Union Pacific's Superpower Addiction

in the years following world war one the railroads of america were finding themselves with more afraid to move than most such companies were prepared for in the short term railroads cope with the lengthening trains by wrangling in more than one locomotive which meant more money spent on more power more employees and more structural upkeep to keep the massive fleet of engines maintained to the union pacific railroad though the best solution was one engine for each train with freight trains getting longer and heavier though moving that much tonnage was going to take muscle and the up wasn't going to stop at anything to get their goods delivered [Music] gone were the days of dragging heavy loads at low speeds as trekking was becoming a competitor faster not so much more tonnage was the name of the game coming out of the great depression the most powerful machine was the largest single unit engine of its time the 9000 class moved with 12 drive wheels in one group and with a third cylinder for adidoof while this type of engine served well on the planes where rails curved gently the stiff-legged 9000s were much harder on the tight curves through the mountain passes like sherman hill in wyoming and the wasatch mountains in utah although faster than his predecessors both their stiffness and their third cylinders made them a headache for both operating and backshot crews the task of building a better locomotive would fall to up's motive power department one solution to the stiff-leggedness was to split the locomotive frame in half and have them joined by a hinge pin in the middle so the locomotive could bend itself around tight curves up had previously tried the so-called articulated type of engine in the 1910s which were slow movers and tended to pound the track with their exhaust beat a seemingly simple revision to the concept was devised instead of using the steam twice first to the rear pair of cylinders and through the front this new engine would use steam through four equal side cylinders simultaneously which freed up the engine's reciprocating mass and by extension is top speed when the first of the new articulators rolled out from the erecting hall in the summer of 1936 they sported some of the most modern features in steam locomotion like circulators in the firebox to help boil water evenly over 83 square feet and roller bearings on all axles for a smooth ride over long distances [Music] much was expected out of this new engine as a test run was laid out with a fully loaded train in ogden utah to be run eastward over 150 miles of track speed to green river wyoming where the engine would turn back to ogden with another loaded train this was going to be a challenge for any locomotive which was why up vice president william jeffers dubbed them challengers within 10 years 105 challengers were roaming throughout the up system they could hustle a 20 car passenger train at 70 miles per hour or over 100 freight cars on the long grades locomotive engineers and firemen admired how for its size the challenges rode smoothly and were incredibly well balanced even at high speeds beyond ups rails other railroads were taking note challengers were soon being ordered by the rio grande northern pacific western pacific western maryland and the delaware and hudson with their great power and flexibility most railroads had concurred that the challenger was going to be the ultimate steam locomotive but at the end of the decade war was looming even more freight than ever would have to be moved to aid in the fighting and trains in the u.p were projected to be as heavy as 3 600 tons the challenger could handle this tonics with ease on the flats but would be defeated at any of the mountain passes and require a helper locomotive to make the grade at a time when up needed as much power as they could to move as many trains as they could the railroad elected to stretch the challenger concept to its maximum arriving in august of 1941 the locomotive that would come to be known as big boy would be one of the largest in the world and among the most powerful 25 of these engines would be drafted in to pick up the slack through the mountains in many ways the officially termed four thousands complimented their smaller siblings with the newer 3900s borrowing many of their cosmetic family resemblances four thousands were found primarily across the rocky mountains particularly around sherman hill with the steepest grades while one of them would be tried out on the los angeles and salt lake line the 3900s would rule across the entire network between omaha portland and los angeles together they delivered the goods to aids in america's victory after the war there was a shift in policy diesel electric power was largely taking over moving passengers and was now starting to prove itself in freight service too this form of power was not only more cost efficient and much less labor intensive than steam but their decreased need for attention allowed for trains to operate for longer distances and therefore shorten travel times but even at this early stage diesel power has limitations on average a typical mainline diesel locomotive could only muster up to 1500 horsepower requiring additional units that would be electrically operated together via multiple unit control to match the power and strength of the challengers and big boys that they were replacing these units would have to be immune into groups of four five or six units with that much power trying to keep trains over 3000 tons moving through the mountains with hard acceleration also factored in the electric transmissions were often overwhelmed with high amperage as neighboring railroads were discovering union pacific believed that the source of trouble was in the amount of parts and control assemblies that was going through this much stress out on the road and this led to up believing that maintenance costs were tied to the number of units on one train rather than the units themselves so ups set out to design a locomotive that could produce the same amount of power as their steam breathing predecessors before world war ii up had worked with general electric on producing two steam electric turbine locomotives with lessons learned from their short-lived lifespans ge's creation would be designated at the gas turbine electric locomotive or gtel in place of the conventional diesel engine a gas turbine engine would supply power to the generator that could power the engine's traction motors for movement rolling out from ge's plant in 1949 the first generation of these gtels could put out 4500 horsepower or about two-thirds the power of the big boy on paper these units would be more efficient than either diesels or steam engines because of fewer moving parts therefore making them easier to maintain in fact as the big boys challengers and other large steam engines would be retired their tenders would be salvaged and repurposed to