26:38. Historical evidence that Hyce was in fact born from a choo choo. I was watching this and thinking "It's not that Bi... Oh holy fuck he can stand up in it."
25:45 "hey, you guys made firebrick for the Rio Grande?" "Yep, Need some" "Yeah, we have this 6-37?" "oh! Which one?" "Oh 491" "Great, We're pour some molds for the weird one with Siphons" This is why Record keeping's important people!
I feel like there's more (operational) Rio Grande steam still around than the rest of the US railroads combined, so probably not a bad business decision to hang onto those.
Hearing young people with such in depth knowledge of this engine and her systems is so heartwarming this shows there is a future for the remaining steam engines beyond the service of the oldtimers that remain
I would not doubt Hyce is invited, I'm sure Ed is just hugely busy, but probably if Hyce met them at one of their multi-day stops, he would be welcome!
Was the 2nd Assistant Engineer on the last coal burning ship in the world, The SS Badger and I had to do way too many crawls through the firebox doors. Also did my fair share of shaking the fire grates alongside my fireman (miss ya Beto) in order to get a fresh fire down. Her boilers each had two sides of the fire so you always had a fire lit and every four hours we would have to dump the fire because the ash was too built up. It was loads of fun. Normally it would take about 5 minutes to do one. But, me and my fireman could do all six fires in about 15 minutes. We would be flying.
@kyleh3615 Ya, one of the towers on the ramp fell over. The old ramp had been there since the 1920s, and the wooden foundation finally gave way. Luckily, no one was hurt. It took them almost a year to build a new one.
Big reason for that is because of the quality of the coal they were burning, a lot of big engines of this size have smaller fireboxes because they're burning anthracite.
@@davidfuller581 Correct, but if you look in the fireboxes of one of those engines it is smaller than this one, albeit by a small amount but its noticeable if you've become accustomed to the size of the Big Boy's firebox.
I know the excitement of climbing in a firebox and the absolute pain of getting out. One day on a whim last winter we decided to clean out 207’s firebox to see what we could find in there. We ended up finding 5 of the hydrostatic sight glasses among other things. Presumably they had been put in there to keep them from being found and stolen. The amount of junk and treasure in the box was almost up to the fire door inside of an oil burning keyhole firebox for reference of how much there was.
@@theolittlestone6406 she was built in 1917 by Baldwin for the Texas, Oklahoma, & Eastern/ Dierks Lumber and Coal Company. She is a prairie. Ran for the TO&E until the 50’s when a fire broke out inside her cab and in the 60’s she was donated to Bells Amusement Park. She sat there until the 80’s when she was moved to where she is today.
Ok, I am far from being a fan of the Grande (my entire family comes from the Grand Trunk Western), but learning that the company that supplied firebricks to the DRGW still exists AND that they haven’t purged their archives is beyond cool!
One thing to keep in mind too is that the tender currently on the Big Boy is the one off the 3985, but I would imagine they are pretty much the same, although the tenders for the late Challengers (and the 2nd series of Big Boys) held 1,000 gallons more of water (25,000 vs. 24,000). That was such a cool video tho! I've been in the cab of the 4006 in St. Louis, and looking down that boiler, its like man, does the boiler ever stop 😂
Mark, the Big Boy cab tour given by Carl was fantastic! I’m always in awe over this choo choo. Everything so huge and impressive. Countless number of valves and all that and the 3d printed sight glasses sooo cool. Always wanted to see a picture of the firebox steam jets that was an ultra fab shot, Mark! And when you peered out the cab window and choo choo extends into oblivion OMG WOW. As if that wasn’t enough then you did what I was hoping you’d do Mark climb into the firebox. I just screamed for joy! That was beyond amazing, but the even greater thing about that was, as you said, showed us its enormous size and the many repairs choo choo endured! Then you reclined in there like Madame Récamier, a completely hilarious touch!!! So enjoyed this tour. Many thanks Professor for another beautiful learning video, and many thanks to Carl for giving us a first-class tour! Also nice to see Jersey and shout out hello to him. As always cheers to you Mark, Carl and Jersey.
Glad you enjoyed the video. If you come on down to the museum (Denver, CO) I'd be happy to let you in the cab. Just bring clothes you dont mind getting dirty if you wanna go in the firebox.
You briefly mentioned the Pennsy engines and their elevator tubes--the PRR primarily used Standard's HT-1 stokers (though a number of the I1s/I1sa 2-10-0s got D-1 duplex stokers), and while I have nothing to back it up on hand, I suspect this was because the HT was Standard's recommended model for retrofitting to already-extant engines. The PRR was very opposed to the ICC regulation requiring mechanical stokers on engines with weight on drivers of 160,000 lbs or mote, built on or after April 15, 1939 to have mechanical stokers. Even though they were resistant, the only PRR classes actually required to have stokers were the S1, Q1, Q2, T1, and J1 (totalling 205 locomotives, a relatively small number of engines when the M1/M1a, K4s, I1/I1sa, and L1s totalled 1,898 engines that mostly lasted until the end) For an example of how badly they drug their feet when it came to putting stokers on their extant road power despite knowing that they were better fuel, labor, and power economy (thanks, Altoona Test Plant), we only need to look at surviving K4s #1361--entered service May 18, 1918 and did not recieve its stoker until July 1939, more than halfway though its 38 year career. Even so, many other K4s, including (I believe) prototype #1737, met the scrapper's torch as hand-fired engines.
When I was 4-5 years old, they let people go into the cab. I remember sticking my head into the firebox and it was scary because I thought it would turn on. It was so cool inside of the cab though.
I never stuck my head in the firebox, but I remember climbing up onto it as a kid, when it was downtown. My grandpa gave me a boost. I was afraid to touch anything, probably for the same reasons as you.
Its amazing to see how much the inside of the firebox had to go through- the firebrick on the arch looked like it was ready to collapse onto the grates in places. Shows the stressors of a multi-thousand degree fire along with super hot water and steam.
