Regarding the conversion to oil. I fully understand why they did it; I just love the smell of coal fired steam! The way things are going, being oil fired, they have a better chance of running it well into the future. The wide availability of oil enhances that chance of running for decades to come.
Just thrilled to see one in steam with the prospect that I might someday experience it in person.
Cliff Jennings said:
Thanks Ken. I’d love to be one of those passengers, wow, what a ride!
Anyone know the purpose of the diesel? Maybe it’s there just in case there’s problems?
And how do they MU steam and diesel together, without fighting each other? (Maybe same as steam-to-steam, and I don’t know how that’s done either… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif))
The diesel provides power to the passenger cars (HEP). Also, in some areas of track, they use in cab signals, something the steam locomotives don’t have the equipment for, so the diesel is there to “talk” to the signal equipment and receive the signals.
MUing steam is something the engineers do by feel and sound. You can hear and feel if your locomotive is loafing or straining. That was one of the selling points for diesels, one engineer can control a string of diesels, but steam locomotives need a crew on each unit.
Gary Armitstead said:
I watched the live streaming video that Trains Magazine put on this morning from the yard throat at the Ogden yard. 1414 and 844 nose to nose for the ceremony. Big deal dignitaries (Governor of the state of Utah and top brass from Union Pacific. Both engine crews posed on the pilots of their engines. About went “re-enactors” posed in the same positions they would have occupied 150 years ago. Impressive and well done as only U.P. can do it :).
A guy I was with in Nam lives out there in Utah. If I’d have know about this a bit sooner I’d have flown out there to see him and watch this event too. He’s been posting videos of 4014 running through Utah on FB.
In Canada, when running the Heritage CPR AB F-units in an excursion, the diesel loco is there to provide dynamic braking on the long grades. For that reason, the length of the train and the track mileage is limited to a point where the braking provided by the diesel is insufficient to have the required safety margin. Running from North Vancouver these heritage excursions rarely go further afield than, uh, Field.
Somebody needs to school the writer…
Today marked the 150th anniversary of it’s completion and up to 15,000 people are expected to gather at the remote spot in the Utah desert where the final spikes were hammered into the ground.
I have seen that phrase; " final spikes were hammered into the ground", in another article. It shows that the writer is unfamiliar with the subject. Spikes are driven into sleepers, or ties, not into the ground…DOH!
