Union Pacific Big Boy: The Behemoth Train that Tamed the Rockies

hello everybody welcome back to another brand new episode of mega projects this one has been heavily i'd never heard of these i know almost like simon you got to cover the big boys and i'm like what is the big boy turns out it's a really big train so uh this video is all about a really big train but first of all i want to tell you that it's brought to you by squarespace from websites and online stores to marketing tools and really big trade and analytics squarespace is the all-in-one platform to build a beautiful online presence and run your business check out squarespace through the link in the description below more on them in a bit [Music] chugging its way through the mountains of the american west the mechanical beast hauls its mighty cargo a plume of smoke trailing in its wake this is one mega project where the name really fits the bill the union pacific big boy was the largest most powerful steam locomotive engine the world had ever known and while its heyday was during the 1940s and 50s one of these engineering monsters has made a comeback and is once again plying the rails the big boys still hold a haloed status among train enthusiasts as i found out from the comments of every previous video and it has quite rightly been referred to as the king of the rails if you watched our video on the construction of the transcontinental railroad across the united states you'll be fully aware of some of the engineering challenges involved it is after all a country of extraordinary diversity in terms of landscape the vast emptiness of the prairies is juxtaposed by the brutality of the mountains in the west a section of railway running through nebraska is a very different proposition than one that would traverse say utah it was the mormon state where the idea for the big boy began or rather because of it the warsatch mountain range which runs about 260 kilometers from the utah idaho border to central utah provides a formidable opponent to any would-be traveler mechanical or otherwise the section of track between green river and ogden posed a particular problem to the union pacific railroad and their freight service the 1.14 incline traveling eastbound doesn't sound like a mighty challenge but tell that to the locomotive drivers pulling over 3 000 tons of cargo this was a section of track that often required double heading which is when two locomotives are used together this slowed the service considerably and although in the early days of the railroad this wasn't seen as too much of a hindrance in the years after world war one as the amount of cargo being hauled steadily climbed it became obvious that something had to change in 1940 union pacific began actively seeking alternatives and william jeffers president of union pacific approached otto yarbelman who was part of the research mechanical standards department to design a new locomotive the brief was fairly straightforward a locomotive capable of carrying at least 3 600 tons over the warsaw mountains unassisted [Music] this would not be a completely novel design much of what the big boy would eventually be was based on the existing challenger steam locomotives built by the american locomotive company alco who joined the project as the construction team built between 1936 and 1944 the challenger locomotives were the reliable workhorses of the union pacific and were able to operate on almost all sections of their lines they came with a four six six four wheel arrangement four wheels in the leading pilot truck designed to lead the locomotive into curves two sets of six driving wheels in the center and four trailing wheels to support the rear of the engine the design of the big boy essentially involved expanding and improving certain sections of the challenger locomotive most notably the number of wheels an enlarged firebox the area where the fuel is burnt and an increase in boiler pressure the big boy would have a four eight eight four wheel arrangement the same as the challenger but with four extra wheels added to the central groupings the wheels themselves were reduced an inch in diameter from 69 to 68 inches in order to increase traction now the firebox was very much the engine of the locomotive and just as you might do today by installing a more powerful engine in a car in 1940 the decision was made to increase the size of the firebox on the upcoming big boy the challenger had a firebox measuring 12 square meters about the size of three king size mattresses but this would be increased on the big boy to 14 square meters the increase in boiler pressure from 280 psi to 300 psi would also give the new model a much needed boost the big boy can be divided into two parts however the name itself refers only to the locomotive but it was always followed by a tender which was the fuel car and carried the coal and water needed for the locomotive in total together they measured 40.47 metres in length that's over four london double-decker buses and they had a width of 3.4 meters and a height of 4.94 meters as a result of its length the frame of the big boy was articulated in order to allow it to negotiate curves this means that rather than a rigid structure it was hinged in order to allow it to bend slightly but it was its weight that was the truly astonishing statistic here the locomotive and its tender together weighed 604 tons which and this will blow your mind is roughly the same as two early model 747 passenger airliners it has often been said that these locomotives were slightly over designed to er on the side of caution while they had a maximum speed of 130 kilometers an hour they rarely if ever reached that while pulling freight typically they would operate at around 100 kilometers an hour a speed that was deemed acceptable to not aggravate the many rotating parts within the locomotive [Music] the entire process from design to testing to the manufacture of a working prototype took just a year with much of the speed down to the quantity of research and testing already completed by union pacific the idea of speeding up their freight service was something they had already dedicated plenty of time to in 1941 alco manufactured 20 big boys at their factory in new york state with a further five coming in 1944. each big boy cost 265 thousand dollars to build which is around 4.6 million today this was now a time when the united states found itself in a war on two fronts and with freight reaching record heights the appearance of these locomotive monsters was perfect timing and while they certainly did their part for the war effort hauling thousands of servicemen vital raw materials and essential military equipment around the country and just before we get into the rest of their service record and everything they did let me take a moment to tell you about today's sponsor squarespace now a couple of simple things maybe you've got an idea for a new website or a business that you want to start and second the only way to figure out if 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website-y stuff podcasts yes mailing lists social integrations and much