The Last Steam Explosion of Union Pacific 🚂 The 1948 Explosion of UP 9018🚂 History in the Dark
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- On October 20, 1948, Union Pacific 9000-series 9018 was operating on the lines at Upland, Kansas, when the locomotive suffered a massive steam explosion that killed her crew and tossed her boiler completely off.
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#train #railfan #explosion
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I will add this. This is technically the last boiler failure Union Pacific had, this is not their last boiler failure. In 1999 844 had a boiler tube failure. Not an explosion, but it did put her out of service
Ohhh! Yes! I was @ Rail Fair 1999 the day that happened. On a railroad vacay with my best bud in Northern, CA.
Caused by improper swaging of the flues at the rear flue sheet as it turned out; was there also as the "minor" leak occurred and no injuries but the crew evacuated asap...
A flue failure is not a boiler explosion. I think 759 had one fail.
According to Art Lockman, after this explosion UP put a picture of the 9018 in the cabs of locomotives that was caption “Always watch your water!”
where is it located exactly
At this point, "the crown sheet" should be the punchline for the channel
Along with British Rail
YASSSS
Humans: Hydrate or diedrate.
Steam locomotives: Hydrate or prepare to flydrate
Good one 😂
And the families crydrate
More like “fry-drate.”
More like cease to exist.
They also have the engine set up on an air compressor so you can blow the whistle on the 9000.
I love steam locomotives. I love seeing those that are preserved as well as those that are preserved and running. I have the greatest respect for the engineering of the designers and technical competence of the operators. But there's no getting around some of the risks and limitations. A huge mobile tank of superheated water waiting for an instant to depressurize and flash to vapor. Kind of amazing that problems were not more common - but I suppose good operators in the day knew what they were doing.
For clarification, the steam in the boiler is NOT super heated.
The superheaters are an appliance that superheats the steam after it leaves the dry pipe and is isolated by the throttle from the boiler.
None the less, two hundred pounds of steam pressure at that volume is still deadly.
For credentials I am a composite locomotive mechanic and have worked on five steam locomotives in my career.
Southern Pacific 3420.
GB&L 40, 12 and 14.
Santa Fe 3415.
I have photographic proof and references.
I am not trying to be a know it all but just trying to impart clarity and knowledge.
just wanted to mention, the JNR class 8620 which is the first successful japanese made steam locomotive class has lateral motion and i believe its the third or second one ever to have this device.
these locomotives served from 1914 to the end of steam in japan in 1975, they were very successful and lasted a long time due to their decent speed and tractive effort and of course the lateral motion device allowing them to corner through tight branch lines and also capable of running mainline services.
I got my degree at Cal Poly Pomona, which is only a mile or two from the Fairplex. Which I never visited in the five years I lived in the area. Knowing now that they have stuff like UP 9000 there (and also that UP 4014 was there before being restored to running condition), I wish I had.
Open free of charge 2nd weekend EVERY MONTH
steam locomotives be like: haha no water no boiler
I'm curious. Has the commentator, or any of the readers here, actually ever read a gauge glass on an operating boiler?
yes,& on regular basis, and hold a current operators boiler certificate issued by a state government body of Australia.
Yes.
yes
Yes - 844.
Yes.
Qualified boiler operator for forty years in Australia.
Full time looking after boilers for over 16 years, testing gauge glasses every shift.
Volunteer fireman on tourist railway for 22 years. Gauge glasses checked frequently.
If you have no water in your tender you can not put it in your boiler.
I mention that Locomotive 2 months ago while you were talking about c&o 1642’s explosion because I did some research on the 9018
low water crown sheet failure, this loco had no fusiable plugs fitted I guess, only a low water alarm, was this UP policy? or was the boiler water temp/pressure too high for the tin/lead melting temp?
If you want a UK explosion there is always Buxton on 11th November 1921. The locomotive involved was London and North Western Railway (LNWR) No. 134, an 0-8-0 freight engine with a tender (Webb, B-class).
It is a little unusual in that the DoT report seems to think there was enough water in the boiler.
Eventually the lengthy report blames the design of the safety valves on this class of locomotive. There was evidence that the valves sometimes stuck shut when they were very cold.
