Railroads: ok, we need to get up the mountain but the locomotives lack power
Rio Grande: split the trains up
Milwaukee road: electrify the mainline
Union Pacific: order giant locomotives
UP: "More"
Engineers: But maintenance cos-
UP: "MORE"
Engineers: We are literally the only railroad company to use th-
UP: "MOR- Oh wait oh ok"
funny enough i have a little union pacific diesel that couple onto the back of my atchison topeka and santa fe christmas train because it has NO motive power cause its gear box broke a few years ago
1860: ok
1900: more
1920: MORE
1930: MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE
1940: good
1980: MOREEEEEEEEEEE
1990: good
I kept thinking of one of Jeremy Clarkson catch phrases, "Speed and Power!" while watching this video.
you would like this then.
Jerremy firing the Royal scotsman at high speed.
ua-cam.com/video/IYFKXqVFPYo/v-deo.html
these trains didn't/don't do speed compared to Europe, they were all about the power 😊
I feel like this would be playing at some Union Pacific museum, where they have scheduled “movie times” every 20 minutes
I'm glad Squidward finally gave up the clarinet because he's so much better at making railroad videos.
It’s so weird being a car guy and hearing that 4500HP was 2/3 the HP of a steam locomotive. I had no idea
@@could_possiblybe_thane07echo we Americans have an obsession with engines that put out ridiculous amounts of power, for instance in WW2, the P47Ds were putting out over 2000hp from their massive radial engines
UP also tends to run "just enough" power for the trains, oping to not have extra units or extra power if something goes wrong. BNSF always has extra units on the train (usually 1 or 2 extra locomotives), opting to have the extra power and not need it, then to need it and not have it.
@@MrMikado282 having gone out a railfanned a bit, and watched the Chehalis, WA, VRF cam. UP has had two stalls on a 1% grade hill, both within a week of eachother (and it was the same train too). Forcing the 2nd UP train that runs behind them, to stop and drop their train on the main (right in front of the cam). Then run up the hill and help push the train, then they come back and grab their train and proceed up the hill themselves. Either way it causes a major traffic issue (for trains) and for the poor Seattle sub dispatcher.
in the uk we used to have locos near difficult inclines etc as bankers to help provide the extra power needed aa it reduced costs having to run that extra train the whole route
shows you how powerful those steam engine were when the needed multiple diesel units to match that power
Steam tractors are another example. The sheer torque a steam engine can produce is off the charts compared to ICEs.
@@somerandomguythatplaysrobl7896 Funny how ppl saying that about electric too. I guess its on the other side of the spectrum maybe.
Electric motors have a crap ton of torque and a higher power density than diesel, so I’d say they’re closer to the steam end of the spectrum.
"For a time, the GTEL's ran experimentally on propane."
Hank Hill wants to know their location. "I sell propane, and propane accessories."
it’s really satisfying for some reason to finally see a Big Boy in Trainz that isn’t that really old model from like 2006 or something lol
@@joshmeister4449 it's very old payware from 2004. I have received permission from the original creator (the cowboy) to upgrade and release soon.
trainz 2 for the ipad i have that game and i love running big boys thru the australian outback
5:45
Big Boy: "look at what they need to mimic a fraction of our power."
Union Pacific High Horsepower Locomotives: *We Can Handle It*
Not only are modern engines insanely powerful, but railroads often opt for AC traction motors, which can drag circles around their DC counterparts.
Train Manufacturers: Alright, now how much power would you like in your train?
Union Pacific: *yes*
14:40 I can imagine all those large locomotives literally having a bro-hug with each other, and smiling that their legacies and history aren't forgotten at all
But the lesser known non up (i think) 2-10-10-2 Mallet?
@@TheT-90thatstaresintoyoursoul I know where you're going, but the Up never had those. The Virginian Railway has their 800 class 2-10-10-2s, and the ATSF had the others. The Santa Fe Engines however were so goddamned awful, the railway literally took the engines, and cut each one into two locomotives, just so their purchase wouldn't be completely for nothing.
Oh shit...im rambling on again. My apologies.
Mmm, their power addition was like an Alcohol addiction
EMD: How many horsepower do you want in the new DDA40X?
UP: Execute order 6600
Well done video!
@@mcfc_lads1894 Been kinda busy here, a lot harder to make my rounds and get around to different people as much.
