big boy locomotive
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Other Topics
Forum Name: Shops, Barns, Varmints, and Trucks
Forum Description: anything you want to talk about except politics
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=150445
Printed Date: 07 Sep 2025 at 9:21pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: big boy locomotive
Posted By: HudCo
Subject: big boy locomotive
Date Posted: 13 May 2018 at 9:15pm
|
heard that it is going to be out of the shop soon there in cheyanne wy. any one know any dates ,times ect. i sure would like to see it going across wyoming wide open pulling a load
|
Replies:
Posted By: shameless dude
Date Posted: 13 May 2018 at 9:52pm
|
about the only load it ever pulls now is the fancy UP V.P. cars, it always goes full bore thru our town with a helicopter escort because a local dudes son was killed in a car/train accident years ago here and he has threatened to cause some type of accident for that engine and it's cars/people passengers because of it. nothing has ever happened, but the threats are still there. I love seeing that big old brute too! try U.P.web site and see if anything is in there. the engine itself used to have their own web site.
|
Posted By: JohnCO
Date Posted: 14 May 2018 at 1:14am
I haven't seen Austin Barker, my friend who works at the UP steam locomotive shop since last year. Seems like I heard the Big Boy is still several months away from being finished. Most of the parts they had made for it were in last fall but there is a tremendous amount of reassembly to do, then testing and adjusting. I'll call his uncle tomorrow and find out more.
Here's an update Ed did a couple months ago, https://youtu.be/-P1OkYT9lOY" rel="nofollow - https://youtu.be/-P1OkYT9lOY
-------------
"If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer"
Allis Express participant
|
Posted By: JohnCO
Date Posted: 14 May 2018 at 2:08am
Shameless, I think the engine you are referring to is the 844 which is the current traveling engine. The 4014 is the Big Boy and is a whole lot bigger then the 844. I think they hope to have it done by the end of this year but will make a call and find out for sure.
-------------
"If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer"
Allis Express participant
|
Posted By: HudCo
Date Posted: 14 May 2018 at 11:00am
|
i have got to see the 844 and the challanger , but when the big boy comes out i am closeing up and driveing to cheyanne to see it
|
Posted By: HudCo
Date Posted: 14 May 2018 at 11:03am
|
shammless you could probley put two of those 844 s in the smoke stack of that big boy
|
Posted By: JohnCO
Date Posted: 14 May 2018 at 12:12pm
Just talked to Jim, Austin's uncle. Last word is that they hope to debute the Big Boy about a year from now. Currently they are installing stay bolts, hundreds of stay bolts, each of which have a cap welded over it to keep water from leaking while firing the boiler. Something I didn't know is that they will fill it with fairly hot water, 150 degrees or so because 1. it will take a long time to get the boiler up to temp and 2. it is less stressful on the unit. After the stay bolts are installed, the tubes will be installed and rolled tight. I've helped work on steam tractors and the biggest tubes we installed were 3" on an Avery engine. Some of the tubes on the Big Boy are 8" and 12".
On a slightly different note, Jim mentioned that someone is building a Case 150 hp steam tractor from scratch. Case built 4 of the big ones but had lots of trouble with them and they were scrapped and the boilers used for other purposes. One boiler survived and was used as a copy for a new one. The builders are hoping the 100 years of metallurgy improvements will overcome the problems Case had back in the early 1900's. They hope to have this engine at a show this summer somewhere in the upper Midwest. I'm going to google case 150 engine and see what comes up.
I'm going to Ohio for the 4th of July and am thinking of stopping at the wrecking yard where the Case 110 engine is sitting in Medina. This is the one that blew up a dozen or more years ago, killing several people. I understand there are still some unsettled lawsuits over it.
-------------
"If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer"
Allis Express participant
|
Posted By: CAL(KS)
Date Posted: 14 May 2018 at 12:38pm
|
here John http://www.farmcollector.com/steam-traction/the-legendary-150-hp-case-steam-traction-engine" rel="nofollow - http://www.farmcollector.com/steam-traction/the-legendary-150-hp-case-steam-traction-engine
-------------
Me -C,U,UC,WC,WD45,190XT,TL-12,145T,HD6G,HD16,HD20
Dad- WD, D17D, D19D, RT100A, 7020, 7080,7580, 2-8550's, 2-S77, HD15
|
Posted By: HD6GTOM
Date Posted: 14 May 2018 at 1:51pm
|
I wanna be there when they pull him outta the roundhouse for the first time.
|
Posted By: JohnCO
Date Posted: 14 May 2018 at 2:11pm
That's interesting, there were actually 9 built. Interesting way to spend a million bucks on a machine that sold for $4,000 in 1905!
-------------
"If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer"
Allis Express participant
|
|