The explosion occurred after the engine had been standing on a frosty night. The locomotive was about to start a freight train which was at the maximum weight for its class. The driver and fireman would have wanted as much steam pressure as possible. Normally, they would add coal and water until the safety valve lifted.
There was witness evidence that the safety valve was not releasing steam just before the explosion.
Both the driver and fireman were killed instantly.
Ironically, drivers had complained that the steam pressure gauges were temperamental on this class of locomotive, sometimes showing far too high a boiler pressure. The DoT report concludes that the problem was not with the gauges but with the safety valves and the pressures shown were real!
The problem with the safety valves was quickly resolved after the report.
The engine was not rebuilt and no classmates made it into preservation.
Thank you for sharing this. That's pretty interesting.
The original Challenger Space Shuttle-like disaster.
You don't need Gresley conjugated valve gear if you don't have a 3rd (inside) cylinder.
The idea is to save the weight and complexity of a complete valve motion (Walschaert or some other one.)
This also means that the inside cylinder's driving axle is simplified.
We're there ever any notable instances of steam locomotives going kaboom on the Norfolk and Western Railway or Southern Railway?
Far and few, considering these
Guys invented the low water alarm, which would shriek relentlessly if low water was detected. You can buy plans from the Northfolk and western historical society.
Probably every decent-sized railroad had some boiler explosions. N&W blew up a few big ones over the years: Y5 2-8-8-2 2092 derailed and fell off a trestle in 1937, class A 2-6-6-4 1204 derailed and rolled over in 1942, Y5 2114 blew up in 1950, etc.
@@bizznackywhirle5437 💀
The 2-1 gear was “holcroft” but first used by gresley.
6:42 *Finally someone mentions the LA County fair and I can easily make make my My own list of how many attractions the LA County fair has but since this is all about what happened to an engine due to the fault of the crew and it’s been a while since I’ve been to the county fair I am just going to make an abridged version!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:*
The O scale trains.
That train museum where big boy Number 4014 was preserved.
That one museum where there are old fashion cars.
And that’s all I know because I like I said I haven’t been to the LA County fair in a while.
P.S. I am very sorry that *my boiler blew up* , it’s because that whenever someone mentions it’s dimension or a diesel engine that’s been preserved at that exact museum at the LA County fair no one mentions the fair itself.
Worked in Atomic energy authority a while. It wasn't until the 1980s we understood that repeatedly heating and sudden cooling resulted in a hitherto unknown type of metal fatgue. THERMAL FATIGUE. Its what caused those Rolls Royce powered jet airliners to fall out of sky in the 1980s. So my point is this, it sounds like running boilers on low water for higher pressure was common practice. And that in all likelihood, it wasn't the 1st time when instantaneous vaporization had occurred in these Engines. So the drivers may have been lulled into false sense of security by this. Not realising that each sudden temperature change like that, was akin to bending a steel rod, thn straightening it out again. The rod may look ok, but inside it's been significantly weakened. So the drivers experience is working against him here. The designers say "Thous Shalt not run low on water, or though shalt surely die". But the poor drivers previous experience is telling him, "Nagh! don't listen to that guy. You decide what's okay and not okay here. That designer, he knows if you decide otherwise and prevail then you'll be just like him. Knowing good engineering from bad"
Can’t wait for the 3985 to return to steam soon
Beautiful Train
Thank you for more insite into steam locomotives.
The 9018 was scrapped after the explosion.
Would make sense that it was. 😑
Love It I'm also making a costume steam locomotive as well and I'm going to add a ton of water like over the firebox and not have a crown sheet (this is 7' scale if you were wondering) but yeah, it's going to always be watered when it's up and running and I'll try not to have the crown sheet be exposed when running or I could be next..........
That must have been an expansive mistake
In the spirit of KISS, water over the crown sheet serves to keep it cooled below its melting point. Absence of that cooling water lets the crown sheet overheat & soften, losing its capability to contain the steam in the pressure vessel- KABOOM! Nothing to do with water at that point. This sort of event was all too common with locomotive steam boilers, sadly.