*They tried to sent me to rehab, I said no I'm the U.P!*
The Union Pacific Articulateds, Gas Turbines, Big Jacks and Centennials: The *REAL* Legends of the Rails
Actually all locomotives made from the trevithick loco to today's engines are legends of the rails
@Иван Ангелов yes true the A had more tractive effort than the Challengers and the Y6b's had more tractive effort than the Big Boy's
@Иван Ангелов yea true in fact if the parts weren't scarce they could've ran em til the 1970's which was the original plan.
GE: “hey, Union Pacific, it’s your friends GE.... General Electric, you know that new sound you’re looking for? Well, listen to this!”
**deafening turbine noise**
UP: “I’m sorry, I can’t hear over all this turbine noise, but did you say they will be cheaper to run?”
**kicks over maintenance cost presentation**
GE: “guess you’re not ready for it, but your kids are gonna love it”
I’m way to high for this idek how I got here
My great grandfather ran those big boys, mostly 4404 or 5, maybe 8, but he would end up running most of them at one point or another. Running the Ogden Utah to Green River Wyoming route from what my grandpa has told me, only 4000s were able to do that route with the weight they were pulling.
The Centennials will always hold a special place in my heart. I rode in several of them during my first few years as a head brakeman for the UP. They sure made an impression.
Really really well put together; I'm so glad I got to see 4014 running in person on its system tour :D
Me when I find out there are no U50 or older turbine survivors:
*La de da de da de da de day oh*
*la de da de where did all the good times go?*
9:18
I heard that the turbines sounded like a jet engine from the 60’s, in other words, ya might not wanna listen to it fire up or else your ears will ring for a while.
This is why I am amazed by the UP. They have some of the most powerful machines to have ever run the rails
Narrator: "...their third cylinders made them a headache..."
*goes back a few seconds, sees Gresley conjugated gear"
Me: ""Of course..."
Ever look after a Gresley conjugated gear fitted locomotive? I suspect that you have never been involved involved. The reality is that there is more chance of a failure of conventional inside gear.
@@DeCasoU1 too much stress was a frequent cause of trouble for Conjugated, more so than conventional. Of course it would be a hassle on an engine with double the driving wheels as any fast Gresley design
Yeah Gresley's stuff all worked perfectly with proper maintenance.....not exactly great for times of economic depression, war, or corporate bodies wanting to spend less taking care of their stuff.
As a UP stock holder I’m happy having power and being a good company. Also I do really like the heritage units
1:50:
"The locomotive's frame was split apart, so the engine could bend itself around tight curves."
Shows Trainz footage of the Steam Locomotive running off the tracks with it's front axles.
Brings back good memories!
Great video, I love this style!
The number of big boy that you used in the simulation was the number 4006 one that is in a book that I have and it’s preserved to this very day and the one I have actually seen in person
Nice work, Brian. After so long seeing these engines in old footage, it's refreshing seeing everything in HD graphics.
UP when they see a hill: “You know what we need? Mo Powah Babeh!”
Did James Pumphrey work for them by chance?
Sheev Palpatine, Jeremy Clarkson and James Pumphrey combined couldnt compare to UP's thirst for power
The newer EMD SD70AH and GE AC45AH UP “Heavy“ locomotives are rated at 5,355 Horsepower or 14.4 equivalent powered axles. Only took 70+ years to equal the steam Challengers with diesel electric power.
The first steam locomotive came out in 1802. So it only took 140 years to get to the performance of the Big Boy and Challenger. 😁
@@markantony3875 keep in mind that steam locomotives never had the advantage of CAD or any real computerized calculations to help with designing them. If you could desgin a steam loco with all modern tech, it would blow anything we currntly use out of the water in terms of raw power and on top of that, we could use better optimized biofuels which other modes of power cant.
@@Aliceintraining No it wouldn't. I have a MS in Mechanical Engineering. Computer Aided Engineering still has to follow the Laws of Thermodynamics and the entropy of the steam cycle. Both of which were well known during the steam era. You could use biofuels in a compound turbocharged diesel that would be 10 times more thermodynamically efficient with a fraction of the CO2 emissions. Steam is dead...and for sound economic and environmental reasons. Those facts will never change.
Steam locomotives weren’t replaced because they did their job poorly, they were replaced because diesels did it cheaper. As far as diesels go, it’s a bit of a balancing act to get max power without using too much fuel. Back when big boys ruled the rails, trucks weren’t much competition so railroads could basically charge whatever they saw fit for freight service. Railroads will never be replaced by trucks because of the sheer volume of freight they can handle but they can’t simply charge whatever they want anymore.
