Big Boy out and about again after the 2020 hiatus

[melmerby]

Virtual Railfan footage of Big Boy at Santa Fe Junction:

 

[Oldddudders]

A fine sight. And the cameraman was intrigued by the Mopac 2-bay covered hopper!

[melmerby]

5 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

A fine sight. And the cameraman was intrigued by the Mopac 2-bay covered hopper!

They have a thing about "fallen flags"on VRF and often zoom in on long gone company logos, which I assume this was.

 

[Jeff Smith]

Here's 4006 in the St Louis transport museum.  There were 25 built.

 

[Jeff Smith]

.

 

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Jeff Smith

[melmerby]

Just now, Jeff Smith said:

Here's 4006 in the St Louis transport museum.  There were 25 built.

 

 

And 8 survive, not bad for a small class.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

18 hours ago, melmerby said:

Virtual Railfan footage of Big Boy at Santa Fe Junction:

 

 

3 hours ago, Jeff Smith said:

Here's 4006 in the St Louis transport museum.  There were 25 built.

 

I wonder how much the coupling rods and other connecting rods for the motion weigh?  They look massive!

Edited August 11, 2021 by Keith Addenbrooke

[Jeff Smith]

7 hours ago, melmerby said:

And 8 survive, not bad for a small class.

Yes, the 17 scrapped must have fetched a good deal.......

[melmerby]

5 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

 

I wonder how much the coupling rods and other connecting rods for the motion weigh?  They look massive!

I wonder whether they have roller bearings?

Several later US steamers were so equipped, which means much larger journals.

[PhilH]

Can anybody point me to a video wherein the thing is actually doing some work? I’ve seen quite a few now and it’s either coasting, seemingly being pushed by a hard working diesel or crawling along….just want to hear what it sounds like when (if) they make it chuff.

One things for sure they like the sound of the bell and whistle….

 

[sncf231e]

6 hours ago, PhilH said:

Can anybody point me to a video wherein the thing is actually doing some work?

 

Here in my garden:

And here with a yellow train but without a diesel:

Regards

Fred

[mdvle]

10 hours ago, PhilH said:

Can anybody point me to a video wherein the thing is actually doing some work? I’ve seen quite a few now and it’s either coasting, seemingly being pushed by a hard working diesel or crawling along….just want to hear what it sounds like when (if) they make it chuff.

One things for sure they like the sound of the bell and whistle….

 

 

This video seems reasonable - but I doubt you will ever see it work hard, the trains it is pulling simply are not close to being long & heavy enough - nor would they want the extra costs of wear & tear that working it hard would create.

 

 

 

[PhilH]

11 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

This video seems reasonable - but I doubt you will ever see it work hard, the trains it is pulling simply are not close to being long & heavy enough - nor would they want the extra costs of wear & tear that working it hard would create.

 

 

 

Thanks for that….as you say I suppose that’s the closest to work the thing will ever get.

[St. Simon]

12 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

This video seems reasonable - but I doubt you will ever see it work hard, the trains it is pulling simply are not close to being long & heavy enough - nor would they want the extra costs of wear & tear that working it hard would create.

 

 

Hi,

 

I watched an interview / talk by the head of the restoration and he said actually there is more wear and tear on the loco when it's hauling light loads as the thing was designed to be hauling heavy trains

 

22 hours ago, PhilH said:

seemingly being pushed by a hard working diesel

 

In the same interview, related to the comment on operating heavy trains, the diesel are usual there to provide the majority of the braking power, as there would be too much wear on the brakes if it was all done by the Big Boy when hauling light loads.

 

Simon

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, St. Simon said:

 

Hi,

 

In the same interview, related to the comment on operating heavy trains, the diesel are usual there to provide the majority of the braking power, as there would be too much wear on the brakes if it was all done by the Big Boy when hauling light loads.

 

Simon

I also saw in a vid that the crew of Big Boy do have a certain amout of control of some of the diesel's actions, presumably top of the list is the braking.

Edited September 4, 2021 by melmerby