Steam engines used to really smoke up for photography drive-bys. The idea was to create a billowing smoke cloud to create a nostalgia about the steam engines of the past. In fact when steam engines are running hot and lean on the open rail there is just steam vapor coming out of the stack and it is almost invisible until it cools a little into a white puff.
+SteamUP I had a 1972 Vega Wagon,and during the first Fuel Crisis I chased the #4501 from New Orleans to Jacksonville,Fla. as it ran on the L&N,and old Seaboard Airline. I had to use a Plastic 6 or 8-gallon Outboard fuel tank to extend my my range,since I knew that some of the driving would be at night,some Gas Stations had already went out of business and Gas Stations weren't always open late at night.
My grandfather, a locomotive fireman/engineer for 52 years would have instantly identified the operator of this engine as incompetant. A steam locomotive doesn't need to make this much smoke if properly run. There is something wrong with the air supply to the firebox resulting in poor combustion and excessive smoke.
Very true, but my comments about excessive smoke are still valid. If operated properly, this locomotive should make considerably less smoke. This holds true for all engines still in running condition, regardless of how old they are. Read John Murphy's comments below.
They were likely just sanding the flues, something your grandfather probably knows about. It's basically just them putting sand into the firebox to draw it through the flues in order to get all the soot build up off. So perhaps the operator is perfectly competent, and you're clueless.
LRC Look at the comment above. Yes, it does look like it’s volcanically driven, but it’s a trick the engine crew uses to give photographers on the trackside a nostalgia of history’s great iron horses, which would billow smoke into the air. Regular running, especially at 3985’s speeds, just leaves a near-invisible water vapor which cools into little puffs because the gas is traveling between the hot inside of the smoke box and the cold air outside.
Such a magnificent machine! My continuing admiration for the World's Greatest Railroad for their unique and stellar historic preservation program. Long may they roll!
Ahhhhh....the magnificent 3985!! What a locomotive! She sure can run, and fast, too! And pull a long train --all by herself, with NO diesels needed. This is a great pacing video. Nice work staying with the locomotive! The "smoke" in this video is mostly, as "C and K Early Warning Systems" said, condensing steam, and some soot from sanding the flues and tubes. You cannot see steam -- only the condensed water vapor if it is cold enough. In this great video the plume coming from the stack is white condensing steam with sometimes some gray,. The black is soot from sanding teh flues and tubes. And, yes, the 3985 burns oil, not coal. She was converted to burn oil in the early 1980s, not long after she was restored and first ran, which was in 1981. What a magnificent locomotive! Alco (the American Locomotive Company), which was in Schenectady, New York, built! They built superb steam locomotives, including the UP 800s (4-8-4 s) and the Big Boys (4-8-8-4s) In 1990, the UP and APL (American President Lines) arranged to put the 3985 on a hot (high-priority) eastbound double-stack train for the c. 220-mile Cheyenne, Wyoming to North Platte, Nebraska part of its run. The train had 143 cars, and had 5 then-new diesels on it to pull that long and heavy train. They took those 5 diesels off in Cheyenne ,and coupled the 3985 onto the train -- and she marched up Archer Hill at 35 mph -- with that 8,400-foot-long, 7,656-ton 143-car train!! These figures are from a gentleman who was the fireman on that momentous day. Steam locomotives like to work hard -- they are built to do that. And some, like the 3985, can pull long and heavy freight trains FAST. They were designed and built for the territories they were intended to run over and the trains they were intended to pull. The UP 3985 is out of service now, and needs her federally-mandated every-15-year boiler inspection and certification. For now, the emphasis is on restoring the Big Boy, the UP 4014 -- in time for the Big Boy to be at the 2019 celebration of the 150th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike.
I love these pacing videos. Here in England there's very little scope for such things but there is one place and back in the 90s someone recorded an exceptional run with 90mph throughout. Search '60009 on the move' to find it.
Mr. Weythman... you're the man. I love your videos of the UP3985 and UP844. Excellent. I'm not a locomotive or stream expert. But when exhaust smoke is black with any liquid fuel, (fuel oil, Diesel, kerosene etc. It means the engine is running rich.. ie: not enough oxygen for a nearcomplete burn. I would suspect that a fuel valve is stuck at or near full flow. OR there isn't enough draft to pull in lots of fresh air. LOTS OF SMOKE AND LOTS OF STEAM... THE WAY I LIKE IT. GREAT VIDEO!!!
