Knowing there's enough room for an individual to stand in the firebox really gives you a sense of this behemoth's size. It is a living, breathing beast.
I am Korean. Hello Americans, congratulations on the rebirth of your old Big Boy. The Korean War and later American steam locomotives helped a lot. I am moved by the spirit of continuing your history.
I got to see this live in New Mexico in 2019, and this locomotive is a beast of an engine! When it started moving, I could feel the ground LITERALLY SHAKING FROM 50 METERS AWAY. That engine is truly a sight to see. You could hear the whistle from miles away, almost like a distant call, letting you know it's still alive. And it still has the words "Big Boy" written on the front of it.
@@theblocksmith645 I have absolutely no idea -- I posted it a couple weeks back, I suspect they may have updated the video, but I dont know for sure --thats kinda strange!!!!
Charcoal is incredibly wasteful. The volatile components within the wood are burnt off leaving just the carbon. 1/4 to 1/2 of the original energy is wasted. But all that pales into insignificance when you look at the massive areas of forest needed to grow the trees. Charcoal is literally unsustainable.
I find it fascinating that Union Pacific experimented with oil on a Big Boy, #4005 from Dec. 1946 to June 1948. It didn't work to their expectations, but proved that a big steam engine like a Big Boy could be fired with oil. With improvements in technology of oil burners, it's neat to see the 4014 use it with style.
I am sure there is a world of difference between using a oil burning Big Boy to haul mile long freight trains up a grade, compared to the 20 or so passenger cars the #4014 pulls.
@@travelingtom923 You bring up an interesting question. Does the oil burning mod produce enough b.t.u. of heat for sustained horsepower demands for pulling a monster freight up the grade? Maybe Ed Dickens might know.
@@A_Bit_of_Thought I am sure it could however there would be a massive black cloud of smoke pouring out the stack. Would be a site to see that is for sure.
@@travelingtom923 While lots of smoke looks pretty, it is an excellent indication that flame temperature and efficiency are suffering. I read somewhere that one of the big problems with burning oil is the wear and tear of the firebox resulting from the higher temperatures of the oil flame.
From someone who was born just as the steam era ended, I want to thank Ed Dickens and the Union Pacific Steam Team for bringing this magnificent piece of Americana back to life for this generation to see...and the next generation as well. May 4014 ride the rails for years to come!
I was on a steam ship in the Navy back in the 60s. I was a machinist mate so I operated the turbines and all the water pumps and other ancillary equipment. We had 2 boilers in the same space as the engines and they were 2 storys tall. I had little to do with them but the boiler tenders had to avoid dark smoke and only a little white smoke coming out of the stacks or they would hear about it from the "old man." I was told they burned jp5 which is jet fuel.
What an articulate spokesman! I've watched plenty of 4014 videos, but with him standing alongside, it really shows what a monster locomotive that is. I live a quarter mile from UP tracks, maybe two dozen trains a day, including Amtrak. I smile while I cross the grade thinking of how the UP has kept steam alive. Lotsa $$$$$$.
I met Ed at Rochelle, Il. this year when 4014 stopped there on its Heartland of America tour but didn't know who he was then. I only had time for a couple questions about the Big Boy as 65,000 people attended this event. I really enjoyed seeing this video and listening to him explain about the oil conversion and actually seeing it in the video. 4014 is a little older than I am but we're not far apart. I don't remember steam trains as a kid but I've always found them fascinating and am learning more and more how they work. Thank you Ed for the info.
Wow! 65K! I'm so glad there's this much interest. I got to see him rolling through Dallas Sept 17 2024 and then he stopped for 20 minutes 400 feet from my house!
I appreciate the talk about the smoke & efficiency. I was a Stationary Boiler Fireman, in a steam generating plant in 1966. That (eliminating the smoke) was part of my job.
The answer is yes. But my job also included; watching the huge bunkers that fed the automatic coal stokers, monortering the air turbine; monortering & performing maintenance on the reciprocating water pumps; greasing the automatic coal stokers, among numerous other tasks.
Spent many days watching the combustion on two Babcock & Wilcox 1200 psi water tube marine boilers. Each had four atomizing burner nozzles. They were equipped with Automatic combustion controls, once dialed in it was just a matter of watching the gauges and occasionally making adjustments to the controls. However, getting them dialed in was like trying to tame two dragons!