Every time I watch these videos my mind always starts to wander around how a steam loco designed in 2024 would look. The quality of the castings, more uniformly standardized thread pitches and bolt holes and dimensions. Much more precicely machined parts. Different sealing materials. Electronic PID regulation for every single locomotive function. Non-leaky valves. Longer lasting, maintenance free wheel bearings. Maybe even a multifuel firebox, capable of running on both coal/wood and oil at the same time, or maybe even running on waste as fuel.
I had a dream last night that you were showing off one of the most cursed consists ever... imagine an old-school Amtrak Cascades consist, but someoned decided to rip the lift towers off the hawthorne bridge in portland and stick them upright on the passenger cars, all while sprinkling in a bunch of freight cars at random. Please stay out of my dreams, Hyce
I always love your videos man because they always get so in depth in this stuff! As a stationary Boiler guy myself, its always so cool to see how they tailored boilers for specific uses and all the unique things that are specific for that application, whether its a power plant boiler, a locomotive or a marine boiler at the end of the day steam is steam! Keep up the good work!!
you always make me feel better, Ive had a terrible week with a few deaths and your videos always make me feel so much better. Thank you for doing what you do. Even if you don't see this know that you are genuinely helping people who are struggling.
1:10 - Aaaactually - that could be an idea for a second use to Hyasynth. As a high end soundboard for museum exhibits etc. 🤔 Going one step further and in a way going full circle (as in; your whole railway history started with your grandfather's model railway sound system) Hyasynth sound modules for model railways might be the next big step for realism? 3:55 - So basically it's a steam engine with power steering =P 22:35 - When I showed an actual advert from our German federal railway joking about OnlyTrains, half your Discord went bananas and called it very ewww 😅But I love the joke :D 25:40 - Now that's a company taking their history and archives seriously. Magnificent! As always, thanks for sharing!
best part of the video is watching Hyce stuff his butt into a Big Boy's Firebox. Carl on the other hand could likely just be tossed in since the Shovel's handle is thicker than he is!
I hope that when/if you go to a C&O Allegheny you get the opportunity to enter the fire box, possibly even the smokebox. Those are even larger on the H-8s.
Been a big fan of Big Boy steam locomotive for sometime. I had seen 4005, 4014 and 4004 in Cheyenne Wyoming. I heard when WW2 took place during that time when the Big Boys where in service that there was a idea to build a bigger Big Boy, but the idea went out the window when the war had ended. It would have been interesting to have seen that. 4005 if I remember this right was the only Big Boy that was in a accident. It is awesome to see Big Boy. I heard 4014 is stopping in Greeley Colorado October 23. 😊
The guys who operated these locomotives back in the day are true professionals. I can't imagine being in charge of this with 2 miles of freight cars on the back end.
The Big Chungus! (Big Boy) locomotive. An absolute beast and an absolute beauty. Hopefully one day when I visit the US I can see this locomotive for myself (I live in Australia). Keep up the great work Mark @Hyce777
It’s so complicated. Which button turns on the air conditioner? And which lever is the radio? Can you see my sarcasm? Although, nobody said a steam locomotive isn’t a confounding beast!
12:58 Ah, yes. The time when fireman Dillan Hill hand-fired 27 tons of coal after the stoker failed, with the boiler pressure dropping down as low as 165 psi before they threw in some creosoted pieces of ties to get the pressure back up as they headed towards the Laramie Roundhouse, presumably after dropping their cars in a siding. I don't know for sure, but they may have picked up a section crew along the way to help poor Dillan, but that's still a very impressive feat either way!
@@sambrown6426Hi Sam! My apologies, was scrolling through comments and realized I forgot to clarify this. (Sorry about that!) Your description of what happened is pretty much spot on, however the incident you’re referring to actually happened to a man named Harvey Fallon, who, like Dillard Hill, hired out in Laramie as a fireman in the 40’s and worked for UP for 40 years. (Hired out 1944, retired 1984). Either way, Harvey and his engineer John Metzler were on 3 track from Cheyenne heading down to Harriman towards Laramie, and they decided they wouldn’t stop for coal and water so they could make it to Laramie ahead of some passenger trains. (Freight trains were lower priority back in the day and it would be a pain to have to keep stopping and starting with all that tonnage) Well, by the time they reached Hermosa (big famous tunnel) they were about out of coal in the tender. Ended up pretty much coasting down to to Red Buttes with just a small fire in the firebox and had to stop and wait in Red Buttes for passenger trains, which only made the fire they had burn out even more. Got down to 165 PSI. Had to run over onto the main to get water, and while they were in Red Buttes they grabbed 3 ties and shoved them in the firebox just so they had something to burn while they were waiting. Having an extinguished firebox would have really been a bad day! Only when they got just outside of Laramie did the ties really start to heat up (that’s the part that sucks with coal vs oil)
As for Dillard Hill’s incident, that happened out at Rawlins. Somehow the stoker screw stopped working, and I’m not entirely sure how. Like I said, I’m guessing it was user error. The engineer Earl Cole was known to be a very hard man to fire for even with a fully functioning locomotive. Either way, Dillard and a head end brakeman named John Stoddard hand fired the engine up to Laramie and only ran at 200 PSI, enough to keep everything working such as injectors, etc.
This would be a prime example of "don't shut it off unless you are home". Imagine trying to do a dead cold startup with no steam pressure, no external compressed air or steam (meaning no stoker and no steam jets) and 10,000gallons of water to boil. You'd need 2 firemen, one on the footplate and one standing in the middle of the firebox to get the entire grate.
@@crazyguy32100 that situation is exactly why many roundhouses had live steam plumbed in from an auxiliary boiler just to keep *some* amount of pressure in the engines
1:40 correct me if im wrong... but.... . IIRC.... First Service is a controlled setting of the brakes. instead of just dumping the air....it does like 10 PSI reduction every 30 seconds or something like that. . where the normal "apply" would make like a 40 PSI reduction in 30 seconds....