4-12-2!? oh my gods, how could russa resist the urge to go bigger and better after seeing the 9000 class
Honestly, gentlemen, 9018: low water, yes, crew failure, yes, appliances working properly, yes, water flushing over the front end of the crown sheet, in part yes, however, this had been going on for awhile. But the water finally got low enough over a large enough area, the road fire finally softened the crown sheet sufficiently to force it off the end of the crown staybolts at normal boiler pressure. Not even at red heat, only in the 450 to 650+/- degree range, the strength of the steel is reduced enough to push the 3/8” plate off of threaded, hammered head of the staybolts. Believe it was mentioned in the report that the engineer was known as a “low water man”. Going up hill is sometimes worse than going down hill when it comes to boiler water level. Also scary is after setting the automatic air, the braking effect causes the water to surge to the front end (of the boiler) and it seems to stay there sooooo loooong especially when tipping over at hill top! Most guys started a mile or two before tipping over to fill the boiler. Speed determines that process. Believe 9018 was on the up grade when things went bad. You don’t want to work water nor, have it to low. You have to know your railroad.
Downgrade actually, the locomotive wouldn't have been doing much work at all when the explosion occurred. It would have soon started slowing for Marysville where the crew would have changed. Most likely they were at the end of their run and weren't paying attention.
No selfmelting warning plugs in the boiler ? (That is a plug which has a hole connecting the firebox and the water side which is then plugged with a metal with a suitable low melting point.)
"A setup that's eerily similar to other explosions"
Woah, really?
It's almost like that's the standard crew arrangement for a 1940s locomotive.
Served on a navy ship with steam propulsion. Had to learn all about it. Not a locomotive but same physics
Talk about going out with a bang!
I heard about one explosion here in Sweden that threw a engine through the roof of a shed
If y'all have heard of that locomotive 501 it's kinda similar to this.
My picture of my old crown sheet on SMV#21 at 4:50 yet again
One of Rock Island's 4-8-4's exploded in Kansas, have you ever covered it?
UP 9018 was a 9000 class that exploded on October 20th 1948 following low water levels and dangerous heat levels. After the boiler explosion, 9018's cab and boiler were gone and 9018 was cut up and scrapped. UP 9018 exploded at Upland Kansas. The Crown Sheet overheated due to water levels being low.
My uncle was the fireman on that train it happened in 1948
Que pena 😢
Can you put the class 17 on your top 5 worst trains
If you are a driver of a steam locomotive, before operating it, follow the instructions below that could save your life:
1. Check the water.
2. Check the water.
3. Check the water.
JUST THAT.
They should bring back 9000
As soon as I saw 'Steam Explosion', instantly knew crown sheet
I think there was a accident with the a union big boy but not entirely sure
What about the 844 since it didn't blow the boiler off it doesn't count
From what I understand that water glass can become tricky to read if obstructions get in the pipes, say for instance you use water too high in mineral content over and over, and we've lost so much understanding of hot water plumbing we just don't know any more how tricky those water glasses can become. For instance I site the fact that in the late 1980's the Chinese came to USA to look at the Northern type locomotive. Back then in the 1990's steam power was actually the most efficient to use in the wilder distant parts of China. To see some real modern steam power in use was to (somehow) go to China (risking your Freedom) and see the fleet of 4-8-4's. Anyway getting off track (pun) We had the blue prints but when it came to actual knowledge of hot water plumbing many of our engineers and repair crew that worked on these beasts were dead. So yeah ...maybe a bit of rusty inner boiler liner flakes off and get lodged in the tubes leading the water glass...
I've read about an accident on the Gettysburg Tourist Railroad June 16th, 1995. Steam engine #1278 ( a former Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 pacific-type) ran 2-trips and was having trouble pumping-water into the boiler. On the 3rd-trip #1278 suffered a crownsheet failure scalding 3-crewmen in the cab. After the accident she was taken out of service never to steam again. #1278 is on display at age of steam roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio.
If they couldn't get water into the boiler, they should have dropped the fire!
Top 5 Best American trains but it's the East Coast?
there is also evidence that steam and other gauges were not working properly
this is U.P 9000
Why not last super charger failure.
In case you totally run out of ideas for intros, you could just start making them extremely verbose. Like "Readily available foe ypur viewing pleasure" or something
Liar 9018 was not built until 1960
Technically then this must be one of the worst locomotives ever given that it blew up
So where are the other 4?