I thought it was pretty neat originally that it was running on coal just as it did in its hay day. It was enjoyable to see that black smoke shooting from that stack. But I’m just glad she’s restored back to a living piece of history 👍
West Coast Railway (doesn't exist anymore) - Victoria Australia, used to run a regular steam service every Saturday from Melbourne to Warrnambool using a former Victorian Railway's restored R class loco that was set up to burn oil, they used recycled sump (engine) oil and I was told (?) they had it mixed with recycled break fluid to get a better burn. This loco R711 is still running special services with one of the rail heritage societies. p.s. Good to see a BigBoy back in action :-)
Nice update, thanks. And wow, we've been waiting waiting waiting for a show of steam in the Great Basin and the Pacific Northwest. Hope you roll through in 2021 sometime. Dying to photograph some steam action running over Donner Pass or along the Feather River route.
I really enjoy the technical items and explanations. Tell us more! I would buy a DVD with a detailed description of each piece its function and construction and how it works in 4014, ie.; the forward boiler support guide, center springs and how it was built. Not something you see on every locomotive. Great job guys!
First time I saw 4014 in my 47 years of living was in 2021 for the New Orleans excursion. I rode the excursion to Plaquemines Parish, and I’m a steam buff, but I took more photos of 4015 than 4014. This is because I grew up with the U50C’s (I was born in 1976) and the 4015 was painted in the 70’s livery of silver truck frames, and green antiglare on the nose roof. When I saw 4015, it brought back so many childhood memories from my childhood, when I once was in the cab of UP 5037 (a U50C). Thanks for bringing back childhood memories with UP 4015!
Not a simple conversion with much thought and design going into a plan that works! Ed really knows the plan and all that goes with it! Great job by all!
*What it’s like standing near a Big Boy, and sitting in the Engineer’s Seat:* For anyone who hasn’t been close to one of these in person, *it’s SO much bigger than it looks.* I walked up to both 4014 on the rails and 4006(?) in Green Bay National Railroad Museum, and just standing near and looking up at the tender, it’s SO HUGE that I felt vertigo like I was going to topple over! It’s physically intimidating, I could feel a primal reaction wanting to escape the area, as if it were a large beast threatening my safety.😳 I felt a similar reaction when I visited the Illinois Rail Museum, which I believe is the largest in North America or perhaps the world, just dozens and dozens of steam locos plus everything else you can possibly think of. Walking inside the largest storage warehouse between several rails all filled with steam locomotives, I had that “gonna tip over” vertigo feeling from most steam locomotives I looked up at. You feel like an ant that could be crushed by one step of an elephant’s foot. On video they look about the size of a semi-trailer driving down the highway, but in reality they seem way larger! Significantly taller and longer, (although I don’t know that for an absolute fact.) I also was allowed to climb up the front and walk atop the high running boards along the boiler of a large high speed CB&Q passenger steam locomotive on display elsewhere, and wow, it’s definitely higher than it looks! A jump from that height even at rest, seems like it would be likely to break your legs. But boy it sure was awesome, always wanted to stand up there since I was a little kid.. The most peculiar thing is sitting in the engineer’s seat of a Big Boy like I did in Green Bay. It’s absolutely ridiculous!!! It’s like sitting in the TRUNK of a stretch limousine and driving down the freeway operating it from that position! It’s almost unbelievable that such a gigantic vehicle pulling tens of thousands of tons of freight, would have virtually zero full forward visibility.👀 Try sticking your head out the window of your house and imagine the facing end of your house is the front of the locomotive, and that’s pretty much what it feels like, just one gigantic forward blind spot. As soon as I got to experience that, instantly I understood why old movies and photos always show the engineer hunched over the armrest, leaning WAY out the window, looking forward. It’s because he’s trying to see where the hell he’s going! 😂 A modern front-view remote-camera would be a total game changer, if obviously not “kosher”.. Also, on any curve, only one side is going to have any effective forward visibility whatsoever. Pretty bizarre to imagine operating this beast blindly and relying completely upon your conductor to relay what he sees ahead out his window. (The cab does have a small tall, narrow rectangular window looking forward you can barely see at top-center of 2:25), but given that a huge ass 100 ft long black boiler obstructs 50% of your view including the tracks straight ahead, it ain’t much!)
This is my first time on this site. Very nice. Wife and I love going to rail artifact sites. Piedmont, WY comes to mind, and the CPRR right of way west of Promontory holds so many stories. I hear-bye elect Thomas Clark Durant as Honorary President of UPRR, and Grenville Dodge as his nemesis! LOL. Kidding. However, those who study the history of the building of UP, are amazed at the times: political, cultural, and economic, of that era. Wife and I would love to attend a future gathering, maybe this May at Ogden, or wherever it will be held, "out west". PS: this video explains a lot, and well-presented. TY!.
What an excellent and informative video. It is so impressive that the UP staff today can still do a successful coal to oil conversion on 70 year old technology.