carry extra bunker c oil to extend the turbine's range because of that turbines were free to roam the entire up system the most developed gtel model was introduced in 1958 and was spread out over three units the leading a unit contained the standard diesel engine used for powering auxiliary equipment like the exciter and air compressor and for moving around freight yards at slow speeds the middle b unit contained the gas turbine itself along with the main generator to convert the kinetic energy to electricity enough to power the traction motors on both units the fuel tender would supply 24 000 gallons of bunker c oil to extend the gtel's range this unit measured 83 feet from coupler the coupler and could produce a staggering 8500 horsepower from just the gas turbine alone that would make this the most powerful locomotive on earth at that time up would put them in their best element too leading long distance high speed freight trains across the vast isolated stretches of main line in the west but this is the thing with turbines they operate at their best at a constantly high rpm and there are very few places in the north american rail system where trains can operate flat out at high speeds at low speeds these units were fuel hoggers although bunker sea oil was cheap at first the oil was found to be of use in manufacturing plastics which drove up the price for a time an earlier version of the gtel was experimentally fueled with propane which did burn cleaner with reduced wear at the expense of heightened safety measures and complex operating procedures at any speed though railroaders still had to put up with an all-new array of mechanical issues and the biggest issue of all the noise level the nickname big blows came from complaints from trackside residents about the flat exhaust drone from the gas turbines which had them completely banned from the greater los angeles area there were even incidents where the turbines generated so much heat that when idling underneath a street overpass the asphalt would melt ge tried marketing the gas turbine type to other railroads but up would be the one and only buyer by the time the last units were retired in 1969 it was not uncommon to see a turbine being helped along by one or two diesel locomotives as they were being overcome by trained links and weights but the big blows departure leave a void in ups power structure the railroads still believed that having a small fleet of large engines as opposed to having a large fleet of small engines was still the best way to move freight over their network up's goal has shifted the running trains with three unit last ships worth 1500 horsepower altogether while other railroads felt complacent with lashing their diesel units up up put out a seemingly modest request for proposal for the three locomotive builders emd went above and beyond for ups offer with four units in between two standard gp35s were two monstrous b units classified as the dd35 these units came with two diesel prime movers united on one frame producing 5000 horsepower in 1965 when the writing was on the wall for the gtels up initially ordered 25 of these boosters after deciding that they liked these units up asked for another 15 with cabs added creating the dda35 at the same time general electric produced its answer to up's request with the largest locomotive in their universal series range the u-50s these units bore several similarities to their emd counterparts while trying to be more economical by incorporating parts from the old gtel turbines two versions were produced the spartan u50 riding on four trucks with spam bolsters and the u50c with three axle trucks and its engines directed inward to create a centralized radiator section alco's offering was called the c855 although this aba lash up was the largest offering in its century lineup it was also the shortest lived with their frames cracking as a result of its rush production the u50s were not immune to serious issues too the three axle variation suffered engine fires from its aluminum wiring and cracks forming in the trucks from fatigue a downturn in business had these units sidelined in 1976 after just seven years of service the units that would endure would be the emds before the decade was out up came back to emd for another order of double diesels but with a few modifications at 98 feet long and with 6600 horsepower the resulting dda40x would become the largest single unit diesel locomotive in the world they were nicknamed centennials in reference to commemorating 100 years since completing the first transcontinental railroad within three years 47 centennials would be roaming the u.p system they weren't just powerful but also groundbreaking the x in the engine's designation was for experimental with emd using this engine as a test bed for some of their cutting-edge technologies like the brand new 645 type prime mover modular electrical components and a new type of load test circuit for troubleshooting errors these features will be incorporated in many of emd's future offerings branded at the dash 2 line helping them to maintain their lead in the horsepower race operating crews admire their responsiveness speed and smoothness earning emd credibility that would only get stronger over the next decade the centennials would soldier on to rack up 22 000 miles of revenue service every month for 15 years the last recorded revenue run of a centennial was in 1984 for most of them having served over 2 million miles in service from that day forward up would use the same mode of power as every other railroad today's trains are powered mostly by conventional diesel electric engines usually with as much as 4 500 horsepower in each unit with this much horsepower together they can pull exponentially the amount of charge that their predecessors would have been able to handle in total the up superpower family is survived by two challengers eight big boys two gtels and twenty centennials but no dd-35s nor any of the earlier turbines up themselves still retains two of their steam giants in their heritage fleet challenger 3985 and big boy 4014 along with centennial 6936 although most of the survivors are relegated to the sightings and display tracks the know-how that was gained from the building and operation of these engines would lay down the groundwork for today's heavy haul locomotives which continues the never-ending job of moving freight [Music] you

Channel: High Iron

Views: 713,924

Rating: 4.8901725 out of 5

Keywords: trains, rail, railroad, how trains work, unusual trains, Union Pacific, Big Boy, steam locomotive, Challenger, 4014, 3985, gas turbine engine, GTEL, turbines, Big Blow, dd35 locomotive, diesel locomotive, DDA35, EMD, Electro Motive Division, General Electric, GE, U50, u50c diesel locomotive, C855, steam trains galore, trainz a new era, train simulator 2020

Id: kJkcHIGp8cI

Length: 14min 57sec (897 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 02 2020