With that wheel slip, you could tell engineer Ed was thinking, "I'm going to make this frieght train accelerate faster than those modern diesels can, even if it defies the laws of physics!"
That’s likely one of the few times since it’s restoration that we’ve actually gotten to hear that awesome machine .. really working..❤. History’s records tell us that a Big Boy Locomotive could pull.. by itself.. from a dead stop.. a fully loaded coal train 5.5 miles long.. on flat ground.. In other videos about the Big Boy and breaking it in after restoration.. It was stated that a Diesel locomotive being pulled was set to maximum dynamic braking to offer a bit of a load.. the Big Boy was said to have accelerated as if it wasn’t even there..
Imagine being the engineer of the train being rescued. "My stalled train is getting shoved up a hill by a piece of machinery from 1941. Not what I was expecting coming to work this morning, but here we are."
Modern freight cars with roller bearings - are not a serious load for powerful steam loco :-). The Bog Boy only remebered his young time when he pulled the commercial trains :-).
@@A_Bit_of_Thought Big torque which available on low speeds from complete standstill is main advantage of steam engine. But limit of friction between moving wheels and rails is greater problem for steam loco than power limit of diesel engine or current limit of traction motors on diesel loco :-). Steam loco completely depends from driver's skills - no any anti-sliping systems which available on electric or diesel-electric locos.
@@Denis_Korchagin Totally agree. I would guess 4014 was not even electrified during its original years of service. As to throttle control with the diesel, the throttle response would be almost immediate, the steam engine would have a strange lag do the piping between the steam control valve and the drive cylinders.
@@A_Bit_of_Thought All driving wheels on steam loco are coupled and working together, but each driving axle on diesel loco have individual automatic anti-slip control. No human factor - simlper operation :-). But the freght train assisted from Big Boy has a big mistake in calculation of required traction power. I think it was necessary to use at least one additional diesel engine as pushing unit :-).
@@Denis_Korchagin Don't forget to add that the diesel has a steady torque on the drive wheels while the steam engine torque is continually varying depending on the position of the pistons. You might be correct on the train that 4014 was helping probably was put together with not enough engine power.
