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Thread: Big Boy goes back to work...

  1. 09-20-2023, 06:35 PM #1
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    Big Boy goes back to work...

    For the first time in 64 years, this old workhorse rolled up its sleeves and did what it was built for...The restored and fully operational 4014 Big Boy, while on its touring schedule pulling its own contingent of passenger cars, came upon a stalled freight train in front of it in Blair Nebraska on June 29 2023...Instead of waiting for a repair crew, or a bank engine to arrive, the decision was made to let the Big Boy show why it earned its name...After unsheathing its front coupler it eased up on the crippled freighter, hooked on and proceeded to push the train and its engines over the rising grade...You can note in both these videos that UP 4015, the companion diesel-electric locomotive that rides with 4014 as a just-in-case, was merely idling generating electric power for the following railcars with no telltale black smoke rising had it been making push power...Both trains moved under steam power...

    The excursion passengers that day got more than their money's worth as they have something extra to talk about for the rest of their lives......Ben



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  2. 09-20-2023, 06:56 PM #2
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    it's time to change the air in my head
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  3. 09-20-2023, 08:42 PM #3
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    I've always been amazed that you can push a string of cars without causing a derailment.

    If someone is standing in the wrong place, it would be easy to be parboiled!
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  4. 09-21-2023, 12:29 AM #4
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    Man, when I saw the thread title, I was hoping it was about the famous steam engine - and I was not disappointed.

    The Big Boy was also used between Helper Utah and Provo Utah. And, Helper is named for the tasks the townsfolk did - because they helped steam engines make it over Soldier Summit. It's the highest point between the two places.

    Hunter
    I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
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  5. 09-21-2023, 06:58 AM #5
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    I've always been amazed that you can push a string of cars without causing a derailment.
    Me Too

    I saw that video before----but that didn't stop me from looking at it end to end again

    I stood next to a Big Boy and the size drove home when I realized the top of the drive wheels were above my head (68" plus the track)
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
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  6. 09-21-2023, 12:14 PM #6
    FredK
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    Would have liked to have been alongside the tracks that day.
    Fred

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  7. 09-22-2023, 08:17 PM #7
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    Suddenly after watching this video, my Hornblaster Conductor Special Nightmare Edition which I laboriously installed on my mighty Dodge/Cummins seems strangely inadequate...I'll need to upgrade I suppose......Ben

    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
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  8. 07-07-2024, 05:17 PM #8
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    On the move
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
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  9. 07-07-2024, 05:27 PM #9
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    Sunday, Oct. 6: Houston, Texas
    I need to mark my calendar......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
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  10. 07-07-2024, 06:48 PM #10
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    Very cool sound recordings in those clips. A nice find.

    Hunter
    I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
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