Oh dear I fear popularity has gone to your head and standards are slipping 😂
Get a different microphone 🎤
Here's the engine in August, just before the explosion.
donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails/Union-Pacific/UP-Steam-DDR/i-fJtj6g3/A
Also, here's the confirmation on 9018's scraping after to explosion.
utahrails.net/up-steam-roster/up05-1915-1962-22.php
And Darkness, if you ever need a pic of a specific UP steamer. I found a website full of pics from the 40s and 50s.
donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails
What’s next? a diesel explosion cause their wasn’t enough oil? 🤣
Two things.
1) talk about the Big Boy crash. #4005.
2) are there any little or narrow gauge. Engine boiler explosions?
It is interesting that the cause was the crown sheet failure. Technically, the failure was not the cause, but the affect of the actual cause; which was the engineer's failure to maintain proper water levels.
The Fireman's failure to maintain proper water levels.
@@michaelsullivan3581 Engineer
After the tragedy, all of 9000 series had lead fuse plug installed in the crown sheet. If the temperature exceeded the critical threshold, the lead would melt, allowing the steam to escape.
Thanks for sharing ♐ 👌
Oh hi I watch your channel lol
@@Gravity461 Thank you.👍♐
You have really great videos, but I think you might want to upgrade your microphone. it' tinny and you clip occasionally. I think it would be a really nice improvement as your content is rock solid.
keep it up, I just found you recently, so hopefully you're getting some good traction!
9018 somehow was repaired after the explosion
"nine thousand was... Her nammee. She was four twelve and two and she had a round of oooh's, with a hundred cars to pull up, throu he hills. Now she is gone, but her memory lingers on. Nine thousand was... Her nammee"
I bet the reason they risked that is because their supervisors were pressuring them to "get there faster"
Get it done faster or we'll find someone who will - that is someone who is willing to risk their life for a paycheck and a jerk boss
How you pay the bills is not worth your life
Here's an interesting accident you might wanna talk about: "The Day a Big Boy Died".
Here's what happened:
On April 27, 1953, Big Boy number 4005 was pulling a long heavy train of 62 cars (and a caboose). By around 9:10 AM, they were traveling through Wamsutter, Wyoming. The morning was cloudy with a light mist, and the train was on going on 0.43 grade descent.
At 9:15 AM, as the engine rounded a bend, the crew was horrified to spot a red signal that was positioned just before a switch that lead into a siding (the signal indicating that they would be rerouted). A nearby track worker desperately tried to throw the switch back, but it was no good. 4005 entered the switch doing around 50 miles an hour, with the points in question having a speed limit of only 15. The engine rolled onto it's left side, and skidded for some distance, ripping up both the siding and mainline as it went. By the time it stopped, eighteen cars had come off the tracks, the tender had been smashed into the cab, and two out of the three crew were dead. (The brakeman had survived the crash, but found himself pinned by the leg.) It took nearly 25 minutes before the engine had blown off enough steam so that the rear brakemen could actually approch the engine. The front brakeman would eventually die of his wounds on April 29th.
So, what happened? Well, the lead brakeman's testimony told the story:
“He threw it right in front of us. The switch, they threw it right in front of us, they didn’t give us a chance. I felt the engine rock. I don’t know how many times it rocked. The next thing I knew I felt the steam hitting me in the face and I thought I was a goner. All I could think of was getting my hands over my face.”
Investigation found a rather startling discovery. A foreman and a track worker - who latter having worked at Union Pacific for a grand total of just 80 minutes - had been navigating the line when they were approached by a local sheep farmer, who requested assistance with getting his herd across the line. After receiving a track report that indicated who was to pass (“Westbound, Extra 4005 West, Red Desert 9:15 a.m. Westbound, Extra 1480 West, Red Desert 9:50 a.m. Eastbound, Extra 3969 East, Red Desert 9:15 a.m. Eastbound, Extra 1470 East, Red Desert 9:55 a.m.”), the foreman arranged for two workers to flag down any approaching trains. After one westbound and one eastbound train had passed, the foreman unlocked two switches (one eastbound, one westbound), and told the men to change the switch on his hand signal. The purpose was for added protection - in the event any unannounced train approached, they would be given a signal well in advanced to slow down. After giving the instructions to one of these men, he walked back to the herder (some 300 yards away) to tell him what they were doing.