It is very impressive to see challenger 3985 in operation at speed along with producing an incredible amount of smoke exhaust, I really miss seeing engine 3985 in operation as this engine was operational a while ago. I hope that the maintenance shop at Silvis, Illinois rebuilds and repairs UP 3985 and returns the locomotive back into operating service within the next 10 years.
Black smoke = not enough airflow in the firebox White smoke = too much oxygen/not enough fuel This works the same way for coal, wood or oil. 3985 was converted to oil in 1980-81 to minimize grass fires from coal embers blown out of the stack. The pulsing/puffing of the smoke is caused by the exhaust steam from the cylinders being blown out the smokestack and also drawing smoke through the boiler flues at the same time. So, the puffing is actually timed with the cylinder strokes. Steam locomotive pistons are double-ended; when front part of the cylinder is intaking steam for its power stroke, the rear part of the cylinder is forcing out the expanded/exhausted steam into the smokebox. At the end of the stroke a slide valve reverses the flow in both cylinders; now the rear part sucks in steam and has its power stroke while the front part is emptied out as exhaust steam into the smokebox. Both sets of cylinders or slightly offset in timing so that the exhaust strokes are evenly timed; the first puff would be the left-hand forward exhaust stroke, the second would be the right-hand forward stroke. The third puff would be the left-hand exhaust stroke, the fourth stroke would be the right-hand exhaust stroke, and the process would repeat. The insides of the smoke stack are designed so the steam only goes up and out, and never back into the smokebox; otherwise the fireman would get scalded by hot steam when he opened the firebox door and created a backdraft into the cab. Linn Westscott's "Model Railroader Cyclopedia, Vol 1:Steam Locomotives" has an excellent diagram and description of how all steam locomitves work.
I don't get why people in this comment section are complaining about one locomotives emissions when today despite the bullshit car sellers tell you this locomotive when operated properly creates less carbon footprint than most gasoline vehicles on the road today because it's burning fuel oil which is basically like burning diesel fuel and most diesel emissions are considerably lower than anything gasoline or ethanol driven..
I remember when i lived with my Dad during the mid 90s this Giant came rolling through. Our House was as close as the other lane @ 1:13. Didn't have far to go to enjoy this Beast. Oct 2012 i finally got a chance to touch 844 :D
Obama has got us on the WRONG-TRACK in our thinking about coal and oil smoke today. He is wrong about our coal pollution being worse today,as about 80-years ago there were around 10,000-coal and oil burning steam locomotives on the all U.S. Railroads. The Pennsylvania Railroad had 425-K-4 coal-fired Passenger-Steam-Engines alone,besides all of the Freight-Types they owned. Many running at all times during the day,plus there were also,the Steel-Mills which polluted,and many private-Homes burned coal too.
Our Community Activist in Chief has also halted research on clean coal technology . And it wouldn't surprise me that his all powerful EPA may ban engines like these from running any longer . If they do that , they ought to ban millions of households who use heating oil too . The liberal progressive agenda , brainwashing the public . This smoke is bad for the environment ? This is probably around one ten millionth of what houses put out in terms of emissions for heating . lol
+machia0705-4501trainman here,as most people don't know that the present Administration also used a Back-Door-Policy on Guns by having the EPA close down the last lead-bullet making Smelter in the U.S. I blame the Media too,for not calling them out on it.
Obama is a disaster for the world. He will put his kind in charge and they have never accomplished anything. I feel no white guilt and I know how the Africans until very recent times were busy selling their kind into slavery.
That UP Big Boy was made to pull about 300 cars by itself, but without all that oil smoke. Its done for railroad buffs, but they probably had to bring it in and clean out the flues in the boiler.
First off, 3895 is a Challenger, the Big Boy's predecessor. Second, the Union Pacific does not indulge that way. I've seen other videos of 3895 on excursion runs and she wasn't making anywhere near this much smoke. Someone said that on this run she was suffering from a malfunctioning oil injector.
I remember the steam locomotive days and that much smoke was unusual. Coal smoke sifts back down to the ground anyhow, whereas diesel smoke sticks to everything- houses, cars, signs, LUNGS, etc and must be washed off with detergent. Coal soot washes off with every rain. Back in the day my aunt's house was right by the tracks. When diesel engines came along she had to start having her house repainted twice a year. They went to diesel engines to get America dependent on foreign oil.