I love you guys UP I love your work with trains you make me so proud to know steam trains will never ever be without the steam trains operator we need to keep steam still alive
Great praise to UP for keeping the legend of The Big Boy and other famous steam locos alive.Your next object should in my opinion be to bring Southern Pacific railroad Cab forward 4294 back to life.UP owns from what i understand SP nowadays.According to California state railway museums home page the engine is in rather good condition.I quote " Mechanically, the engine is in remarkably good condition;".It would be a great event to recreate the last trip in 1957 in 2027.It's 70 years ago then.
What a big beautiful beast! A mechanical masterpiece! I wish I could understand this more thoroughly, especially the "on demand" air flow intake, etc. Im so grateful they have decided to invest to preserve this beast!
I want so much to see and ride on this but so for no luck. I love steam trains , took my first ride from SC to CA in 1949, I love them keep running 4014.
Thank you Ed. It's sure nice to hear your voice again. I really enjoy your updates. You explain technical information very well. Thank you for educating and supporting Union Pacific's Railway safety across America. All the best to you and your amazing team in the New Year. Canada.
Show of hands - who wishes they'd had Ed Dickens as their shop/trade/vocational school instructor??? He is THE embodiment of passion for the craft and lost art of his trade!!
Thanks for the update. Glad to hear you explain about excess black smoke from the stack being a waste of fuel. I've operated my steam traction engine according to that principle for thirty years now. I cant seem to convince my fellow traction engineers of the wastefulness of running a lot of smoke from the stack. I learned this from an old timer many years ago.
Nice work Ed. A very clear understandable presentation. I raise my hat to the UP Steam Team - and the company - for restoring one of the most amazing steam engines in the world. May 4014 cover many more miles up and down those grades!!!
From what has been done to the Big Boy firebox is create a focused efficient flame similar to what you find in modern boilers to heat homes and other commercial applications. adjusting the air and fuel mixture with the human touch is just like what a computer would be doing only it is done at the seat of the pants feel and site of the smoke coming out the stacks. I would like to think a lot of engineering and computer work went into redoing that firebox to what it is now. Great work cant wait to see Big Boy back in action in the State of Minnesota
There needs to be a real effort to restore the only remaining Cab Forward. I know it will never happen but considering the historical significance.....it should. Would be amazing to see it rolling down the rails. Back on topic.....thank you very much for the restoration of this Big Boy.
I'm curious to know more about how fuel oil is supplied to the burner. If it's solely using gravity, without a booster pump, does the fuel get pulled into some type of steam ejector during the atomizing process, and from there get pushed to the burner tip? Years ago I ran a Cleaver-Brooks stationary boiler which used underground fuel tankage and booster pumps to supply the burner.
It is cool they keep this tourist attraction going, but it is very uncool they furloughed many young diesel technicians.. those guys are more important in the long run.
When the Big Boy 4014 came thru Denver on its return to Cheyenne it passed quite near the Forney Museum of Transportation where the Big Boy 4005 resides and it faces north towards as if yearning for home. Indeed it looks out a glassed in wall that was cut into the building so it along other rolling stock could be moved in and as I saw the 4014 go by that you'd wonder if it's whistle could be heard inside the Museum. One could imagined for a moment that the 4005 had steamed up and left with the crew which was lost all those decades ago when it left the tracks and was completing that long ago run it never finished...
Happy Holidays to U.P. team. The Big Boy, The Legend and Challenger are my favorite just amazing. I wish they could come a little closer to OUR area. Happy Holidays to everyone
Very cool video, I am a bit shocked how small that burner is alway thought they where bigger ;). Had to smile a bit with all that stone and brick work in the fire box :D.
I believe when a video is first published as unlisted and then changed to public that will happen. It definitely happens when a creator leaves a comment under a video uploaded early but only scheduled to go public later.
Honestly this is almost elementary compared to any internal combustion engine in an automobile etc. especially with electronic fuel injection and ignition timing advance, forced induction (turbo/supercharging), differing fuels (87/93/high octane race fuel/E85/methanol/nitromethane), camshaft timing, etc. Not to take anything away from the UP Steam crew and with all due respect of course. But this is essentially a gigantic, simple machine in comparison.
@@Syclone0044 it might not have as many parts to it, but dont make me laugh the thermaldynamics alone is enough to write a thesis paper on, and the effects of the passageways of steam the size of pipping used the exaust ejector design, all are factors, and if you think its simple read up on livio dante porta and his writings
Depends on what measurements your using. Pound for pound, oil has a lot more energy than coal. One gallon of heating oil weights 8.2 lbs and has 16,900 BTU per lb. The best coal Anthracite has at the most 15,000 BTU per lb and the coal people use in their homes, bituminous has between 9000 and 11000.