@@gregrowe1168 The design parameters of a diesel-electric locomotive are not to get absolute maximum power per unit. The fact that they can be run as multiple units that respond as one large locomotive, there is no need to attempt to get absolute maximum power from a single unit. A diesel engine the size of the engine in a modern locomotive could put out 10,000+ HP if really pushed. However, that would result in a vastly increased maintenance schedule, similar to how jet aircraft are maintained. Railroads simply do not want this. They want locomotives that have nearly 100% uptime between their 92 day federal inspections and don't need a full rebuild until after tens of thousands of hours of service. The goal is to get the most horsepower out of the locomotive while being restricted to very high reliability standards, very high fuel economy standards, and recently, very strict emission standards.
I think what finally made these big, customized locomotives obsolete was that both EMD and GE by 1990 were pushing their "regular" locomotives to around 4,000 bhp. The EMD SD60 series and the GE Dash 8 series were bought in big numbers by UP for operations between Utah and Cheyenne, WY, especially once the Powder River Basin coal fields opened up.
Yup! The "Power Race" up to 9000 plus horsepower, then, necessarily, back to 4400 - 4500 is worthy of an entire video as well!
@@michaelsullivan3581 We saw the EMD SD90MAC-H and the GE AC6000CW, but the unreliability of these 6,000 bhp prime movers ended the idea. That's why there was way more interest in the SD70MAC and AC4400W (and their modern descendants, the EMD/Progress SD70ACe series and the GE _Evolution_ series.
My favorite engines were the massive three-unit gas turbines. I read that some engines had their 8,500 HP rating raised to 10,000 HP simply by running the turbine faster. To use the extra HP, some units had traction motors fitted to their fuel tender trucks.
I’ve heard that at higher ambient temperatures, they made more power too.
I wonder if they will ever return? Today, with hybrid gas-steam cycles they can be incredibly efficient (up to 60%), use batteries instead of ballast, and you can have regenerative breaking as well as run turbines in the same mode all time, oh, and you can use additional power from the batteries for the initial acceleration, as well as go fully battery electric, when passing towns in order to not disturb people.
Interesting mix of live action video, animation, and stills. Thumbs up.
nobody:
Union Pacific: MORE
This is superb quality High Iron! Keep the videos coming!
Hi, Im so happy to see you post a new video! Please do one about how KCS survived for so long, be safe during this time.
@@HighIronIf you had to bring back one of these guys, which one would you choose? My choice would be Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) 3800, as UP 4006 is in happy preservation in St. Louis, Missouri. I also like how the Union Pacific allowed other railroads, like the D&RGW, to use Challengers while keeping Big Boys for themselves.
these videos have too much quality, you are underrated as hell
Memory Lane: US30 west of Grand Island, Nebraska. It's still an awesome stretch for trainmen to remember the good old days.
UPRR is a unique American story.
Your channel just keeps getting better and better! Great work once again!
Union Pacific is one class act, as was this video. I am so glad they had the foresight to preserve their and America's history.
i loved this
These videos are the perfect stress reliever I have watched it 5 times and its still beautiful.
It’s things like this that make me wish I chose to model the UP.
Well I NEVER! How dare you.
I whisper to the absolute gondola of your sombrence and TASH your likeness to the bin propper.
Love how UP stick to their thinking and keep fueling the HP battle for the biggest and most powerfull engine.
As a kid I was absolutely in love with the old UP steam trains, challenger 3985 always stuck in my mind and still does. (And a part of me wondered when and why not one was ever in Thomas the tank engine)
“All you had to do was follow the damn train CJ!”
Unlimited
Power
The Jeremy Clarkson of railways - "MORE POWER!"
My favorite subject, you did awesomely on this video
I’m glad to have seen 4023 & 6900 at Kenefick Park in Omaha, NE last year and now know more about UP’s superpower fleet of locomotive
Im getting strangely close to being a railfan and all ive watched were a few train videos. This algorithm is simply magical.
They 'could' have removed the flange on the middle 3 axles, to improve their cornering capabilities.! We did this with loco's over here that had that problem.!
Rich (UK)🥰🥰🥰
For the 9000s the middle two were blind and had no flange. The first axle was able to bend by .5% extra with a special homemade rod that allow it to bend for turns. However in the USA the mountains the 9000s had to go up the bends were tighter than most in the UK.
Superb video. Also nice to see you cover the other manufacturer's attempts as they often get overlooked. The TS models work well for this.
I live near the Union Pacific train tracks. I see the trains go by everyday.
If you live near or are planning a vacation to or through St. Louis, there is one o the last surviving Big Boy steam engine at the Museum of Transport in west St. Louis county.
any low horsepower engins: exists
up: throw that out
Yes a video of my favorite railroad and it’s about their sting locos!
I like southern Pacific so I kinda mixed I love union Pacific but hate that they took southern Pacific
One of those "Big boys" came down to the south recently, and I never knew their significance until this video. Thank you.
thanks for making this video.Without your information and help,I would never know what really was the strongest locomotives
Nice Overview of UP's wish for power and maintenance costs - remember - it's a business to be efficient
Spread this message. They removed the third cylinders on the 9000s. I still see videos today with the misinformation that they were a nightmare for maintenance. They fixed the problem. And even introduced roller bearings too.
I quite enjoy these kinds of videos from y'all. Keep up the good work mates.
Interesting usage of footage from Trainz here, it's kinda rare to see footage from the game, especially as B-roll footage.
Man the big boy in the thumbnail do be looking good doe
A wealth of information. The CG animation was excellent.
It’s crazy to think that I was working at a railway museum in the Midwest and thought nothing of it as I walked around and saw all different types of trains for different periods it was like a time machine but I didn’t have much time to read into the info boards out n about so thankfully I found this video.
Outstanding! Even for a Santa Fe buff! thank you!
7:10 big boy look pisst
These type of videos from your channel are the best
This right here, earned my subscription
I think the Big Blows were quite a bit longer than 83ft. _178 ft_ sounds more likely
Aside from that, this was well done! Always been intrigued with how UP kept it's Superpower Fleet consistent across external and internal combustion locomotives
Hello. I am very happy that you had 4006 shown at 4:29. I actually live not too far from MOT, and I've known this engine since I was two years old, so whenever I see it in a train video, I'm very grateful that it would be on said video(s).
@@Valveiscool. For as long as steam locomotives have been around (and the same goes for ships, aircraft, and other large objects that move), crews have referred to their charges as female. “She" and “the old girl” are synonymous with a steam locomotive. (A copy from Google.) I stand by what I said
Beautiful animation 😍 Beautifully done! Thank you!
Excellent video, thank you!
2:00 I notice the different sizes in the sets of cylinders.
9:09 noise
Thanks for this video. It was very well done.
I'm new to train videos, this is very well done. Thank you, please keep making more
Nice video 👍
That's GREAT animation.!
😮😁😮😁😮😁😮
The line-up at the end, reminds me of Thomas, and his friends.!
Very well put-together video. Very informative.
Back before the shareholders ruined the UP. Now the crews are lucky to be able to get a loaded train to it's destination without power issues. This video was super cool! Makes me miss the good old stuff!
I think union pacifics spirit of keeping the one locomotive per train policy in place is what kept it going throughout the centries
@@theextremeanimator4721 your exactly right. If the =WM= Western Maryland and the lehigh Valley and the Santa fe and the pennsylvania and the new york central and the Chicago northwestern and the Burlington route and a whole bunch of other class 1 railroads adopted the same policy and got bigger locomotives with more horsepower there would be less carbon emissions and more freight hauling and more money to make and they could save on maintenance costs and then it would benefit more companys and those class ones would still be in opperation today but not all of them. Some didn't have enough money to purchase them so they would have gone bankrupt either way. If that's what you were talking about.
Now the UP west of North Platte uses more locomotives, they hook 2 trains together, putting engines in the middle and the end. I see them across western NE, WY and into Utah.
Union Pacific: *I HAVE THE POWER!!!!!*
Very nicely done !!! Thanks a bunch !!!
The coolest thing about the GTEL is that the first one was built out of a Great Northern W1, which was in itself a superpowered locomotive.
1:00 Where'd you get the 9000 class?
Union Pacific Is My Favorite
Excellent presentation. All facts and history.
this is well made and very good for people who want to learn about rail history
Any high horsepower locomotive: Exists
Union Pacific: *I'll take your entire stock*
(Insert funny meme)
Y e s
me: noooooo shut up union pacific
Accurate
True.