I counted the revolutions of the drivers, at one point she was doing over one hundred fifteen miles per hour. When I was but four my grandfather took me along on a short hop in a 4-6-6-4 he was engineer of. Wish I had been old enough to fully appreciate the experience.
OMG as a Brit we never had Steam locomotives that big I would love to see one live as a kid born in 1946 so grew up with all stem motivation on Railways spent many an hour watching Steam rule!!!!! I am also an avid amateur photographer and would love to get one of these beasts in my lense
The two cars behind UP 3985's tender look like additional fuel tenders. I'm wondering how far this Steamer had to go to get to Houston. Obviously at least as far as Nebraska, but still, I thought that was par for the course with the huge Articulated steamers like the Challengers and Big Boys.
Visiable smoke or not it shows how much heat/power is being produced. There's no free lunch; to move that much weight at speed takes a lot of energy and this just demonstrates that point superbly.
The black smoke clouds are the fireman hamming it up for the camera, by deliberately adding extra oil to the fire. The white steam at the video's very beginning is more typical of a steam locomotive's emissions, and it is only visible due to condensation from the cold, in the summer the exhaust would be invisible.
I had the turbo charger go out on a SD-60 (SOO 6029 if it matters) one day climbing the hill on the BNSF Midway subdivision in Minnesota. Looked just like this. Really really cool!!!
2:40 is what I remember as about normal smoke for a steam locomotive. The severe smoke at the beginning may be good effect for photos, but back then the engineer & fireman could be "called on the carpet" for coking up the flues in the boiler with a "dirty fire". Cleaning flues in the boiler was a maintenance job they didn't want to do too often.
Perhaps the best pictures of a steam locomotive I've seen in years. The engine was doing all the work, there was no diesel hiding in the string to do all the work. Frankly, that amount of smoke is what I recall about steam engines as youngster. I believe they were burning Oil in this picture as it was converted from coal in the late 80's. Pictures of 3751 and 844 with little or no smoke mean they are idling and a Diesel is doing all the work. 3985 is being rebuilt these days.
Just about everything you said about the smoke is false. First, the steam is more visible due to the cold weather. The diesel on trips with 844 (and now 4014) is idling when not being used for dynamic braking). The second reason 3985 is making so much dark smoke here is because it was having firing problems (whether mechanical or fuel related or both is up for debate).
Yeah, she looked like that when we left San Antonio Tx when the fuel truck did not show up so we had to take a load of diesel fuell. We kept putting out the sun, & could not keep her hot. Finally had to get a diesel heper, & still did not get to Forth Worth till about 10pm. We really put out the smoke like in this video.
Double the power, density, Boiler, firebox, water tank, tender size, chimney, piston rods and cylinders, and quadruple the wheel count of the NKP 765 you get this. A locomotive that has enough carbon emissions that put Volkswagen to shame
Gamer2natic um sadly you are not seeing this great machine run at peak efficiency if she had a fireman who knew what they were doing there would be very light gray smoke to to no smoke coming out of that smoke stack.
common sense will tell you that. however if you do a little digging oil does not have the btu content of coal (good coal) there are some lower qualities that oil is equal to or a little better than. bottom line is coal burns much much hotter and when the boiler is properly stoked will not smoke very much at all on an even pull.
So what was the cause, oil fired what ever usualy pushes that kind on smoke when there is to much fuel for the amount of air. Fire tubes getting clogged?
I prefer deadweights being forcefully shoved and pulled up and along mountainsides by N&W engines, but the power displayed from monsters like these is already impressive from every one of them. Each individual locomotive has its own unique history and mechanical engineering, and seeing a steam engine work hard (Though it kinda isn't here) is something us railfans would absolutely dream of one day witnessing. Imagine seeing a Big Boy doublehead with an FEF with a Challenger shoving them as well. That'd be awesome to see.
That much smoke and it hanging that low is not normal for 3895, especially not when she's practically running light engine - somebody was obviously feeling poorly on this run. But even malfunctioning, she could handle those big rakes of hoppers she's seen passing.