It's about a 6 PSI reduction. Enough to get the cars thinking about starting to brake, but not enough to create any kind of crazy slack conditions. You have to think about 8ET was designed specifically to handle long trains, so they thought a lot about how an engineer might be able to better control the slack action of the cars.
Most of the Super Power locomotives had Nathan 4000 C Special injectors, or "super C" for short. The regular 4000C could be equipped with different sets of nozzles giving it a capacity of 8500-12000 gallons per hour. There were also some other small changes but for the most part the regular 4000 used the same basic parts. The C Special took the 4000 from a max of 12000 gallons per hour, up to 12500-14500 gallons per hour. The C special had a slightly larger body diameter to accommodate the larger nozzles, thus giving it a higher capacity. The C Special also had larger internal valves to match the larger nozzles, and a deeper nozzle cap, among other small differences. The 4000C is said to be the "Cadillac" of steam injectors, which is why the T1 trust decided to embark on a venture to build brand new ones not only for the T1, but several of the other large super power locomotives that are currently in service, or will be in service over the next few years. The first test body for the new 4000C was recently cast and delivered, while preparations are underway for myself and Eccentric Engineer to begin manufacturing the internal components for the bodies.
You’re correct, this one is a C Special. I forgot to mention that part in my excitement. It’s a smaller capacity injector than what’s on the Alleghenney and the Yellowstone, but the same 4000C Special nontheless.
@@carlenger9707yea, the big boy’s were spec’d with 12,500 gal/hr live injectors. The H-8s had 13k gal/hr injectors. I’m not aware of any locomotives that had the size C specials which had the max of 14.5k gal/hr capacity, although if my memory serves, the Pennsy Q2s came with live injectors that were good for 15k gal/hr.
16:00 the UP was kind of a late adopter of the Worthington SA feedwater system. Most of their large steam power was delivered with some manner of exhaust steam injector system. The Worthington system was later retrofitted onto several of their late era steam power, including the first gen challengers, 800s, and 9000s. When the 4000s and 3900 series challengers were designed, the mechanical committee stuck with the Elesco system which they had tested on a 3800 series challenger and had found to be reliable enough. The TP injector was good for 14,075 gal/hr on the 4000s and 12,000 gal/hr on the 3900s. One of the later reasons provided for why the Worthington system was never retrofitted onto the 4000s and their smaller siblings was that the smokebox was not long enough to accommodate the SA heater box. Had the 3rd run of oil fired 4000s been procured for the LASL, those locomotives would have come with an enlarged centipede tender with 6500 gallons oil and 33,000 gallons water, and a lengthened smokebox to accommodate the Worthington 6-1/2 SA, which would have been good for 14,400 gal/hr.
Correct, that's why I say they did it for "reliability reasons". Feedwater heaters were already well in place on other railroads when these engines were built... up until last year I admit I was unaware that the 800s were retrofitted with feedwater heaters until I saw the Sellers exhaust steam injector on the 838. Anyway, as you've seen with other aspects of the video I try to keep my docenting as simple as possible, (99% of poeple I talk to don't have the first idea of what they're even looking at) so oftentimes I neglect to mention details like that... I'm sure you understand and I appreciate your patience. All that is to say it is an extremely rare privilege to have such a knowledgeable man in the cab with me and to talk to someone so knowledgable on this site!
Some engines have water glasses with a housing that diverts leakage (not water glass or water column drains) to a pipe through the floor. That should reduce the steam in the cab when a water glass breaks, I think, but I haven't experienced such a failure. The Big Boys have two water columns with two vertically offset water glasses each to allow for the full range of water level changes due to grades inherent in such a long boiler. Using the stoker jets while hand firing a stationary engine is pretty much standard (at least once pressure is raised), so using the jets when emergency firing on the road makes a lot of sense.
17:37 that’s the indexed water capacity control for the exhaust injector. Turning the handle actuated a slide valve in the injector body to regulate the amount of water that could flow through the appliance. Typically you’d want to start the injector with the dial between 1/2 and 2/3 capacity for it to pick up properly, then fine it down to what you need, however, if you went below 1/3 capacity on the dial, the injector flow was liable to break. Originally delivered, those dials came with a range of 0 to 10, but it seems that they were later retrofitted to dials with ranges of either 0-3 or 0-5 from what I’ve seen. Fun fact for those who’ve never turned one of these dials, the handle and the dial are connected by a reduction gear, so that one turn of the handle only yields a fraction of a turn on the dial. This allows extremely fine adjustments to the amount of water flow to the injector.
All true based on my observations as well as based on the sign in the cab. This one still has numbers all the way up to 10. The mechanism still works even with all its U joints!
im an 844 fan although i find the big boys as an insanely cool piece of engineering. i would have LOVED to see the immense size of that thing in person.
Hyce the stoker did have a mechanical stoker it was connected to one of the tender axels the hydrostatic was for running the stoker when the loco was stationary
Growing up in the Denver area for the first half of my life I had been to Forney many many times, and that locomotive sat outside for years and years, good to see that and the other railroading equipment they have finally made it inside. Back in the day so many vintage autos were in the dust and dirt underneath the museum along with the plat valley model railroading club. I have no idea if any of that is the case anymore?
Hi Todd! You'll be happy to hear that everything that is on display at the museum is safely stored inside. This includes all of our locomotives and other rolling stock, with the exception being our Rio Grande caboose, which we acquired along with our GP30 #3006 in 2018. At the request of the Rail Archivist it is tied down in the parking lot, and while it has undergone restoration work it will not be open to the public. All of our automobiles are carefully cleaned, delivered in an orderly fashion, and artfully displayed (more than walking distance between each other) with interpretive signage for each vehicle on display. The display rotates out every 4 months, so if you come twice a year, there will be a roster of different cars every single time you come! When they are not on display, they are stored in climate controlled storage either on the property (we can easily hold a couple hundred vehicles in our warehouse) or by the owners themselves. If you have anything you'd like to display, please contact the museum! As for the models, the Moffat Modelers still occupy part of our space. They have an N Scale model of Golden and the surrounding area up through the Moffat Tunnel up by Winter Park. Hope this answers your questions!
