Truth is; all the railroad companies couldn’t wait to scrap those maintenance hungry teapots and get them gone. Diesel fuel was 6-8 cents a gallon and the diesel locomotives required very little maintenance in comparison. The cost savings were enormous….which meant higher profits. I spent nearly 27 years as an engineer and never once regretted that I missed the steam era. Those engines were filthy, hot in the summer and drafty in the winter….I worked with many steam men back when I started. Not a one of them missed steam engines. Nostalgia is one thing, practicality another. The same logic applies to modern jet aircraft as opposed to the old radial engined propeller planes. A bit of trivia: the steam men told me the C&O T-1’s ….2-10-4’s were powerful brutes but rode horrible. On the other hand, the articulated H8 Alleghenies rode like Cadillacs. And I remember as a kid the C&O 614 Greenbriar sitting derelict behind the Russell, KY roundhouse along with three 2700’s. I got climb up on them back in the 60’s and they were just rusting hulks. 614 got saved but the 2700’s went to the Mansbach scrap yard in Ashland, KY.
In Aug 1998 my son and I were driving back from Phoenix to his new job in Johnson City Tn. We stopped in Memphis (I wish Id marked the date) for the nite and got to talking with a man in the motel lobby. Dont remember how RRing came up but he had been an engineer for one of these behemoths, and I had only been a lowly B&O machinist. Do you have any idea how humbled and honored I felt when I offered and he shook my hand? To shake the hand of a man who had been Captain in command of one of the largest "land ships" ever built.??
😮 dude this is so cool man my favorite union pacific big boy 4004 is the best coolest steam locomotive ever bruh did you know that there were 25 total of union pacific big boys but up big boy 4014 is still operating in this year now this September I am going to see my uncle poncho in salt lake city of Utah so I can see union pacific big boy 4014 over there it's gonna be fun like when I was a kid
I was living in Sidney Nebraska and I seen Big Boy and now KSID radio station is renamed the big boy. I was ok with seeing the big boy steam engine but the residents of Sidney Nebraska are very mean and nasty. If you are thinking about about moving to Sidney Nebraska or visiting Sidney Nebraska, don’t do it. I hate Sidney Nebraska and I moved out of Sidney Nebraska and I will never set foot back in Sidney Nebraska. Do yourself a favor and don’t ever go to Sidney Nebraska.
Hi my name is Aaron Michael Nanneman I live in Brookfield Missouri and I am a big fan of all the union pacific steam locomotives and all other steam locomotives of all the American railroads because I like to get them as big Lionel super train sets know what I mean everyone
Fascinating, informative and well narrated, I am not into steam but I really enjoyed this video, much appreciated and thank you...steam lasted in Australia into the early 1970's before diesel traction took over.
One of my personal favorite documentary films about steam locomotives and this is the first film that I had ever seen relating to the Union Pacific "big boy" type locomotives, it is interesting to observe the operation of railroads over 60+ years ago.
Sorry, but pipefitters had nothing to do with anything on this locomotive. It was BOILERMAKERS who built it and did ALL the maintenance on it. Boilermakers have been around as union longer than pipefitters. They started the industrial revolution
😮 dude this is so cool man my favorite union pacific big boy 4004 is the best coolest steam locomotive ever bruh did you know that there were 25 total of union pacific big boys but up big boy 4014 is still operating in this year now this September I am going to see my uncle poncho in salt lake city of Utah so I can see union pacific big boy 4014 over there it's gonna be fun like when I was a kid
😮 dude this is so cool man my favorite union pacific big boy 4004 is the best coolest steam locomotive ever bruh did you know that there were 25 total of union pacific big boys but up big boy 4014 is still operating in this year now this September I am going to see my uncle poncho in salt lake city of Utah so I can see union pacific big boy 4014 over there it's gonna be fun like when I was a kid
😮 dude this is so cool man my favorite union pacific big boy 4004 is the best coolest steam locomotive ever bruh did you know that there were 25 total of union pacific big boys but up big boy 4014 is still operating in this year now this September I am going to see my uncle poncho in salt lake city of Utah so I can see union pacific big boy 4014 over there it's gonna be fun like when I was a kid
😮 dude this is so cool man my favorite union pacific big boy 4004 is the best coolest steam locomotive ever bruh did you know that there were 25 total of union pacific big boys but up big boy 4014 is still operating in this year now this September I am going to see my uncle poncho in salt lake city of Utah so I can see union pacific big boy 4014 over there it's gonna be fun like when I was a kid
I first saw this when I was a child. Now almost 25 years later I still find it amazing. Man I remember when I first saw that cartoon... mister mallet cutting and reassembling his machine. I was blown away. So good of you to preserve this.
Even i had difficulty finding this on RU-vid after i lost The VHS recording of this film. So Glad that BBR has preserved this film even if loco 6597 had a somewhat split number personality.
yes rebuilt one to operating service but now needs a diesel behind it.. what an embarrassment, this old girl pulled mile long trains before with no help.
The one which was restored recently? That is a monster. Our tech today is so weak. American.cars of the 80s chrome.and steel have been replaced by junk now from Asia.
@@cjones3710 lol, the difference between old cars and the new ones is you might actually survive an accident today that'd decapitate you in the old days. Look at the 2009 malibu vs 1959 bel air head-on crash test and let me know you think
@@rem_92899 I would much prefer to be in 1984 Buick, or 46 Ford. They had reinforved ateel beams on the doors l, and there was steel chrome bumpers in a good deal of automobiles thru the early 90s. The change in design was close to the change in headlight restrictions. I see styrofoam fly apart in bumper of modern autos. That is how they are designed. It might be helpful if others drove safe, and also had small cars, but there are also large autos, MACK trucks, good old 18 wheelers, and bad ol' motorcycle hooligans and cross folk who take frustrations out on othwr folks due to inabilty to manage emotions. I like knowing that a pontaic door is heavy bc its made to protect people w steel beams. No, tricks of godless folk tomake cheaper cars in foreign nations that sputter along....not safe... But nothing is safe about a box on wheels, but its necessary to move about great distances. Thank goodness for gasoline motors, and coal to power the new weaker plug in cars. That limits how far, and long folks can travel.
