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BigBoy

waltesefalcon

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Ihave been busy at work and haven't been paying as much attention to the UP's BigBoy project as I had been. A couple of weeks ago this happened:
https://youtu.be/3GSKb2fyWEY
 

NutmegCT

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glemon

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I think these big steam locos are some of the coolest things ever built, like a big, breathing beast. Wish I was born 10 years earlier so I could have seen these in service (I have seen quiet a few, including a couple big 4-8-4s, though none as large as the big boy). Hard to believe these are only about 15 years older than the SR71 Blackbird, but they are similar in that they are the some of the last and greatest artifacts of what I call the "peak machine" era. When it was all about mechanical prowess, bigger faster stronger.
 

AngliaGT

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I've wanted to see it run ever since I heard of it.
Somehow,AMTRAK has authority over it being used for excursions,
& won't let them run it,as well as other trains like this.It was a huge
fundraiser for the museum.
 

YakkoWarner

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I've wanted to see it run ever since I heard of it.
Somehow,AMTRAK has authority over it being used for excursions,
& won't let them run it,as well as other trains like this.It was a huge
fundraiser for the museum.

I beleive it has something to do with the fact that AMTRAK contracts with the host railroads for rights to run passenger service on their metals in exchange for allowing the host railroads to quit running passenger service of their own (the whole reason AMTRAK exists was to save at least some level of passenger rail service as the railroads were phasing out people in favor of more profitable freight). Since the excursion train is technically a passenger service AMTRAK gets a say in when and where it runs.

I don't know if UP has the same restrictions (apparently they had a passenger excursion running behing the BigBoy in the inital video) but since they own both the train and the tracks it is running on some different rules may apply.
 

JPSmit

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My father was (many years ago) Track Standards Supervisor for CNR. He used to rant about politicians wanting passenger rail to be profitable. He maintained that there wasn't a profitable passenger service anywhere in the world in part because train companies had to pay all the expenses (taxes and upkeep) for their right of way - unlike roads where the cost is shared much much wider.

More to the point I suspect there aren't too many lines any more where the rail gauge is heavy enough to support a locomotive as heavy as Big Boy
 

NutmegCT

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<snip>

More to the point I suspect there aren't too many lines any more where the rail gauge is heavy enough to support a locomotive as heavy as Big Boy

Certainly makes sense that if the rails won't support the weight of the Big Boy, then the owner/manager of the rails wouldn't want Big Boy's weight in the mix.

I think on most USA highways, there are weight limits for vehicles that use them. Probably the same for railroads.
 

JPSmit

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Certainly makes sense that if the rails won't support the weight of the Big Boy, then the owner/manager of the rails wouldn't want Big Boy's weight in the mix.

I think on most USA highways, there are weight limits for vehicles that use them. Probably the same for railroads.

and more to the point, different tracks have different weights - siding vs. main line passenger vs. main line freight etc. etc.
 

pdplot

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Our rails have been sadly neglected in favor of roads and airlines. Look at the Bullet Trains of Japan and the MagLev trains in China. Most of our trains are a disgrace.
 

JPSmit

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Our rails have been sadly neglected in favor of roads and airlines. Look at the Bullet Trains of Japan and the MagLev trains in China. Most of our trains are a disgrace.

Here too. <Insert political comment here> :grin: Coming back to my father, he also reminded me that bullet trains etc don't have level crossings. the big issue here was not actually the track but the enormous expense of changing that - including every farmer between Toronto & Montreal
 

PC

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Our rails have been sadly neglected in favor of roads and airlines....
In a bit of an irony, The reason passenger rail travel is barely viable around here is basically the same reason for the Airbus A380's demise.
 

YakkoWarner

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Here too. <Insert political comment here> :grin: Coming back to my father, he also reminded me that bullet trains etc don't have level crossings. the big issue here was not actually the track but the enormous expense of changing that - including every farmer between Toronto & Montreal

Many of the original Victorian era English railways were built the same way (few if any level crossings). Everything ran on raised embankments or in cuttings with all the crossing either above or below. I always wondered how they got it so right even back then and why our railroads (even in their heyday) were not built to anything near that kind of standard.
 

glemon

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Large steam locomotives were generally harder on trackage, not only because of weight but also the pulsing of the Pistons through the linkage and drivers pound the track, but at one time such things were happening on a daily basis, so an occasional excursion run would probably not make much difference, on the other hand if their are specific limits for axle load on the tracks that would certainly be a significant factor on where the loco could run.
 
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West of the Mississippi I suspect it was because so much was laid out when roads were just bare traces in the grass and minimizing cost meant allowing people to cross at their own risk where they wanted. Then no one ever wanted to spend the money to fix something everyone was used to anyway.
 

JPSmit

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West of the Mississippi I suspect it was because so much was laid out when roads were just bare traces in the grass and minimizing cost meant allowing people to cross at their own risk where they wanted. Then no one ever wanted to spend the money to fix something everyone was used to anyway.

and west of the Mississippi many of the settlers came after the railroad.
 
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