This is not normal, 3985 developed fire box issues when a thermic syphon cracked allowing water into the fire box. What your viewing is delebrate overfiring.
not sure if I'd ever go to a super bowl. but if I did, this is the way I'd want to go to it. pulled by ol 3985 there or maybe even the Big Boy when it gets restored
Just imagine going somewhere and your behind the train by a mile or 2 and you look ahead and you see all of that smoke and think my god a train is on fire and it’s still moving just to go up like a miles and just to see it’s a really smoky locomotive
Steam engines used to really smoke up for photography drive-bys. The idea was to create a billowing smoke cloud to create a nostalgia about the steam engines of the past. In fact when steam engines are running hot and lean on the open rail there is just steam vapor coming out of the stack and it is almost invisible until it cools a little into a white puff.
This was just a lingering plume of steam in sub zero temps on a calm January morning.
My old dad pointed that out to me once when we were looking through a loco book one day...
union pacifc challenger 3985
paw partol
Never have seen an exhaust plume like that ever! Great capture, Skip! I can tell you it will show up elsewhere in my paintings. Magnificent.
That's because it's an oil fired boiler.
Absolutely beautiful No diesel assist, either. I love it. I hope 3985 runs again some day.
The UP have plans to get it back on the rails very soon after 4014 is back up & running.
their plan is to get 3985 back by at least 2021
@@AlongCameDalton There are no plans to do anything with it
@@Benry2 3985 will be restored in a few years
@@bzowadney Don't hold your breath on that one.
I had a 74 Pinto that would smoke like that
Mine was a '72 Vega it got about 60 miles to the quart of oil and cleaned the plugs every other Qt
+SteamUP I had a 1972 Vega Wagon,and during the first Fuel Crisis I chased the #4501 from New Orleans to Jacksonville,Fla. as it ran on the L&N,and old Seaboard Airline. I had to use a Plastic 6 or 8-gallon Outboard fuel tank to extend my my range,since I knew that some of the driving would be at night,some Gas Stations had already went out of business and Gas Stations weren't always open late at night.
+SteamUP I had a 74 Vega and carried spare engine parts in the back for extra traction in the snow and for fixing it when it broke down.
LOL!
ROTFSWL. Stop! Stop! Everyone on this thread, you each get a thumbs-up. Just stop! Please! (Wiping my eyes)
My grandfather, a locomotive fireman/engineer for 52 years would have instantly identified the operator of this engine as incompetant. A steam locomotive doesn't need to make this much smoke if properly run. There is something wrong with the air supply to the firebox resulting in poor combustion and excessive smoke.
your grandfather must be an idiot
You gotta remember that's no spring chicken they're driving
Very true, but my comments about excessive smoke are still valid. If operated properly, this locomotive should make considerably less smoke. This holds true for all engines still in running condition, regardless of how old they are. Read John Murphy's comments below.
+Geezer Power this was the super bowl train being run in jan weather, my father being at the controls, it's run this way for a reason
They were likely just sanding the flues, something your grandfather probably knows about. It's basically just them putting sand into the firebox to draw it through the flues in order to get all the soot build up off. So perhaps the operator is perfectly competent, and you're clueless.
Wow what a Combo...Strong rail tracks, fast powerful locomotive and the talent to know how to run it...
Diesel loco:-"we are chain smoker."
Steam loco:-"Hold my shovel & regulator."
Some people don’t get the shovel and regulator part, I knew what that was and I was laughing so hard. XD
I've always wanted to see an articulated steamer like 3985 puff plumes of smoke like this. Great video!
Volkswagen approves of this steam engine
+Ultrakillerism
HAHAHA ! that was a good one....greetings from germany !
at least it's not diesel
I think Volkswagen built this steam engine! lol
Co2 is not a toxic thing but goodness
Awesome but, is this powered by a volcano or something...
LRC Look at the comment above. Yes, it does look like it’s volcanically driven, but it’s a trick the engine crew uses to give photographers on the trackside a nostalgia of history’s great iron horses, which would billow smoke into the air. Regular running, especially at 3985’s speeds, just leaves a near-invisible water vapor which cools into little puffs because the gas is traveling between the hot inside of the smoke box and the cold air outside.
She *is* the volcano.
No it's not a steam engine runs on coal and water black steam means they put brand new dusty coal in the engine
Anthony Nigri
3985 was converted to burn oil.
@@jamesgroccia644 - Thanks. I didn't know that and thought sure something was wrong!
The smoke must be a scare tactic. If I saw that coming my way I'd be gone.
Such a magnificent machine! My continuing admiration for the World's Greatest Railroad for their unique and stellar historic preservation program. Long may they roll!
Nice! You can see why some Challengers had smoke deflectors. Thumbs up!