Now that Hyce has been informed of all the controls, all that's left is for him to be a guest engineer on the 4014... Also, I was looking on google maps at the rail line that runs across the street from the museum, I know you said it was an industry spur, but I didn't realize just what a monster of a spur it was. It has like 3 different classification yards built into it and then runs for several miles until it joins back up with the main where it runs parallel to the light rail tracks.
Hyce since you were in the 4005 when the up gets there 4014 big boy going you should do a cab ride on that locomotive and watch it happen since you not only been in 4005 cab but through the front smoke box door and see it running in person
I recently went to survey they 1893 replica DeWitt Clinton, the grate is roughly 23" x 23" (the original locomotive was even smaller!) it's incredible how far steam technology came from the beginning to the end.
Congrats Hyce you've earned the cab tour from carl and then last time i commented saying restore 4005 they say: "Oh yeah, she's not going back into service any time soon. The smokebox has taken a big crap and no longer functions properly. So that mean's 4005 will stay in preservation."
I think you misunderstood our replies from the last video. This locomotive will not be restored to operating condition because it serves the masses better as an accessible educational tool inside a climate controlled museum. It is far and away the biggest reason why people come to the Forney museum in the first place. As cool as it would be to see it running again, sending the locomotive off to be rebuilt would mean no longer being able to provide education with videos such as these. Sometimes it's best to leave stuff unrestored. This is one of those times.
Carl said it well. I'll echo - not all of them need to run. 4014 runs. We should love and cherish that. The Forney's resources are much better served not trying to run that thing.
Steam Heating is such a odd thing. I saw a few coaches at the WW&F and from Edaville that had steam heat installed in them in the past. Raised a few eyebrows while I was doing some Vacuum break stuff. I always enjoy the videos. Hopefully you come up north east some time.
16:35 - 27:10 And that is how modern steamtrain engineers/enthusiasts are born. Comming out of the firey womb of the firebox.👍😁 Edit: Also half expected them to shut the hatch and go for lunch the moment Mark climbed in there.
With an engine this big, how did it navigate yards? I assume the head brakemen would be on the point checking switches. Or the yards that could handle this would have switch tenders or power switch's in the yard....
Good question! The short answer is, both! The longer answer is, it depends on the yard. No matter what, the brakeman would be riding point, hopping on and off to throw switches, directing, etc, but the larger yards also would have dispatch towers to control switches. The brakeman would have a lot to do in the yard, and if they weren't on the ground doing something it was pretty much necessary to have them riding point because the boiler and tender would create some pretty serious visibility issues. As a result of this, the stirrups on the front (you can see them in our video of us opening the smokebox) as well as the ladders on the tender are designed to be very easily hopped on and off of frequently. I consider Cheyenne to be home base for the Big Boys, and in the case of Cheyenne they had their westbound dispatch tower over by the Crow Creek bridge. Because this was pre radio, they had phones as well as loudspeakers all over the yard that could be used to communicate with the engine crews. One thing you'll also notice on the rear of the tender is a big red light, known as a backup light, this was specifically used when the engine was running light in the yards. Hope this answers your question and hope you enjoyed the video!
Hey Hyce awesome video. Can you make a video on how to build and design a steam locomotive. I need help understanding the math formula for designing an outside frame counterweight. Thanks
That firebox is bigger than most people's living rooms and better lit 🤪
you helped raise my Thomas the tank engine filled childhood. thank you!
26:38. Historical evidence that Hyce was in fact born from a choo choo.
I was watching this and thinking "It's not that Bi... Oh holy fuck he can stand up in it."
25:45
"hey, you guys made firebrick for the Rio Grande?"
"Yep, Need some"
"Yeah, we have this 6-37?"
"oh! Which one?"
"Oh 491"
"Great, We're pour some molds for the weird one with Siphons"
This is why Record keeping's important people!
I feel like there's more (operational) Rio Grande steam still around than the rest of the US railroads combined, so probably not a bad business decision to hang onto those.
Hearing young people with such in depth knowledge of this engine and her systems is so heartwarming this shows there is a future for the remaining steam engines beyond the service of the oldtimers that remain
When I saw the notification "BIG BOY CAB TOUR" I instantly thought Ed invited you aboard 4014 lol
I wish, lol!
I would not doubt Hyce is invited, I'm sure Ed is just hugely busy, but probably if Hyce met them at one of their multi-day stops, he would be welcome!
The rent for that firebox is probably around 3k a day, and houses a family of four 😂
Can easily turned into an AirBNB
It's bigger than my house
The sad part is, you know there's foamers out there that would love to rent it for a night or two.
4 bed 2 bath
"Ooooh, the cheese is under the sauce"
Never change jersey.
I laughed so hard at that.
I was so glad we had him along
Oh! Deep dish. Took me too long to get that.
Was the 2nd Assistant Engineer on the last coal burning ship in the world, The SS Badger and I had to do way too many crawls through the firebox doors. Also did my fair share of shaking the fire grates alongside my fireman (miss ya Beto) in order to get a fresh fire down. Her boilers each had two sides of the fire so you always had a fire lit and every four hours we would have to dump the fire because the ash was too built up. It was loads of fun. Normally it would take about 5 minutes to do one. But, me and my fireman could do all six fires in about 15 minutes. We would be flying.
The Ferry?
@kyleh3615 Yes, definitely the ferry.
@kyleh3615 Served on her for two years, from 2022 to 2023. Was on her right up to the whole dock incident and we had to shut down for the year.
