (Diesel) engineers have never worked a steamer?? Then by contract the railroad has to hire a union (Diesel) Engineer to oversee the work of the steam engine staff. Who may not be up-to-date on Railway Operations, which are charged to the (Diesel) Engineer to know when to go or stop.
 
PRR said:
It occurs to me..... a busy modern railroad is probably all about communication and the DATA. Log every mile traveled. Report position via sat-nav. You sure do not want the Big Boy coming up on a slow freight's caboose.
I suspect rolling BB is a PR exercise, hanging a modern engine off it makes sense. 
As this is a Special, you'd think "everybody knows" where BB is. But confusion and accidents happen, and the UP may have a strict policy that !ALL! trains have electronic reporting, no exception even for Big Boys.

Big Boy was not built for electricity. They could regulate the lighting generator and screw wires and boxes as needed. But BB doesn't run that often. OTOH all the UP's Diesels have all the electronics onboard and working every day. So while BB smokes and puffs, the idle Diesel is logging the miles and pinging the train tracking system so all the data is available.

And of course for limp-home. Though two steamers should not both fail at once, and if they fail on the steeper grades the one Diesel may not have the weight/traction to finish the climb even at low speed. But it could back-down (making data-tracking extra important!) or shunt the train on the level into a side-track to clear the main line.

And of course featherbedding, labor contracts specifying how many crewmen must be hired. Although their work was obsolete by 1960, coalers and brakemen jobs were protected. In the Arkansas statute a crew of six was required on freight operations: "an engineer, a fireman, a conductor and three brakemen, regardless of any modern equipment of automatic couplers and air brakes." link Much of this was knocked-back in the 1960s. However "obviously" a train needs an engineer! But what if the available (Diesel) engineers have never worked a steamer?? Then by contract the railroad has to hire a union (Diesel) Engineer to oversee the work of the steam engine staff. Who may not be up-to-date on Railway Operations, which are charged to the (Diesel) Engineer to know when to go or stop.

Railroads have been in flux over the last decade or more as modern lean railroading policies get more aggressive about managing "on time"  trips, and avoiding freight cars left sitting, waiting for connections.  The old school massive "hump yards" with numerous excess freight cars JIC are being micro-managed away. The guy who pioneered this "lean railroading" died a couple years ago, but the industry saw the light and is continuing in that direction.

Self driving trucks are already happening so self driving trains are a no brainer. Remote control might be better if you believe some popular movies (unstoppable), of course it would have to be secure. 

Trains are not going away... I live a few hundred yards from a rail line, and see a lot of train traffic. This is good thing because rail transport is energy efficient. 

JR
 
me> modern railroad is probably all about communication and the DATA

Yup. You can track Big Boy up-to-the-minute on-line.

https://www.up.com/forms/steam-trace.cfm

Lat/Lon: 41.219722747802734/-111.9800033569336
Locomotive: Steam
Currently near: BRIDGE JCT, UT
Currently: Stopped
Last Report: Saturday, May 11, 4:44:57 PM MDT
 

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They really mean Ogden, a bit south of Union Station. Apparently there is a car-port here, and it has been here before, as seen in Google Street Aug 2018.
 

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