But there are a lot more impurities in coal that make it a lot more dirty to burn than oil. (Lot more sulfur and some other stuff you don't want in the air). (Weirldy enough coal burning is actually pumps a ton of radiation into the atmosphere as coal contains minute amounts of uranium that is put into the atmos when burned)
@@zachmunch4807 Amusingly, if a nuclear plant leaked even 10% of the amount of radiation into the air that a coal plant generates continuously, the nuke plant would be shut down immediately.
@@dundonrl Pound for Pound oil has more energy because your volume of mass is greater than Coal. This is why comparing pound to pound isn't right. just a silly argument to get in to.
Thank you very much @ Mr. Dickens for explaining this! What I am asking myself is whether, provided good quality oil and a skillful person controlling oil-, steam- and air flow, an external combustion machine like this, in tough daily freight service, would still require the occasional bucket of quartz sand to have its superheater pipes cleaned of soot. Or would there be other, less abrasive methods available nowadays?
If we're talking about the strongest ever built, including scrapped models, it wasn't even top 10. I can name at least five different locomotives that outclassed its power; some by a longshot.
I’ve been thinking...with the 4014 in operation, and with C&O 1309 back under steam, would it at all be possible sometime in the next five or ten years for groups to create some event where we could bring some of the nation’s surviving steam articulates together to one location for a day or perhaps a week of photos and run-by’s? Like the gathering of the streamlines? 3985 and 4014 could show with 1309 as active engines (along with Clover Valley #4 if that’s possible), while N&W 1218, 2050, 2156, and SP 4294 could be towed out to the venue to be viewed and photographed. It would be a great historical event!
Knowing there's enough room for an individual to stand in the firebox really gives you a sense of this behemoth's size. It is a living, breathing beast.
More of a Megalith really.
Awesome
I am Korean. Hello Americans, congratulations on the rebirth of your old Big Boy. The Korean War and later American steam locomotives helped a lot. I am moved by the spirit of continuing your history.
That was a real reality check seeing how large that fire box was when Ed was inside it. DANG!
likr he could practically stand up in there!
I got to see this live in New Mexico in 2019, and this locomotive is a beast of an engine! When it started moving, I could feel the ground LITERALLY SHAKING FROM 50 METERS AWAY. That engine is truly a sight to see. You could hear the whistle from miles away, almost like a distant call, letting you know it's still alive. And it still has the words "Big Boy" written on the front of it.
All trains shake the ground
The big boy causes earth quakes
A big boy burning oil is A LITERAL FIRE BREATHING DRAGON
You’re about an American steam locomotive and you’re using communist units to tell distance. That’s just disrespectful.
@@UltraMagaFanyeah, about 150ft.
@@UltraMagaFancommunist 😂😂 you mean metric
@MistressKitty69 made up by communist frogs
Wonderful update, would love to see more technical articles like this in the future
Tim Holmes how did you post this 4 weeks ago when the video was uploaded 17 hours ago
@@theblocksmith645 I have absolutely no idea -- I posted it a couple weeks back, I suspect they may have updated the video, but I dont know for sure --thats kinda strange!!!!
Tim the Time Traveler
@@theblocksmith645 the same glitch happened to me lol
Congrats on time traveling Tim!
Love these locomotives may they forever run the rails
not with oil, oil wont last that long charcoal would make the existence of the steam locomotives that we still have in the world longer
Charcoal is incredibly wasteful. The volatile components within the wood are burnt off leaving just the carbon. 1/4 to 1/2 of the original energy is wasted.
But all that pales into insignificance when you look at the massive areas of forest needed to grow the trees.
Charcoal is literally unsustainable.
@@Dave5843-d9m Quite true, he's probably thinking coal. (at least I hope he is)
Many counties are phasing out coal
This comment is older than the video. I'm so confused
I find it fascinating that Union Pacific experimented with oil on a Big Boy, #4005 from Dec. 1946 to June 1948. It didn't work to their expectations, but proved that a big steam engine like a Big Boy could be fired with oil. With improvements in technology of oil burners, it's neat to see the 4014 use it with style.
I am sure there is a world of difference between using a oil burning Big Boy to haul mile long freight trains up a grade, compared to the 20 or so passenger cars the #4014 pulls.
@@travelingtom923 You bring up an interesting question. Does the oil burning mod produce enough b.t.u. of heat for sustained horsepower demands for pulling a monster freight up the grade? Maybe Ed Dickens might know.
@@A_Bit_of_Thought I am sure it could however there would be a massive black cloud of smoke pouring out the stack. Would be a site to see that is for sure.
@@A_Bit_of_Thought charcoal burns quite hot since the fire doesnt have to waste its energy on evaporating liquids in the material
@@travelingtom923 While lots of smoke looks pretty, it is an excellent indication that flame temperature and efficiency are suffering. I read somewhere that one of the big problems with burning oil is the wear and tear of the firebox resulting from the higher temperatures of the oil flame.
