Union Pacific 4014: Still at it!

[Steve Klare]

This is a follow-up to a thread I started on the GOF last year:

http://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bi...c;f=8;t=005202

The Union Pacific Railroad pulled one of their 4000 class 4-8-8-4 locomotives out of a museum a few years ago and spent a couple of million dollars restoring her to service. This is one of the 25 of these beasts that once pulled long trains up the mountains out West. This moving neighborhood of hot steel is an example of the largest steam locomotive ever to exist!

She's been on a months long tour of the Union Pacific system: thousands and thousands of miles under a whole lot of steam! (I like how she blots out the sun as she passes by...)

Note: This was also an excuse to try the new forum's embedded video feature. (So far I'm liking it!)

[Graham Ritchie]

Brilliant video, Steve is she oil fired? what are they using the accompanying diesel for?...its great stuff.

[Steve Klare]

Hi Graham,
She is now oil fired: probably to simplify fueling her out on the road. Fuel oil can be delivered anywhere, tons of coal and the means to get it up into that bunker: not so much! The two auxiliary tenders behind her are because they tore the water towers down 60 years ago: it's not easy running a steam locomotive these days.

The diesel is a common sight in steam mainline consists in modern times: worse come to worse they need spare power to limp off the mainline if something goes wrong with the steam engine. She is also there to provide dynamic braking, which wasn't even invented until after 4014 was retired. I wonder also if she doesn't provide hotel power for those coaches. Suffice it to say, 4014 on her own could easily move a mile long train, so the diesel sure isn't there for traction.

If I ever want to see this for myself, I think I will need to take it on the road: She's usually based in Omaha, Nebraska and I seriously doubt they will ever run her further East than Chicago.

[Brian Fretwell]

The diesel certainly sounded as if it was idling so perhaps carriage power and possibly extra load so the steam engine had something to pull, it certainly would be working well below its capacity. We had what were called ETHELs on steam runs in winter in the UK. ETHEL stood for Electric Train Heating Ex Locomotive and I believe resulted in diesels that would otherwise have been scrapped lasting long enough to be bought for preservation.

[Ali Hipperson]

Hi Steve.

What a great video - really enjoyed it!

I'm also a model railway collector (it's my other passion) and I have a number of American railroad engines, carriages and wagons in my collection - along with my pride and joy, my very own 'Big-Boy' which is a superb loco.

I'm going to the largest model railway exhibition in the UK later this month in Glasgow and I'm still on the lookout for a 'Cab-Forward' to add to the American side of my collection 🤞

Ali.

[Steve Klare]

Hi Ali,

I can truly say that I lost Model Railroading to Love!

I had a pretty decent sized (8' x16') model railroad at Mom and Dad's house. This was serious stuff: O-scale 2 foot narrow gauge. The trains were a little complicated to come by, and commercial track was non-existent. I had to cut and stain ties, glue them down, and hand-spike rails gauged 1/2 inches apart. Commercially produced switches were available, but sooner or later I realized I was paying somebody else to do something I could actually do for myself, so I took one of theirs and started making copies with regular rail stock and a lot of cutting and soldering.

After I graduated from college and got a job, this question started echoing inside my head: "What else?" I thought it might be nice to meet someone compatible, get married, have a place and some kids: the usual!

I noticed that there weren't a great many young ladies wandering through my parents' basement, and this was pretty much the end of my Railroadin' days!

Now don't get me wrong! It's actually more my fault than my wife's that I don't have a train room these days. When we were shopping for a house to go along with our shiny new marriage, I didn't check off the box "Full Basement". Today I have a half basement: kind of a cave for the furnace and the washer and dryer to live in. I could probably do 8 Feet by 16 down there, but doing laundry might require a lot of ducking and crawling. I don't see my wife going for this at all!

I DO visit my trains these days: they are carefully boxed up, waiting for when we retire and maybe move into a house intended more for showing films and running
trains!

[Ali Hipperson]

Hi Steve.

Ah well for me it's one of the few, but very pleasant, compensations (along with my return to my 'first love' - All Things Cine!) that becoming divorced and losing practically everything has allowed me to go back to 😊

I started back collecting both 8mm and 00-Gauge five years ago now. One of the main drawbacks of both hobbies is that they both require a fairly large space to enjoy properly - or in my case, two large spaces. That was a real problem when up until October of last year I had spent the previous 10yrs living in just one rented room in a shared-house - hence all I was able to do was to start back buying for both my collections and wait for the day when I would once again have my own home with enough space to enjoy both of my hobbies.

That day came last October when (and thanks to my beloved late mother, who I was the main carer for in her last 5 years) I was finally able to move out of London and up to the Isle of Bute (which is off of the west cost of Scotland) and take possession of my very own two-bedroom tenament appartment! 😊

The sizeable living-room will double as my Cine-Collecting room and will allow me somewhere between a 17-19ft throw when I start showing films again regularly for the first time since the early 1980's.

The larger of the two bedrooms will be my model-railway room and it's 13'x15' (which is pretty big by British standards) and will allow me to have a 12'x6' layout, which again is pretty big for over here - unless you're Rod Stewart! 😉

At the moment I have so much other stuff in the appartment (mainly belonging to my mum) which I need to go through in order to make the necessary space and this will take sometime and then there is some decorating that will need to be done to get both rooms ready and just the way that I want them to be for each hobby.

So I'm aiming to have both rooms ready for use/play by the end of this summer - but after waiting more than 5 yes, a few more months won't make any difference!

I really hope Steve that when you retire you are able to also find a new home that will allow you to enjoy both of 'our' hobbies too! 🤞

Ali.