3985 had some for awhile but they removed them to bring it back to how it was when she was new
Union Pacific 3985 was dressing up as her sister union Pacific 3967 which she scrap a long time ago
Ahhhhh....the magnificent 3985!! What a locomotive! She sure can run, and fast, too! And pull a long train --all by herself, with NO diesels needed.
This is a great pacing video. Nice work staying with the locomotive!
The "smoke" in this video is mostly, as "C and K Early Warning Systems" said, condensing steam, and some soot from sanding the flues and tubes. You cannot see steam -- only the condensed water vapor if it is cold enough. In this great video the plume coming from the stack is white condensing steam with sometimes some gray,. The black is soot from sanding teh flues and tubes.
And, yes, the 3985 burns oil, not coal. She was converted to burn oil in the early 1980s, not long after she was restored and first ran, which was in 1981.
What a magnificent locomotive! Alco (the American Locomotive Company), which was in Schenectady, New York, built! They built superb steam locomotives, including the UP 800s (4-8-4 s) and the Big Boys (4-8-8-4s)
In 1990, the UP and APL (American President Lines) arranged to put the 3985 on a hot (high-priority) eastbound double-stack train for the c. 220-mile Cheyenne, Wyoming to North Platte, Nebraska part of its run. The train had 143 cars, and had 5 then-new diesels on it to pull that long and heavy train. They took those 5 diesels off in Cheyenne ,and coupled the 3985 onto the train -- and she marched up Archer Hill at 35 mph -- with that 8,400-foot-long, 7,656-ton 143-car train!! These figures are from a gentleman who was the fireman on that momentous day.
Steam locomotives like to work hard -- they are built to do that. And some, like the 3985, can pull long and heavy freight trains FAST. They were designed and built for the territories they were intended to run over and the trains they were intended to pull.
The UP 3985 is out of service now, and needs her federally-mandated every-15-year boiler inspection and certification. For now, the emphasis is on restoring the Big Boy, the UP 4014 -- in time for the Big Boy to be at the 2019 celebration of the 150th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike.
100% steam traction: Nice😊
They announced that 3985 is now retired.
@@karlrovey Negative, they already woke up Grandpa Big Boy and now 3985 will be woken back up too
Thank you for posting this, what great footage. It must have been one of the biggest thrills to pace the 3985
I love these pacing videos. Here in England there's very little scope for such things but there is one place and back in the 90s someone recorded an exceptional run with 90mph throughout. Search '60009 on the move' to find it.
Vow !!! just feel like forgotten childhood days have returned 🤩☝️👍👍👍
Awesome video Skip! They were really kickin' some black smoke that day! HOLY COW! Thanks for sharing!
Excellent video,this has astonished me and I am really become fully nostalgic.Thanks a lot for gifting such a marvelous video,I am from India.
Mr. Weythman... you're the man. I love your videos of the UP3985 and UP844. Excellent.
I'm not a locomotive or stream expert. But when exhaust smoke is black with any liquid fuel, (fuel oil, Diesel, kerosene etc. It means the engine is running rich.. ie: not enough oxygen for a nearcomplete burn. I would suspect that a fuel valve is stuck at or near full flow. OR there isn't enough draft to pull in lots of fresh air. LOTS OF SMOKE AND LOTS OF STEAM... THE WAY I LIKE IT. GREAT VIDEO!!!
that is an awesome whistle and the train has an awesome sound
It is very impressive to see challenger 3985 in operation at speed along with producing an incredible amount of smoke exhaust, I really miss seeing engine 3985 in operation as this engine was operational a while ago. I hope that the maintenance shop at Silvis, Illinois rebuilds and repairs UP 3985 and returns the locomotive back into operating service within the next 10 years.
great video! I love old stream trains and especially when you get them to go this fast
AWESOME !
Wow that dude is gunning it! Love the steam ❤ from South Africa 🇿🇦
Black smoke = not enough airflow in the firebox
White smoke = too much oxygen/not enough fuel
This works the same way for coal, wood or oil.
3985 was converted to oil in 1980-81 to minimize grass fires from coal embers blown out of the stack.
The pulsing/puffing of the smoke is caused by the exhaust steam from the cylinders being blown out the smokestack and also drawing smoke through the boiler flues at the same time. So, the puffing is actually timed with the cylinder strokes.