From someone who was born just as the steam era ended, I want to thank Ed Dickens and the Union Pacific Steam Team for bringing this magnificent piece of Americana back to life for this generation to see...and the next generation as well. May 4014 ride the rails for years to come!
I was on a steam ship in the Navy back in the 60s. I was a machinist mate so I operated the turbines and all the water pumps and other ancillary equipment. We had 2 boilers in the same space as the engines and they were 2 storys tall. I had little to do with them but the boiler tenders had to avoid dark smoke and only a little white smoke coming out of the stacks or they would hear about it from the "old man."
I was told they burned jp5 which is jet fuel.
What an articulate spokesman!
I've watched plenty of 4014 videos, but with him standing alongside, it really shows what a monster locomotive that is.
I live a quarter mile from UP tracks, maybe two dozen trains a day, including Amtrak. I smile while I cross the grade thinking of how the UP has kept steam alive. Lotsa $$$$$$.
I met Ed at Rochelle, Il. this year when 4014 stopped there on its Heartland of America tour but didn't know who he was then. I only had time for a couple questions about the Big Boy as 65,000 people attended this event. I really enjoyed seeing this video and listening to him explain about the oil conversion and actually seeing it in the video. 4014 is a little older than I am but we're not far apart. I don't remember steam trains as a kid but I've always found them fascinating and am learning more and more how they work. Thank you Ed for the info.
Wow! 65K! I'm so glad there's this much interest.
I got to see him rolling through Dallas Sept 17 2024 and then he stopped for 20 minutes 400 feet from my house!
We Need More ED the steam shop and the 4014 this year
No, we need more Ed. None of the old guys in a steam shop needs more ED lol
Merry Christmas to Ed Dickens and the entire team at UP Steam. Thanks for sharing with us.
These guys have the best steam locomotive in their workshop! Jeez Big Boy is massive
Love this video! Who would have thought that Ed was also a brick mason! Beautiful craftsmanship!
Boiler mechanics wear many hats.
Haha I too noticed the masonry
I appreciate the talk about the smoke & efficiency. I was a Stationary Boiler Fireman, in a steam generating plant in 1966. That (eliminating the smoke) was part of my job.
Was it your job to literally stand and hand-tune the air/fuel mixture in a steam boiler for 8 hours a day? Or how did it work?
The answer is yes. But my job also included; watching the huge bunkers that fed the automatic coal stokers, monortering the air turbine; monortering & performing maintenance on the reciprocating water pumps; greasing the automatic coal stokers, among numerous other tasks.
You really should see much smoke on a steam locomotive either. Little and often as the UK firemen say.
Spent many days watching the combustion on two Babcock & Wilcox 1200 psi water tube marine boilers. Each had four atomizing burner nozzles. They were equipped with Automatic combustion controls, once dialed in it was just a matter of watching the gauges and occasionally making adjustments to the controls. However, getting them dialed in was like trying to tame two dragons!
I thought it was pretty neat originally that it was running on coal just as it did in its hay day. It was enjoyable to see that black smoke shooting from that stack. But I’m just glad she’s restored back to a living piece of history 👍
West Coast Railway (doesn't exist anymore) - Victoria Australia, used to run a regular steam service every Saturday from Melbourne to Warrnambool using a former Victorian Railway's restored R class loco that was set up to burn oil, they used recycled sump (engine) oil and I was told (?) they had it mixed with recycled break fluid to get a better burn. This loco R711 is still running special services with one of the rail heritage societies.
p.s. Good to see a BigBoy back in action :-)
Thank you for sharing on how you did this! I look forward to seeing UP 4014 running in 2021!
Thank you for taking care of Big Boy 4014. My favorite train. I hope one day I can see it in action!
This whole project has been such a pleasure to follow.
Nice update, thanks. And wow, we've been waiting waiting waiting for a show of steam in the Great Basin and the Pacific Northwest. Hope you roll through in 2021 sometime. Dying to photograph some steam action running over Donner Pass or along the Feather River route.
I could listen to Ed Dickens all day long puts the technical data over so well of any locomotive of topic .. brilliant👍👍👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I really enjoy the technical items and explanations. Tell us more! I would buy a DVD with a detailed description of each piece its function and construction and how it works in 4014, ie.; the forward boiler support guide, center springs and how it was built. Not something you see on every locomotive. Great job guys!
Master Engineering Genius Ed Dickens, you're a rockstar!!!!!
Thanks for the inside photographs Ed!