more like i say squarespace removes the excuses to your dreams go get started right now 24 7 customer support as well in case you get stuck so head to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com forward slash megaprojects to save 10 off your first purchase of a website or a domain the construction of the big boys was not the only challenge parts of the line that they would be used on had to be adapted for their new enlarged and hefty visitors bridges needed to be completely rebuilt to accommodate their vast weight and because of their lengths numerous curves needed to be realigned to give them a larger minimum curve radius which is the sharpness of a curve in comparison to the train's length and its traveling speed the major significant upgrade came on the stretch of track between ogden and the warsaw summit at a height of 2079 metres which was the most challenging stretch of the line that the big boys had to tackle on this section 58.9 kilogram per meter rails were laid to secure the locomotives to the tracks as a comparison the first railway to be laid in the u.s weighed just 13.6 kilograms per meter the various servicing points along the way also needed to have 41 meter turntables installed to turn the big boys around and allow them to move in the opposite direction clearly these were not trains that could go anywhere that they pleased while initially they were used between ogden and evanston and wyoming as world war ii progressed their operational territory was extended east from evanston to green river rawlings laramie and cheyenne they were eventually cleared to operate between salt lake city and pocatello idaho and salt lake city and los angeles although it's not entirely clear whether it ever actually completed this last route big boy number 4000 was the first to make the journey west it couldn't travel under its own power because no railway in the east was designed for such a locomotive instead it was shipped dead meaning part of a cargo train along the delaware and hudson new york central and chicago and northwestern railway lines to its final destination of council bluffs in iowa on september 5th 1941 a union pacific switch engine towed the big boy across the bridge which spans the missouri river to omaha shops where it was officially accepted later that month engine number 4000 was called into action for the first time and was displayed briefly at omaha union station from omaha it picked up a train of 100 empty pacific fruit express box cars and began its first journey west arriving in cheyenne early the following day it was also a number 4000 that led to the wide use of the name big boy the story goes that an alco machinist scrawled the words on the engine before it departed from the new york factory and the name immediately stuck while the slow and steady march of these locomotives through the american west may not be the most thrilling tale that we've covered here on mega projects these kinds of reliable workhorses that operate behind the scenes are what really makes the world turn freight transportation is rarely something that gets the pulse going but the big boys were held in the highest regards by those who operated them and also youtube commenters by 1946 number 4005 was adapted to use oil rather than coal and while such a conversion had proved successful on the challenger locomotives this was not to be the case with the big boys the failure was placed on the uneven heating in the big boy's large single burner firebox and it was converted back to coal in 1948 number 4019 also received another short upgrade that was later removed smoke deflectors sometimes known as blinkers which were designed to funnel the smoke upwards and away from the driver's line of sight had become increasingly popular in the 20th century but it was found that the big boy's nozzle and blower in the smoke box were more than capable of lifting the smoke above the locomotives so we're not really sure why it was added in the first place if anything the big boys arrived too late in the game by the 1940s there were already natural challenges appearing that could compete with the massive big boys perhaps not in terms of power but maybe with better overall performance and flexibility in april 1943 number 4014 4004 and 4016 took part in a test against a younger upstart three-unit diesel between ogden and evanston wyoming as union pacific considered switching to diesel engines rather than steam on april 2nd 1943 number 4014 hauled 65 cars weighing a total of 3 479 tons out of ogden while on level track number 4014 recorded a top speed of 67 kilometers an hour while the minimum speed was 21 kilometers an hour with a 3 degree curve on a 1.14 grade incline tests with the diesel along with the 4004 and 4016 found that there was practically no difference between the two styles of engines the draw was still a win for the big boys with union pacific opting to keep the steam locomotives in operation but for how long as the 1950s began to draw to a close so did the careers of these bestial machines in truth they had been struggling to stay relevant since the end of the second world war the cost of coal and labor had meant operating the big boys was an expensive operation the diesel electric locomotives now provided a significantly cheaper service while their power outputs had been steadily increasing the final cargo run of a big boy came on the 21st of july 1959 a year short of their 20th birthday of the 25 big boys built seven are now on static display throughout the united states and are still capable of drawing the crowds though it must be set on a much lower scale than when they launched but one big boy has returned number 4014 was officially retired in december 1961 after travelling a total of 1 659 563 kilometers and it was presented to the southern california chapter of the railway and locomotive historical society but in 2019 after a full restoration it re-entered service as an excursion locomotive based out of cheyenne in wyoming to this day it remains the largest heaviest and most powerful operational steam locomotive in the world as i mentioned earlier the big boys sadly arrived a little late in the game the u.s and indeed much of the developed world was beginning to move away from the smoking coal burners even as they just entered service but they remain wonderfully iconic a throwback to a bygone era of astonishing engineering today there is only one king of the rails its cargo is now pleasure seeking tourists rather than heavy goods but you know what if there is any machine that deserves to take it a little easy it's the 4014 big boy a true colossus that conquered the american west so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did smash that like button below please do check out fantastic sponsor squarespace link to below if you've got a suggestion for omega projects you know what to do leave it in the comments and thank you for watching [Music] you

Channel: Megaprojects

Views: 875,666

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Id: 9dnRuag-Pvc

Length: 14min 39sec (879 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 31 2020