Steam locomotive pistons are double-ended; when front part of the cylinder is intaking steam for its power stroke, the rear part of the cylinder is forcing out the expanded/exhausted steam into the smokebox. At the end of the stroke a slide valve reverses the flow in both cylinders; now the rear part sucks in steam and has its power stroke while the front part is emptied out as exhaust steam into the smokebox.
Both sets of cylinders or slightly offset in timing so that the exhaust strokes are evenly timed; the first puff would be the left-hand forward exhaust stroke, the second would be the right-hand forward stroke. The third puff would be the left-hand exhaust stroke, the fourth stroke would be the right-hand exhaust stroke, and the process would repeat.
The insides of the smoke stack are designed so the steam only goes up and out, and never back into the smokebox; otherwise the fireman would get scalded by hot steam when he opened the firebox door and created a backdraft into the cab.
Linn Westscott's "Model Railroader Cyclopedia, Vol 1:Steam Locomotives" has an excellent diagram and description of how all steam locomitves work.
Matthew Ellsworth Плохо топит, избыток мазута.
Now THAT is maximum smoke!!
I don't get why people in this comment section are complaining about one locomotives emissions when today despite the bullshit car sellers tell you this locomotive when operated properly creates less carbon footprint than most gasoline vehicles on the road today because it's burning fuel oil which is basically like burning diesel fuel and most diesel emissions are considerably lower than anything gasoline or ethanol driven..
The yfuss because they can see the smoke. if they could see what comes out of cars for a few minutes they'd sheet their collective britches.
LOL. An oil fired boiler with hand controls is entirely different from modern diesels. Jesus.
Saw it at Kirkwood, Mo station, it was below zero degrees, so cold waiting I almost gave up waiting. It was worth the wait!
I remember when i lived with my Dad during the mid 90s this Giant came rolling through. Our House was as close as the other lane @ 1:13. Didn't have far to go to enjoy this Beast. Oct 2012 i finally got a chance to touch 844 :D
Obama has got us on the WRONG-TRACK in our thinking about coal and oil smoke today. He is wrong about our coal pollution being worse today,as about 80-years ago there were around 10,000-coal and oil burning steam locomotives on the all U.S. Railroads. The Pennsylvania Railroad had 425-K-4 coal-fired Passenger-Steam-Engines alone,besides all of the Freight-Types they owned. Many running at all times during the day,plus there were also,the Steel-Mills which polluted,and many private-Homes burned coal too.
+4501trainman Years ago there were a lot of good jobs in those coal burning companies. We are being led by the nose with the energy providers
+Ronald Schultenover 'Warnings not to use E-15 Gas in your Car'.Anyone who thinks we should trust the present Government on going Green.
Our Community Activist in Chief has also halted research on clean coal technology . And it wouldn't surprise me that his all powerful EPA may ban engines like these from running any longer . If they do that , they ought to ban millions of households who use heating oil too .
The liberal progressive agenda , brainwashing the public .
This smoke is bad for the environment ?
This is probably around one ten millionth of what houses put out in terms of emissions for heating . lol
+machia0705-4501trainman here,as most people don't know that the present Administration also used a Back-Door-Policy on Guns by having the EPA close down the last lead-bullet making Smelter in the U.S. I blame the Media too,for not calling them out on it.
Obama is a disaster for the world. He will put his kind in charge and they have never accomplished anything. I feel no white guilt and I know how the Africans until very recent times were busy selling their kind into slavery.
I'm not sure that that much smoke (exhaust) early on in the video is normal in this kind of operation. Was it in part for the cameras?
That UP Big Boy was made to pull about 300 cars by itself, but without all
that oil smoke. Its done for railroad buffs, but they probably had to bring
it in and clean out the flues in the boiler.
She's a Challenger not a Big Boy. UP is refurb'n a Big Boy now to run in the future.
First off, 3895 is a Challenger, the Big Boy's predecessor. Second, the Union Pacific does not indulge that way. I've seen other videos of 3895 on excursion runs and she wasn't making anywhere near this much smoke. Someone said that on this run she was suffering from a malfunctioning oil injector.
thanks for the great videos Skip!
That really makes you wonder. Where is all that steam coming from?
Up 3985 blows it's 2000s whistle
I remember the steam locomotive days and that much smoke was
unusual. Coal smoke sifts back down to the ground anyhow,
whereas diesel smoke sticks to everything- houses,
cars, signs, LUNGS, etc and must be washed off with detergent. Coal soot
washes off with every rain. Back in the day
my aunt's house was right by the tracks. When diesel engines
came along she had to start having her house repainted twice a year.