First time I saw 4014 in my 47 years of living was in 2021 for the New Orleans excursion. I rode the excursion to Plaquemines Parish, and I’m a steam buff, but I took more photos of 4015 than 4014. This is because I grew up with the U50C’s (I was born in 1976) and the 4015 was painted in the 70’s livery of silver truck frames, and green antiglare on the nose roof. When I saw 4015, it brought back so many childhood memories from my childhood, when I once was in the cab of UP 5037 (a U50C). Thanks for bringing back childhood memories with UP 4015!
Not a simple conversion with much thought and design going into a plan that works! Ed really knows the plan and all that goes with it! Great job by all!
Thanks for your donation UP. I've worked at that Silvis shop for 24 years...
*What it’s like standing near a Big Boy, and sitting in the Engineer’s Seat:*
For anyone who hasn’t been close to one of these in person, *it’s SO much bigger than it looks.* I walked up to both 4014 on the rails and 4006(?) in Green Bay National Railroad Museum, and just standing near and looking up at the tender, it’s SO HUGE that I felt vertigo like I was going to topple over! It’s physically intimidating, I could feel a primal reaction wanting to escape the area, as if it were a large beast threatening my safety.😳
I felt a similar reaction when I visited the Illinois Rail Museum, which I believe is the largest in North America or perhaps the world, just dozens and dozens of steam locos plus everything else you can possibly think of. Walking inside the largest storage warehouse between several rails all filled with steam locomotives, I had that “gonna tip over” vertigo feeling from most steam locomotives I looked up at. You feel like an ant that could be crushed by one step of an elephant’s foot.
On video they look about the size of a semi-trailer driving down the highway, but in reality they seem way larger! Significantly taller and longer, (although I don’t know that for an absolute fact.)
I also was allowed to climb up the front and walk atop the high running boards along the boiler of a large high speed CB&Q passenger steam locomotive on display elsewhere, and wow, it’s definitely higher than it looks! A jump from that height even at rest, seems like it would be likely to break your legs. But boy it sure was awesome, always wanted to stand up there since I was a little kid..
The most peculiar thing is sitting in the engineer’s seat of a Big Boy like I did in Green Bay. It’s absolutely ridiculous!!! It’s like sitting in the TRUNK of a stretch limousine and driving down the freeway operating it from that position! It’s almost unbelievable that such a gigantic vehicle pulling tens of thousands of tons of freight, would have virtually zero full forward visibility.👀
Try sticking your head out the window of your house and imagine the facing end of your house is the front of the locomotive, and that’s pretty much what it feels like, just one gigantic forward blind spot.
As soon as I got to experience that, instantly I understood why old movies and photos always show the engineer hunched over the armrest, leaning WAY out the window, looking forward. It’s because he’s trying to see where the hell he’s going! 😂 A modern front-view remote-camera would be a total game changer, if obviously not “kosher”..
Also, on any curve, only one side is going to have any effective forward visibility whatsoever. Pretty bizarre to imagine operating this beast blindly and relying completely upon your conductor to relay what he sees ahead out his window. (The cab does have a small tall, narrow rectangular window looking forward you can barely see at top-center of 2:25), but given that a huge ass 100 ft long black boiler obstructs 50% of your view including the tracks straight ahead, it ain’t much!)
Just saw Big Boy today 8-12-21 in McAlester OK. Very impressive
This is my first time on this site. Very nice. Wife and I love going to rail artifact sites. Piedmont, WY comes to mind, and the CPRR right of way west of Promontory holds so many stories. I hear-bye elect Thomas Clark Durant as Honorary President of UPRR, and Grenville Dodge as his nemesis! LOL. Kidding. However, those who study the history of the building of UP, are amazed at the times: political, cultural, and economic, of that era. Wife and I would love to attend a future gathering, maybe this May at Ogden, or wherever it will be held, "out west". PS: this video explains a lot, and well-presented. TY!.
What an excellent and informative video. It is so impressive that the UP staff today can still do a successful coal to oil conversion on 70 year old technology.
I love you guys UP I love your work with trains you make me so proud to know steam trains will never ever be without the steam trains operator we need to keep steam still alive
Thanks, Ed, for your great explanation of this conversion. And thanks for your work with UP in keeping these great machines going.
Thanks for the breakdown guys! Love the firebox setup.
its nice to see old Steam powered stuff running here in Australia on the Murry river we still have a few steam powered boats like the PS Melbourne.
Great video thank you at so many levels for the technical the history and the time you spent rebuilding this glorious machine
Great praise to UP for keeping the legend of The Big Boy and other famous steam locos alive.Your next object should in my opinion be to bring Southern Pacific railroad Cab forward 4294 back to life.UP owns from what i understand SP nowadays.According to California state railway museums home page the engine is in rather good condition.I quote " Mechanically, the engine is in remarkably good condition;".It would be a great event to recreate the last trip in 1957 in 2027.It's 70 years ago then.
