Trains

Greg Reimer

Well Known Member
It's an absolutely amazing thing. For 50+ years, they said that a 4000 class would never run again. Too big, too heavy, mainline curves are too tight, too much fuel consumption, the only thing larger than the locomotive itself were the excuses why not. But, modern railroads are vastly superior to what they were 60 years ago.The curves have been extended so that mainline transcon trains wouldn't have to slow down as much, heavy continuous rail, concrete railroad ties, bridge improvements, all kinds of improvements. That engine never ran on such a good infrastructure during its first life. Other surviving operational steam actually works better now than it did back in the days as well. Coal fuel and bunker crude have given way to #5 fuel oil.It seems to contain more heat. There's no reason why another retired steam locomotive might not return to life, determined people have done it many times. If you want to read about another ongoing project involving a large Santa Fe engine #2926, look up NMSL&RHS. It deals with a restoration project by a nonprofit restoration and historical society. Big Boy 4014 is owned by the railroad, they can run their engines whenever they want to, the New Mexico engine is owned by a private organization and is dependent on the host railroad for permission to run it. Look them up on Google. Interesting viewing, they have documented the entire movement, disassembly, and restoration of the engine.
 
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Greg Reimer

Well Known Member
It's hard to believe how much horsepower and tractive effort one of those engines made.They were also designed for a top speed of 80 mph, but UP didn't run them over 70 to make them last longer. They were about 135000 pounds maximum drawbar tractive effort, a large modern diesel is about 40-45000. Boiler horsepower was around 7000. 100 to 150 50 ton loads behind one of these things really made it work, but that's what they were designed for. North American steam power from about 1935 to 1950 definitely was the crowning jewel of the American industrial revolution. Definitely made in the USA by Alco. That's American Locomotive Co. Fittingly named.
 
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Greg Reimer

Well Known Member
I guess every racing operation, hobby, occupation, and form of insanity out there has to have an ultimate expression of its extreme pursuance. This is definitely that. What scale are the trains themselves? The rolling stock and scenery looks European. They go in for this stuff big over there. Also, could you imagine the square footage of that building that this layout is located in?
 
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bobs409

 
Administrator
The last one I posted is owned by a relative of Ferdinand Porsche so money is not a problem... $$$

Here's the description for the video:

This is the model train layout of Mr. Hans-Peter Porsche. He is the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, the automobile designer of the famous VW Beetle. Since his childhood, Hans-Peter Porsche collected tin toys from Marklin, from Bing and from other manufacturers. A few years ago, he decided to present his collection of toys to the public in a special museum. This museum is called “Traumwerk Porsche” in the German language, meaning “Dreamworks Porsche” in the English language. In addition to the toy collection, there is a large event hall for Porsche cars and a very large model railroad display with model trains in action. Outside, there is also a railroad and a playground for children. The Dreamworks model railway museum is located in the South of Germany. The large model railway layout has got an exhibition area of more than 400 square meters and represents the three countries Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Pilentum was capturing video footage of more than six hours, for example these beautiful cab rides along the whole railway exhibition. Please, enjoy the railroad landscape and railway scenery.
 
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Greg Reimer

Well Known Member
I noticed in the last pic Phil posted how the engine crew placed paper toweling on the ground under the moving parts directly above them. All the side rods and moving parts in the valve train had large grease fittings where the locomotive had to be periodically greased from a large grease gun at certain intervals. They were very good about cleaning up after themselves along the way. When we rode the train in mid October, it was still clean, shiny, and looked like a new locomotive.Somewhere in the mid '30's, Timken roller bearings started being installed on all axle bearings, side rods, and the main rod big end. That resulted in a tremendous reliability improvement and a lot of horsepower saved.Those were sealed bearings and didn't need quite the level of frequent attention that the earlier bearings did. Steam kept evolving right up to its end. Something was irretrievably lost when steam disappeared, and it's a rather sad loss when you think about it.Great shots,Phil! Did it impress you with how big that thing is?
 
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Iowa 409 Guy

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 15
5 foot diameter wheels, 24 gallons of water. Just the sheer weight, number of drive wheels, ect. All with engineering from the last century.
 

64ss409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 9
Now that it has made its celebration loop back to Cheyenne, will it be in a museum? Cheyenne? or maybe back to California?
 

Greg Reimer

Well Known Member
It's an excursion locomotive. It's part of the UP steam heritage fleet. It is kept at the UP steam shop and roundhouse in Cheyenne.It will run again occasionally. Visit the UP Heritage website from time to time for any news. Bringing this engine back is like finding out that Chevy is making Z-11's again.
 
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