They went to diesel engines to get America dependent on foreign
oil.
They went to diesel because it was cheaper to run long-term (less downtime, less manpower required, etc), not to make the US depended on foreign oil.
I counted the revolutions of the drivers, at one point she was doing over one hundred fifteen miles per hour. When I was but four my grandfather took me along on a short hop in a 4-6-6-4 he was engineer of. Wish I had been old enough to fully appreciate the experience.
Wonderful machine ... but I think your maths is just a little out there !
Off just a touch...these had a top speed of somewhere around 70
Every dislike probably came from some environmentalist the instant they saw all that nice smoke coming out the top. Lol.
Really, can you blame them?
@@nightlightabcd well i mean who else would the dislikes belong to
Great Video Skip,,My 2 Year Old Grandson Loves It....Thanks....
Awesome Train Video
Wide World of Trains screw global warming...
@@Altair9678 yeah. Just screw global warming.
What time stamp did T-28 productions say to his UP steam trio in a nutshell?
I love the old horn it's so haunting
I'm suprised the Earth first whackos didn't block the tracks
Not that 3985 would stop before hitting them.
suprised we are still alive
OMG as a Brit we never had Steam locomotives that big I would love to see one live as a kid born in 1946 so grew up with all stem motivation on Railways spent many an hour watching Steam rule!!!!! I am also an avid amateur photographer and would love to get one of these beasts in my lense
Why is everyone commenting about the smoke that this masterpiece is putting out? Just enjoy the video.
The two cars behind UP 3985's tender look like additional fuel tenders. I'm wondering how far this Steamer had to go to get to Houston. Obviously at least as far as Nebraska, but still, I thought that was par for the course with the huge Articulated steamers like the Challengers and Big Boys.
UP uses them as water tenders, but they were previously oil tenders for the gas turbines.
Great video! Me and a friend of mine chased that train from Bernie Missouri to somewhere in Arkansas. The fireman was def putting on a show! Lol
I could only imagine what all of the tree-huggers’ faces would be like if they saw this 😂
TrainfanJackson4023 oh BWHAHAHAHAHA, liberals would start crying
This is amazing!
Visiable smoke or not it shows how much heat/power is being produced. There's no free lunch; to move that much weight at speed takes a lot of energy and this just demonstrates that point superbly.
why in one video there is nearly no smoke ( the one where the loco catches fire) and here she is belching black smoke like a demon from hell?
Beautiful big full throttle smoke.
never seen so much smoke come out of the steam locomotives in till I seen this
I hope to see Union Pacific Challenger 3985 running, along with 2-10-2 No. 5511.
Great piece of americana. Screw the tree huggers
0:56 sends chills down my back.
0:56
The black smoke clouds are the fireman hamming it up for the camera, by deliberately adding extra oil to the fire. The white steam at the video's very beginning is more typical of a steam locomotive's emissions, and it is only visible due to condensation from the cold, in the summer the exhaust would be invisible.
I had the turbo charger go out on a SD-60 (SOO 6029 if it matters) one day climbing the hill on the BNSF Midway subdivision in Minnesota. Looked just like this. Really really cool!!!
LOL :)
2:56
1:36 freight locomotive engineers must've been left in awe and then heavily coughing; great to see a legend of steam still running from time to time
Why would they be coughing?! Their windows obviously were closed, or werent even inside of the cabs...
2:40 is what I remember as about normal smoke for a steam locomotive.
The severe smoke at the beginning may be good effect for photos, but
back then the engineer & fireman could be "called on the carpet" for
coking up the flues in the boiler with a "dirty fire". Cleaning flues in the
boiler was a maintenance job they didn't want to do too often.
Great video!
all that black smoke is a sign to get the fuck out of my way! XD
XD LOL!!!
Perhaps the best pictures of a steam locomotive I've seen in years. The engine was doing all the work, there was no diesel hiding in the string to do all the work. Frankly, that amount of smoke is what I recall about steam engines as youngster. I believe they were burning Oil in this picture as it was converted from coal in the late 80's. Pictures of 3751 and 844 with little or no smoke mean they are idling and a Diesel is doing all the work. 3985 is being rebuilt these days.
Just about everything you said about the smoke is false. First, the steam is more visible due to the cold weather. The diesel on trips with 844 (and now 4014) is idling when not being used for dynamic braking).