What a big beautiful beast! A mechanical masterpiece!
I wish I could understand this more thoroughly, especially the "on demand" air flow intake, etc.
Im so grateful they have decided to invest to preserve this beast!
Great Video Mr. Ed. Very beautiful steam locomotive. All hail Big Boy X4014
I want so much to see and ride on this but so for no luck. I love steam trains , took my first ride from SC to CA in 1949, I love them keep running 4014.
Thank you Ed. It's sure nice to hear your voice again. I really enjoy your updates. You explain technical information very well. Thank you for educating and supporting Union Pacific's Railway safety across America. All the best to you and your amazing team in the New Year. Canada.
Thank you Ed for the great information! It's great to see how you did it.
Working on Frisco 4500 which always been a oil burner I'm taking notes, thanks Ed
Thanks, Ed!! Incredible work over the last seven years.
Show of hands - who wishes they'd had Ed Dickens as their shop/trade/vocational school instructor??? He is THE embodiment of passion for the craft and lost art of his trade!!
Thanks for the update. Glad to hear you explain about excess black smoke from the stack being a waste of fuel. I've operated my steam traction engine according to that principle for thirty years now. I cant seem to convince my fellow traction engineers of the wastefulness of running a lot of smoke from the stack. I learned this from an old timer many years ago.
Little and often as the UK railway men say.
Great video, Ed and the team sure know their business.
what a magnificent machine hope to see it in person someday
You should make a vid of a day in life of a train driver driving a uonion pacific locomotive
There are tons out there
A-MEN!!
Wake up CMS BUMPS YOU
@@CTTrains193 I’ve not found one
onion pacific
Thank you very much for this video, sounds pretty cool. I am really going to miss the smoke and the smell of the coal.
Wait are you saying it was burning coal all of its operation the past two years?
Nice work Ed. A very clear understandable presentation. I raise my hat to the UP Steam Team - and the company - for restoring one of the most amazing steam engines in the world. May 4014 cover many more miles up and down those grades!!!
From what has been done to the Big Boy firebox is create a focused efficient flame similar to what you find in modern boilers to heat homes and other commercial applications. adjusting the air and fuel mixture with the human touch is just like what a computer would be doing only it is done at the seat of the pants feel and site of the smoke coming out the stacks. I would like to think a lot of engineering and computer work went into redoing that firebox to what it is now. Great work cant wait to see Big Boy back in action in the State of Minnesota
Just an absolutely beautiful locomotive.
There needs to be a real effort to restore the only remaining Cab Forward. I know it will never happen but considering the historical significance.....it should. Would be amazing to see it rolling down the rails. Back on topic.....thank you very much for the restoration of this Big Boy.
That's so cool! I'm so glad 4014 was restored. Your awsome union Pacific
I'm curious to know more about how fuel oil is supplied to the burner. If it's solely using gravity, without a booster pump, does the fuel get pulled into some type of steam ejector during the atomizing process, and from there get pushed to the burner tip? Years ago I ran a Cleaver-Brooks stationary boiler which used underground fuel tankage and booster pumps to supply the burner.
Awesome insights. No matter if oil or coal, it sure kicks out a lot of black smoke!
Awesome video! I love steam engines. They are so majestic. May we always have this living history.
These videos are priceless. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!!
Man, seeing the engine behind you really gives scale how big she is!
Great tech update. So cool that UP is keeping these historic beasts running. I’d love to see 4014 come back through Roseville again.
It is cool they keep this tourist attraction going, but it is very uncool they furloughed many young diesel technicians.. those guys are more important in the long run.
Incredible. Really enjoy these type of videos.
When the Big Boy 4014 came thru Denver on its return to Cheyenne it passed quite near the Forney Museum of Transportation where the Big Boy 4005 resides and it faces north towards as if yearning for home. Indeed it looks out a glassed in wall that was cut into the building so it along other rolling stock could be moved in and as I saw the 4014 go by that you'd wonder if it's whistle could be heard inside the Museum. One could imagined for a moment that the 4005 had steamed up and left with the crew which was lost all those decades ago when it left the tracks and was completing that long ago run it never finished...
Thx Ed for explaining the oil conversion
Awesome! 4014 is so huge!
Always has been😂
The only thing bigger was the pen railroads triple boiggie steam train (sorry terrible grammer)
Great video. Thank you for sharing the news.
Well done Ed. I love what you do.
Absolutely fantastic locomotive and thanks for informative video !. Regards from the UK.
Happy Holidays to U.P. team. The Big Boy, The Legend and Challenger are my favorite just amazing. I wish they could come a little closer to OUR area. Happy Holidays to everyone
Love these videos. Wish there were more!