It's not clear what happened next. Each man blamed the other, but at some point the switch was thrown... just as 4005 came into view. It was concluded that it was impossible for the foreman to have thrown the switch, before he had walked back to the herder, as if he had done so the crew of 4005 would have seen a yellow signal, thus giving them plenty of time to slow and stop.
UP ultimately assigned blame to both the foreman and the track worker - the foreman for putting an incompetent worker in charge of the switch by himself, and the worker for actually throwing the switch.
4005 was, surprisingly, rebuilt and put back into service.
GOD THE CROWN SHEET,Well 9018 is fix beyond repair 😢
Great video, interesting as always!
:)
On another topic, have you ever evaluated the British (*shudder*) Deltic locomotive?
After having seen so many times about big booms on steam engines, I am thinking about, did they ever think about creating a weak area on top of the boiler shell? Like the airbag covers do, so when airbag deploys, the weak point will break instead of shooting the entire cover to driver or passenger's faces. So when low water event happen, just blow the weak part away, so both the crew and the locomotive can be saved.
He did mention about a plug that melts when the inside gets too hot. When it's completely melted, it blows the excess pressure into the firebox and puts it out to save the engine and crew. Honestly, an incredibly ingenius safety design.
They don't use fuse plugs on the big locos, as the temp and boiler pressure are too much for such items. Also, any serious and sudden drop in boiler internal pressure will automatically create an explosion. The thing about steam boilers is that all the water in the boiler is under serious pressure. Water expands 1600 to 1700 percent when converted to steam. Water under 200 to 300 psi. is at at least 170 degrees above sea level boiling point. The pressure raises the boiling point, as steam is drawn off under a controlled release, the latent heat (BTUs) in the water automatically maintains the avllilable steam for work, this is what makes steam power so useful. It is also what makes it dangerous if saftey isn't practiced. If any rupture of the boiler happens ,that allows the sudden dramatic drop of internal pressure, all of the water inside will instantaneously expand to steam. Thus, the explosion. All that latent stored energy is released instantly and destroys everything around it.
@@USAFreewayROTF Some locomotives had fusible plugs in them. The plugs are not capable of putting out a fire that large, and it was discovered that a big engine under load would have so much draft it would suck away the escaping steam instead of being noticed by the crew against the rapid drop in water that resulted from working hard.
On smaller boilers such as tractors, the fusible plug opens enough to blow down very nearly the boiler's entire steam raising ability. Such boilers the plug will indeed drown the fire and drive the crew off the platform from the steam billowing out both ends.
I was raised in Cheyenne by a Union Pacific engineer (and family) in the 40's and 50's. I remember he had an 8 x 10 photo print of this exploded loco, with the legend "This is the result of low water." I haven't seen the picture in at least 60 years, but it is the one at 3:42. Thanks for telling the story.
How about a story on #813, the runaway 800 class that ran from Harriman to Cheyenne without a crew?
I have one of the original Union Pacific hairpin Railroad Spikes from 1940s and the 4-12-2s used to run over them
All that stuff on the front, or "face", of the engine looks kinda gross...
It was the union Pacific Big boy number 4005
Great story, good research good presentation, nice audio mix it's all there just please get a new mic.
I had no idea Gresley's valve gear design was used by a locomotive class built here in the USA. I may be American but i like British steam locos more because they are a lot more aesthetically pleasing
Why does this sound eerily similar to what happens when one runs a nuclear reactor low on water?
Its claimed that the Chernobyl disaster was actually caused by a steam explosion due to uncontrolled fission in turn caused by graphite tipped control rods, the additional heat flashing insufficient amounts of water into steam.
At least locomotives dont spew radioactive material when they blow up.
Ah shit, here we go again
Did Southern Railway blow up a steamer?
It was the Southern, wasn't it?
😊
I believe that we still have a big boy here in South TX that has been in front of our original Amtrak station since i was a kid (and probably before that). I believe it is part of the Texas Transportation Museum.
The Pomona fairgrounds is where X4014 was rescued for restoration from.
The explosion of 48💀💀💀🗿🗿🗿
Wished I could see a better photo of the engine featured as it is a "bald faced nine" or one of the class that had its Gresley motion replaced with a third set of Walscharets.
9018 was not converted, she still had the pumps on her face when the explosion occurred.