The second reason 3985 is making so much dark smoke here is because it was having firing problems (whether mechanical or fuel related or both is up for debate).
Coal fueled electricity plants are fairly clean. They convert the coal to dust for efficient burning and the plants have emissions control.
Yeah, she looked like that when we left San Antonio Tx when the fuel truck did not show up so we had to take a load of diesel fuell. We kept putting out the sun, & could not keep her hot. Finally had to get a diesel heper, & still did not get to Forth Worth till about 10pm. We really put out the smoke like in this video.
Double the power, density, Boiler, firebox, water tank, tender size, chimney, piston rods and cylinders, and quadruple the wheel count of the NKP 765 you get this. A locomotive that has enough carbon emissions that put Volkswagen to shame
Gamer2natic um sadly you are not seeing this great machine run at peak efficiency if she had a fireman who knew what they were doing there would be very light gray smoke to to no smoke coming out of that smoke stack.
lets not forget the fact that it now burn's oil that is no where near as efficient as coal
Ryan where did you get that fact from?
common sense will tell you that. however if you do a little digging oil does not have the btu content of coal (good coal) there are some lower qualities that oil is equal to or a little better than. bottom line is coal burns much much hotter and when the boiler is properly stoked will not smoke very much at all on an even pull.
Uh. No. That's 180 degrees wrong. Coal is extremely inefficient and extremely dirty. Even the Big Boy 4014 is being converted to oil.
So what was the cause, oil fired what ever usualy pushes that kind on smoke when there is to much fuel for the amount of air. Fire tubes getting clogged?
Looks like the Mount St Helen eruption. Awesom machine tough. The BigBoy is even more impressive!
I prefer deadweights being forcefully shoved and pulled up and along mountainsides by N&W engines, but the power displayed from monsters like these is already impressive from every one of them. Each individual locomotive has its own unique history and mechanical engineering, and seeing a steam engine work hard (Though it kinda isn't here) is something us railfans would absolutely dream of one day witnessing.
Imagine seeing a Big Boy doublehead with an FEF with a Challenger shoving them as well. That'd be awesome to see.
Our SD40's put out a lot of smoke and flames when we shove or pull over the hump.
That much smoke and it hanging that low is not normal for 3895, especially not when she's practically running light engine - somebody was obviously feeling poorly on this run. But even malfunctioning, she could handle those big rakes of hoppers she's seen passing.
Up 3985 run to super bowl 2004
This is not normal, 3985 developed fire box issues when a thermic syphon cracked allowing water into the fire box. What your viewing is delebrate overfiring.
That was awesome Skip!
That thing is belching smoke like a volcano!
This is fantastic! Why have you been hiding it ;)? *****
Up 3985 january 2004
At least it doesn't smell like deasel !! I never saw one of these live, I never realized they opened them up like that!
This is true "Rollin Coal"
Can I use this vid for something?
I still can't get over that smoke.
omg the smell and sound of steam power nothing better
Think I might cry
not sure if I'd ever go to a super bowl. but if I did, this is the way I'd want to go to it. pulled by ol 3985 there or maybe even the Big Boy when it gets restored
iv seen some burn almost completely clear, then this one makes it look as if a volcano is about to erupt, why is that?
Just imagine going somewhere and your behind the train by a mile or 2 and you look ahead and you see all of that smoke and think my god a train is on fire and it’s still moving just to go up like a miles and just to see it’s a really smoky locomotive
Awesome vid, dude. Just beeeyoootifull. Love that steam.
What happened to this steam what did up do with it they don't have it anymore
watch this with 'Traveling Kind' by The Country Gentlemen playing in the background...
What a wonderful machine.. It's alive I tell you.. Alive!!
Awesome sight! I want to go on a train like that!
this is my favorite big boy
Union Pacific is a big and rich company, they should take good care of the 3985, 4014, and 844 pretty well
What a beauty!!
2004? i got it in st louis on display.
This monster is a Union Pacific Challenger not a Union Pacific Big Boy. Union Pacific Challenger is 4-6-6-4 Union Pacific Big Boy's are 4-8-8-4.
I hate to point out the obvious, but in mid January in Nebraska a STEAM engine will show a lot of what appears to be smoke but is primarily steam.
most of that is condensation from the cold of january
it mostly can depend on the way the fireman is firing the locomotive