Great video of locomotives 🚂! 😘🚂😀 Mike from Missouri
Very cool video, I am a bit shocked how small that burner is alway thought they where bigger ;). Had to smile a bit with all that stone and brick work in the fire box :D.
Da gosto ver essa locomotiva orgulho de um povo de valoriza sua história
Thanks my Fireman. Never once found my engine cold.
This video is less than a week old but has comments from over 1 month ago. I am very confused by this.
Ah, General Kenobi
The video hit 88mph and time traveled
I believe when a video is first published as unlisted and then changed to public that will happen. It definitely happens when a creator leaves a comment under a video uploaded early but only scheduled to go public later.
I wish that understood even half of what this crew has learned about combustion theory, well done guys!
Honestly this is almost elementary compared to any internal combustion engine in an automobile etc. especially with electronic fuel injection and ignition timing advance, forced induction (turbo/supercharging), differing fuels (87/93/high octane race fuel/E85/methanol/nitromethane), camshaft timing, etc.
Not to take anything away from the UP Steam crew and with all due respect of course. But this is essentially a gigantic, simple machine in comparison.
@@Syclone0044 it might not have as many parts to it, but dont make me laugh the thermaldynamics alone is enough to write a thesis paper on, and the effects of the passageways of steam the size of pipping used the exaust ejector design, all are factors, and if you think its simple read up on livio dante porta and his writings
@@manga12 You make a good point!
Coal however puts out more BTU than Oil, technically burns more efficiently but its a lot more work
Depends on what measurements your using. Pound for pound, oil has a lot more energy than coal. One gallon of heating oil weights 8.2 lbs and has 16,900 BTU per lb. The best coal Anthracite has at the most 15,000 BTU per lb and the coal people use in their homes, bituminous has between 9000 and 11000.
But there are a lot more impurities in coal that make it a lot more dirty to burn than oil. (Lot more sulfur and some other stuff you don't want in the air). (Weirldy enough coal burning is actually pumps a ton of radiation into the atmosphere as coal contains minute amounts of uranium that is put into the atmos when burned)
@@zachmunch4807 Amusingly, if a nuclear plant leaked even 10% of the amount of radiation into the air that a coal plant generates continuously, the nuke plant would be shut down immediately.
@@dundonrl Pound for Pound oil has more energy because your volume of mass is greater than Coal. This is why comparing pound to pound isn't right. just a silly argument to get in to.
Merry Christmas and a Happy 2021
Thanks for sharing Ed, and Merry Christmas to you and all the Steam Team.
Thank you very much @ Mr. Dickens for explaining this! What I am asking myself is whether, provided good quality oil and a skillful person controlling oil-, steam- and air flow, an external combustion machine like this, in tough daily freight service, would still require the occasional bucket of quartz sand to have its superheater pipes cleaned of soot. Or would there be other, less abrasive methods available nowadays?
The largest and most powerful steam locomotive ever built. Truly the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology.
It was actually the second largesy locomotive ever built and not quite the strongest, but man is it a beauty nonetheless.
Number 3 in horsepower.
If we're talking about the strongest ever built, including scrapped models, it wasn't even top 10. I can name at least five different locomotives that outclassed its power; some by a longshot.
Great video. Hope there will be a "Depot Days" next year!!
this is sooo cool! ive dreamt of seeing a real life steam engine since i was real little. it would be a dream come true to see one go by.
Interesting stuff hopefully there will be more in a similar vein
This was an incredible video. Steam is more powerful than a diesel electric.
Glad that he said there should usually be almost zero visible smoke. Not like in the cowboy films featuring thick black smoke !!
I like that UP Steam blue flag! Great update looking forward to 4014s next excursion
I’ve been thinking...with the 4014 in operation, and with C&O 1309 back under steam, would it at all be possible sometime in the next five or ten years for groups to create some event where we could bring some of the nation’s surviving steam articulates together to one location for a day or perhaps a week of photos and run-by’s? Like the gathering of the streamlines? 3985 and 4014 could show with 1309 as active engines (along with Clover Valley #4 if that’s possible), while N&W 1218, 2050, 2156, and SP 4294 could be towed out to the venue to be viewed and photographed. It would be a great historical event!
Thanks for sharing the video, Ed! I like 4014 as an oil burner better than coal.
Awesome video. I love the tech videos that are educational!
Great Format and Subject! Hope to see more!
Thanks Ed! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and the Steam Shop staff!
Thank you for improving the camera!
The "no smoke" is kind of sad, but so thankful to see her on the rails.
Exhaust opacity is a thing, for better or for worse.
I hope that some day we can see both 3985 and 4014 double heading a train
This was great... More, please...and longer be even more better...
Looking forward to coming to Cheyenne for the kickoff this summer!