@@Coolengineer30 I didn't even know of any incident
I just know an automotive youtuber I watch brought a project on the Badger a few years ago
@kyleh3615 Ya, one of the towers on the ramp fell over. The old ramp had been there since the 1920s, and the wooden foundation finally gave way. Luckily, no one was hurt. It took them almost a year to build a new one.
That fire box is bloody huge
That whole engine is bloody huge! Mark's reaction looking forward out the window was priceless.
Big reason for that is because of the quality of the coal they were burning, a lot of big engines of this size have smaller fireboxes because they're burning anthracite.
Yes and no, fireboxes on late era American steam are almost all bafflingly huge - it made them more efficient and generally free-steaming.
@@davidfuller581 Correct, but if you look in the fireboxes of one of those engines it is smaller than this one, albeit by a small amount but its noticeable if you've become accustomed to the size of the Big Boy's firebox.
Good Ole 4005 the first big boy I ever saw as a child spent a few hours in that cab and 4014 while it was om display in Pomona.
"Let me know if you want to go in there"
Excited Hyce noises.
"The cheese is under the sauce", "OnlyTrains" and "draw me like your french boiler makers" man 😂
I know the excitement of climbing in a firebox and the absolute pain of getting out. One day on a whim last winter we decided to clean out 207’s firebox to see what we could find in there. We ended up finding 5 of the hydrostatic sight glasses among other things. Presumably they had been put in there to keep them from being found and stolen. The amount of junk and treasure in the box was almost up to the fire door inside of an oil burning keyhole firebox for reference of how much there was.
Which railroad did the 207 belong to. What kind of engine is she.
@@theolittlestone6406 she was built in 1917 by Baldwin for the Texas, Oklahoma, & Eastern/ Dierks Lumber and Coal Company. She is a prairie. Ran for the TO&E until the 50’s when a fire broke out inside her cab and in the 60’s she was donated to Bells Amusement Park. She sat there until the 80’s when she was moved to where she is today.
Your impression of Big Boy’s whistle was on point. I got a good laugh out of it!
Ok, I am far from being a fan of the Grande (my entire family comes from the Grand Trunk Western), but learning that the company that supplied firebricks to the DRGW still exists AND that they haven’t purged their archives is beyond cool!
One thing to keep in mind too is that the tender currently on the Big Boy is the one off the 3985, but I would imagine they are pretty much the same, although the tenders for the late Challengers (and the 2nd series of Big Boys) held 1,000 gallons more of water (25,000 vs. 24,000). That was such a cool video tho! I've been in the cab of the 4006 in St. Louis, and looking down that boiler, its like man, does the boiler ever stop 😂
you're correct. You can see me start to mention that but my ADHD got me talking about something else mid thought.
@@carlenger9707 I totally understand. ADHD go brrr lol. I have plenty of squirrel moments myself
Mark, the Big Boy cab tour given by Carl was fantastic! I’m always in awe over this choo choo. Everything so huge and impressive. Countless number of valves and all that and the 3d printed sight glasses sooo cool. Always wanted to see a picture of the firebox steam jets that was an ultra fab shot, Mark! And when you peered out the cab window and choo choo extends into oblivion OMG WOW. As if that wasn’t enough then you did what I was hoping you’d do Mark climb into the firebox. I just screamed for joy! That was beyond amazing, but the even greater thing about that was, as you said, showed us its enormous size and the many repairs choo choo endured! Then you reclined in there like Madame Récamier, a completely hilarious touch!!! So enjoyed this tour. Many thanks Professor for another beautiful learning video, and many thanks to Carl for giving us a first-class tour! Also nice to see Jersey and shout out hello to him. As always cheers to you Mark, Carl and Jersey.
Glad you enjoyed the video. If you come on down to the museum (Denver, CO) I'd be happy to let you in the cab. Just bring clothes you dont mind getting dirty if you wanna go in the firebox.
@@carlenger9707 Many thanks Carl for your most kind invitation, I will definitely take you up on it when I come to Denver.
@8:14, the reason why the PTC equipment is on the engineer side of the tender is because 4014’s current tender is from 3985.
You briefly mentioned the Pennsy engines and their elevator tubes--the PRR primarily used Standard's HT-1 stokers (though a number of the I1s/I1sa 2-10-0s got D-1 duplex stokers), and while I have nothing to back it up on hand, I suspect this was because the HT was Standard's recommended model for retrofitting to already-extant engines.
The PRR was very opposed to the ICC regulation requiring mechanical stokers on engines with weight on drivers of 160,000 lbs or mote, built on or after April 15, 1939 to have mechanical stokers. Even though they were resistant, the only PRR classes actually required to have stokers were the S1, Q1, Q2, T1, and J1 (totalling 205 locomotives, a relatively small number of engines when the M1/M1a, K4s, I1/I1sa, and L1s totalled 1,898 engines that mostly lasted until the end)
For an example of how badly they drug their feet when it came to putting stokers on their extant road power despite knowing that they were better fuel, labor, and power economy (thanks, Altoona Test Plant), we only need to look at surviving K4s #1361--entered service May 18, 1918 and did not recieve its stoker until July 1939, more than halfway though its 38 year career. Even so, many other K4s, including (I believe) prototype #1737, met the scrapper's torch as hand-fired engines.
at this point, it's only a matter of time before Ed Dickens allows you to run 4014 for a little bit.
So I can dream... Lol!
@@Hyce777 You'll get to eventually
@@Hyce777 while pulling freight
@@crazyjack3357143 double stack.
just like bosnia...@@crazyjack3357
7:12 And then the firemen beats the engineer to death with the coal scoop
When I was 4-5 years old, they let people go into the cab. I remember sticking my head into the firebox and it was scary because I thought it would turn on. It was so cool inside of the cab though.
I never stuck my head in the firebox, but I remember climbing up onto it as a kid, when it was downtown. My grandpa gave me a boost. I was afraid to touch anything, probably for the same reasons as you.
The firebox could be used for a homeless shelter and use the stoker for a toilet.
Great demonstration.
Its amazing to see how much the inside of the firebox had to go through- the firebrick on the arch looked like it was ready to collapse onto the grates in places. Shows the stressors of a multi-thousand degree fire along with super hot water and steam.
Every time I watch these videos my mind always starts to wander around how a steam loco designed in 2024 would look. The quality of the castings, more uniformly standardized thread pitches and bolt holes and dimensions. Much more precicely machined parts. Different sealing materials. Electronic PID regulation for every single locomotive function. Non-leaky valves. Longer lasting, maintenance free wheel bearings. Maybe even a multifuel firebox, capable of running on both coal/wood and oil at the same time, or maybe even running on waste as fuel.
I had a dream last night that you were showing off one of the most cursed consists ever... imagine an old-school Amtrak Cascades consist, but someoned decided to rip the lift towers off the hawthorne bridge in portland and stick them upright on the passenger cars, all while sprinkling in a bunch of freight cars at random.
Please stay out of my dreams, Hyce
I always love your videos man because they always get so in depth in this stuff! As a stationary Boiler guy myself, its always so cool to see how they tailored boilers for specific uses and all the unique things that are specific for that application, whether its a power plant boiler, a locomotive or a marine boiler at the end of the day steam is steam! Keep up the good work!!
you always make me feel better, Ive had a terrible week with a few deaths and your videos always make me feel so much better. Thank you for doing what you do. Even if you don't see this know that you are genuinely helping people who are struggling.
I was not expecting the My Summer Big Boy opening to make a cameo.
Lmao
Good glory, these engines are a wonder!
1:10 - Aaaactually - that could be an idea for a second use to Hyasynth. As a high end soundboard for museum exhibits etc. 🤔 Going one step further and in a way going full circle (as in; your whole railway history started with your grandfather's model railway sound system) Hyasynth sound modules for model railways might be the next big step for realism?
3:55 - So basically it's a steam engine with power steering =P
22:35 - When I showed an actual advert from our German federal railway joking about OnlyTrains, half your Discord went bananas and called it very ewww 😅But I love the joke :D
25:40 - Now that's a company taking their history and archives seriously. Magnificent!
As always, thanks for sharing!
best part of the video is watching Hyce stuff his butt into a Big Boy's Firebox.
Carl on the other hand could likely just be tossed in since the Shovel's handle is thicker than he is!
The loco I've been playing with in the UK with a certain other TH-cam person with long hair is about the size of the firebox...
Indeed... Tell lawrie hi. :)
@@Hyce777 because you are lovely I have
I always knew how big they were but dam that firebox is a Hyce tall wooow
Hyce goin head-first into a firebox was not what I had expected for todays video xD
I hope that when/if you go to a C&O Allegheny you get the opportunity to enter the fire box, possibly even the smokebox. Those are even larger on the H-8s.
Been a big fan of Big Boy steam locomotive for sometime. I had seen 4005, 4014 and 4004 in Cheyenne Wyoming. I heard when WW2 took place during that time when the Big Boys where in service that there was a idea to build a bigger Big Boy, but the idea went out the window when the war had ended. It would have been interesting to have seen that. 4005 if I remember this right was the only Big Boy that was in a accident. It is awesome to see Big Boy. I heard 4014 is stopping in Greeley Colorado October 23. 😊
Good stuff brother. They will be in Strasburg on the 21st and Greely on the 23rd.
The guys who operated these locomotives back in the day are true professionals. I can't imagine being in charge of this with 2 miles of freight cars on the back end.
And most of them were young guys, around our age. Mostly veterans from Korea and WWII. Unbelievable. They truly were the greatest generation.
Ladies and gentlemen's, on today's episode. We get to see the big boy 4005 give birth to Hyce!
2:39 a wild Jersey has appeared in the head end brakeman’s seat!
that feels when the locomotive you work regularly on fits inside the bigboys firebox
This is a very special video thank you so much for making this
The Big Chungus! (Big Boy) locomotive. An absolute beast and an absolute beauty. Hopefully one day when I visit the US I can see this locomotive for myself (I live in Australia). Keep up the great work Mark @Hyce777
It’s so complicated. Which button turns on the air conditioner? And which lever is the radio?
Can you see my sarcasm?
Although, nobody said a steam locomotive isn’t a confounding beast!
FWIW the PTC equipment was installed in the ATC cabinet... which is a fitting location.
That makes... All of the sense. Neat! Thanks man..
The ES&D needs a Big Boy
12:58 Ah, yes. The time when fireman Dillan Hill hand-fired 27 tons of coal after the stoker failed, with the boiler pressure dropping down as low as 165 psi before they threw in some creosoted pieces of ties to get the pressure back up as they headed towards the Laramie Roundhouse, presumably after dropping their cars in a siding. I don't know for sure, but they may have picked up a section crew along the way to help poor Dillan, but that's still a very impressive feat either way!
Dillard Hill hand firing and ties being thrown in the firebox down near Harriman were two separate incidents
@@carlenger9707 Really? Huh
@@sambrown6426Hi Sam! My apologies, was scrolling through comments and realized I forgot to clarify this. (Sorry about that!)
Your description of what happened is pretty much spot on, however the incident you’re referring to actually happened to a man named Harvey Fallon, who, like Dillard Hill, hired out in Laramie as a fireman in the 40’s and worked for UP for 40 years. (Hired out 1944, retired 1984).
Either way, Harvey and his engineer John Metzler were on 3 track from Cheyenne heading down to Harriman towards Laramie, and they decided they wouldn’t stop for coal and water so they could make it to Laramie ahead of some passenger trains. (Freight trains were lower priority back in the day and it would be a pain to have to keep stopping and starting with all that tonnage)
Well, by the time they reached Hermosa (big famous tunnel) they were about out of coal in the tender. Ended up pretty much coasting down to to Red Buttes with just a small fire in the firebox and had to stop and wait in Red Buttes for passenger trains, which only made the fire they had burn out even more. Got down to 165 PSI.
Had to run over onto the main to get water, and while they were in Red Buttes they grabbed 3 ties and shoved them in the firebox just so they had something to burn while they were waiting. Having an extinguished firebox would have really been a bad day!
Only when they got just outside of Laramie did the ties really start to heat up (that’s the part that sucks with coal vs oil)
As for Dillard Hill’s incident, that happened out at Rawlins. Somehow the stoker screw stopped working, and I’m not entirely sure how. Like I said, I’m guessing it was user error. The engineer Earl Cole was known to be a very hard man to fire for even with a fully functioning locomotive.
Either way, Dillard and a head end brakeman named John Stoddard hand fired the engine up to Laramie and only ran at 200 PSI, enough to keep everything working such as injectors, etc.
“The Cheese is under the sauce” is the absolut funniest thing ive ever heard and I’m definitely gonna be saying that now! 14:33
This would be a prime example of "don't shut it off unless you are home". Imagine trying to do a dead cold startup with no steam pressure, no external compressed air or steam (meaning no stoker and no steam jets) and 10,000gallons of water to boil. You'd need 2 firemen, one on the footplate and one standing in the middle of the firebox to get the entire grate.
@@crazyguy32100 that situation is exactly why many roundhouses had live steam plumbed in from an auxiliary boiler just to keep *some* amount of pressure in the engines
Entered the belly of the beast! Cool!
1:40 correct me if im wrong... but....
.
IIRC.... First Service is a controlled setting of the brakes.
instead of just dumping the air....it does like 10 PSI reduction every 30 seconds or something like that.
.
where the normal "apply" would make like a 40 PSI reduction in 30 seconds....
It's about a 6 PSI reduction. Enough to get the cars thinking about starting to brake, but not enough to create any kind of crazy slack conditions. You have to think about 8ET was designed specifically to handle long trains, so they thought a lot about how an engineer might be able to better control the slack action of the cars.
Most of the Super Power locomotives had Nathan 4000 C Special injectors, or "super C" for short. The regular 4000C could be equipped with different sets of nozzles giving it a capacity of 8500-12000 gallons per hour. There were also some other small changes but for the most part the regular 4000 used the same basic parts. The C Special took the 4000 from a max of 12000 gallons per hour, up to 12500-14500 gallons per hour. The C special had a slightly larger body diameter to accommodate the larger nozzles, thus giving it a higher capacity. The C Special also had larger internal valves to match the larger nozzles, and a deeper nozzle cap, among other small differences. The 4000C is said to be the "Cadillac" of steam injectors, which is why the T1 trust decided to embark on a venture to build brand new ones not only for the T1, but several of the other large super power locomotives that are currently in service, or will be in service over the next few years. The first test body for the new 4000C was recently cast and delivered, while preparations are underway for myself and Eccentric Engineer to begin manufacturing the internal components for the bodies.
You’re correct, this one is a C Special. I forgot to mention that part in my excitement. It’s a smaller capacity injector than what’s on the Alleghenney and the Yellowstone, but the same 4000C Special nontheless.
@@carlenger9707yea, the big boy’s were spec’d with 12,500 gal/hr live injectors. The H-8s had 13k gal/hr injectors. I’m not aware of any locomotives that had the size C specials which had the max of 14.5k gal/hr capacity, although if my memory serves, the Pennsy Q2s came with live injectors that were good for 15k gal/hr.
@@FanRailer that’s what I’ve heard too, the Pennsy never ceases to amaze. Hope you enjoyed the video sir.
Firebox diving! The newest experience to be offered at the museum! 😅
So cool! Glad you got to do this. They should bring the 2005 out for outside display sometime! That would be way cool.
Absolutely incredible feat of engineering for it's time.
16:00 the UP was kind of a late adopter of the Worthington SA feedwater system. Most of their large steam power was delivered with some manner of exhaust steam injector system. The Worthington system was later retrofitted onto several of their late era steam power, including the first gen challengers, 800s, and 9000s.
When the 4000s and 3900 series challengers were designed, the mechanical committee stuck with the Elesco system which they had tested on a 3800 series challenger and had found to be reliable enough. The TP injector was good for 14,075 gal/hr on the 4000s and 12,000 gal/hr on the 3900s. One of the later reasons provided for why the Worthington system was never retrofitted onto the 4000s and their smaller siblings was that the smokebox was not long enough to accommodate the SA heater box.
Had the 3rd run of oil fired 4000s been procured for the LASL, those locomotives would have come with an enlarged centipede tender with 6500 gallons oil and 33,000 gallons water, and a lengthened smokebox to accommodate the Worthington 6-1/2 SA, which would have been good for 14,400 gal/hr.
Correct, that's why I say they did it for "reliability reasons". Feedwater heaters were already well in place on other railroads when these engines were built... up until last year I admit I was unaware that the 800s were retrofitted with feedwater heaters until I saw the Sellers exhaust steam injector on the 838.
Anyway, as you've seen with other aspects of the video I try to keep my docenting as simple as possible, (99% of poeple I talk to don't have the first idea of what they're even looking at) so oftentimes I neglect to mention details like that... I'm sure you understand and I appreciate your patience. All that is to say it is an extremely rare privilege to have such a knowledgeable man in the cab with me and to talk to someone so knowledgable on this site!
This is soooo cool! Thank you!
I think you should do the story of 4005 and her wreck that killed two people but I do enjoy all of your videos!
Mark made a video on it
th-cam.com/video/5s8AhqJUC9s/w-d-xo.htmlsi=WIU0a7-mGNuz0lZF
Thanks Ryan! As Carl noted, I have done that video in the past.
Some engines have water glasses with a housing that diverts leakage (not water glass or water column drains) to a pipe through the floor. That should reduce the steam in the cab when a water glass breaks, I think, but I haven't experienced such a failure.
The Big Boys have two water columns with two vertically offset water glasses each to allow for the full range of water level changes due to grades inherent in such a long boiler.
Using the stoker jets while hand firing a stationary engine is pretty much standard (at least once pressure is raised), so using the jets when emergency firing on the road makes a lot of sense.
17:37 that’s the indexed water capacity control for the exhaust injector. Turning the handle actuated a slide valve in the injector body to regulate the amount of water that could flow through the appliance. Typically you’d want to start the injector with the dial between 1/2 and 2/3 capacity for it to pick up properly, then fine it down to what you need, however, if you went below 1/3 capacity on the dial, the injector flow was liable to break. Originally delivered, those dials came with a range of 0 to 10, but it seems that they were later retrofitted to dials with ranges of either 0-3 or 0-5 from what I’ve seen.
Fun fact for those who’ve never turned one of these dials, the handle and the dial are connected by a reduction gear, so that one turn of the handle only yields a fraction of a turn on the dial. This allows extremely fine adjustments to the amount of water flow to the injector.
All true based on my observations as well as based on the sign in the cab. This one still has numbers all the way up to 10. The mechanism still works even with all its U joints!
im an 844 fan although i find the big boys as an insanely cool piece of engineering. i would have LOVED to see the immense size of that thing in person.
Man I love the big boy I can't wait to see 4014 on the 15th
Inside the cab reminds me of a creepy train video cartoon for kids, Beware Take Care 😮
Great episode, Hyce! Thank you❣️🚂🚂🚂🚂❣️
My bucket list item is to have a picture in the cab seat of Big boy. Providing it doesnt break any Railroad taboo rules.
Come on down to the Forney museum in Denver, we can make that happen for you
No way you could convince me to climb into the firebox I am way too claustrophobic
Understandable... I've got mild claustrophobia and as long as the door is open I'm ok.
@@Hyce777 Mine stems from getting trapped in an elevator
I had a sight glass gasket start to fail while training a fireman, he never came back. I was able to close the valves. I felt like I had a sunburn.
I met Carl a couples months ago! I came up to museum and talked about the big boy gosh almost 5 hours. He’s a super cool dude
Hi, remind me your name again?
I was just there last month! It was truly amazing to look at it, i just sat in front of 4005 at those chairs and admired its size
it's the kind of thing you can just look at for a long time.
that firebox is huge!
Hyce the stoker did have a mechanical stoker it was connected to one of the tender axels the hydrostatic was for running the stoker when the loco was stationary
That firebox could fit the number of people in the train crew and then some
Growing up in the Denver area for the first half of my life I had been to Forney many many times, and that locomotive sat outside for years and years, good to see that and the other railroading equipment they have finally made it inside. Back in the day so many vintage autos were in the dust and dirt underneath the museum along with the plat valley model railroading club. I have no idea if any of that is the case anymore?
Hi Todd! You'll be happy to hear that everything that is on display at the museum is safely stored inside. This includes all of our locomotives and other rolling stock, with the exception being our Rio Grande caboose, which we acquired along with our GP30 #3006 in 2018. At the request of the Rail Archivist it is tied down in the parking lot, and while it has undergone restoration work it will not be open to the public.
All of our automobiles are carefully cleaned, delivered in an orderly fashion, and artfully displayed (more than walking distance between each other) with interpretive signage for each vehicle on display. The display rotates out every 4 months, so if you come twice a year, there will be a roster of different cars every single time you come! When they are not on display, they are stored in climate controlled storage either on the property (we can easily hold a couple hundred vehicles in our warehouse) or by the owners themselves. If you have anything you'd like to display, please contact the museum!
As for the models, the Moffat Modelers still occupy part of our space. They have an N Scale model of Golden and the surrounding area up through the Moffat Tunnel up by Winter Park. Hope this answers your questions!
That's really cool, thanks for sharing.
So amazing! Great video
4014 would probably need another foam meter today for the other reason
Now that Hyce has been informed of all the controls, all that's left is for him to be a guest engineer on the 4014... Also, I was looking on google maps at the rail line that runs across the street from the museum, I know you said it was an industry spur, but I didn't realize just what a monster of a spur it was. It has like 3 different classification yards built into it and then runs for several miles until it joins back up with the main where it runs parallel to the light rail tracks.
The Beer Run... it's quite the spur. Coors is the single largest brewery in the world.
7:46 I believe the locker was originally for the cab signals.
Fire house on your steam locomotive. I’m curious now. Can we get a video about that.
Hyce since you were in the 4005 when the up gets there 4014 big boy going you should do a cab ride on that locomotive and watch it happen since you not only been in 4005 cab but through the front smoke box door and see it running in person
I recently went to survey they 1893 replica DeWitt Clinton, the grate is roughly 23" x 23" (the original locomotive was even smaller!) it's incredible how far steam technology came from the beginning to the end.
Congrats Hyce you've earned the cab tour from carl and then last time i commented saying restore 4005 they say: "Oh yeah, she's not going back into service any time soon. The smokebox has taken a big crap and no longer functions properly. So that mean's 4005 will stay in preservation."
I think you misunderstood our replies from the last video. This locomotive will not be restored to operating condition because it serves the masses better as an accessible educational tool inside a climate controlled museum. It is far and away the biggest reason why people come to the Forney museum in the first place. As cool as it would be to see it running again, sending the locomotive off to be rebuilt would mean no longer being able to provide education with videos such as these.
Sometimes it's best to leave stuff unrestored. This is one of those times.
@@carlenger9707 oh whoops mb
Carl said it well. I'll echo - not all of them need to run. 4014 runs. We should love and cherish that. The Forney's resources are much better served not trying to run that thing.
Indeed so yes
Such a cool video man! How many people have ever seen the inside of the Firebox of a big boy!?
Hi my friend you're super lucky to be in the cab of big boy what an experience to have 🎉 i like it
Steam Heating is such a odd thing. I saw a few coaches at the WW&F and from Edaville that had steam heat installed in them in the past. