Follow up question: When the UP 844 is doing 60 mph, how much of the work load is being done by the UP1989 Diesel / Heritage Locomotive? 😎

@@trainroomgary it’s trailing just in case 844 breaks down.

Yea, it is even though it's a piece of film being run over and over

I believe they're debating over that because none of the big boys were oil fired if they do go for it that's a big thing in steam engine history

+Terminator X the big boy here in Denver was converted to run on oil, though it wasn't very successful.

theshapeexists i guess the oil was bad

+Terminator X lol, apparently when it was converted, the fire couldn't be stoked evenly to build up adequate steam pressure and was converted back to coal. but the big boy they are restoring now has way more technology than available when it was retired in '62

theshapeexists so it has a computer, free WIFI, and GPS

Most of them have large diameter drivers and extending the main rod to the 3rd driver would increase reciprocating mass. That would require heavier counter-weights on the drivers and would probably decrease maximum speed.

Smoke Deflectors, or elephant ears. The 800's were prone to having the smoke floating down towards the cab, so The UP put them on. Provides a draft so the smoke goes up and not down.

Okay. I saw in a documentary that the Big Boy got around this problem with a modified smokestack that changed the angle at which the smoke came out.

Tbh it looks cool with them

Are you talking about the Smoke Deflectors? Those are used to push the smoke away from the cab at highspeed. They are sometimes refereed to as "Elephant Ears". Much of the FEF Class had these Smoke Deflectors including the only other persevered FEF-3 No. 838. However they have been given to 844 since then. 838 is mainly used for spare parts.

Donatello, as many told you, these are SmokeDeflectors. The moving air by driving will be guided along the boiler and a little upwards, which prevents smoke and especially steam to get down aside of the boiler and flooding the cab. So on high speed, the signals stay visible - which is important. Some engines were very prone, some engines very not, so not all engines got those deflectors. You have large defelctors and small deflectors. In Germany we differ betwan big ones, called "Wagner" and small ones, called "Witte" deflectors, but there are also other deflectors, like very small ones beside the chimney. In cold winter this problem is awefull, because smoke isn't the problem - as a good fireman ensures the engine NOT to smoke, because smoke is wasting fuel - so here steam which is the major amout what comes out of the stack, will quickly accumulate in the cold air as white dense clouds and will whirl over the boiler down into the cab, making the seight of the fottplate staff nearly impossible... so hjere the deflectors generate an air stream, which prevents this, leading the steam up and above the cab roof, where it now can spread out, whitout being a disturbance to the footplate staff

they are water tenders. the black one is split so the front half hods fuel oil and water the yellow one just water and it used just 18,000 gallons for the run into Denver on the 21st

thank you so very much, and what were the flags on the front of the train????

I think the flag with the red "C" is the flag of the state of Colorado.

Yep your right, so guessing that 844 was Coming from somwhere in Colorado when this was filmed or is it there right now????

July 24,2016 it went from Denver, back home to Cheyenne. Till next year probably as they have 3 years to do the same type of rebuild to the 4014 Big Boy

Engines these days don't need them

most I know is the bolts holding it in place failed. Thought they'd put it back on in the overhaul.

We'll it was over over taking traffic on the road so probably around 60

If it was a highway she was next to, then over 60. If it was an interstate, probably over 70. Maybe even close to 80.

+Steamtrainz this engine could do 110 in its days

Big deal?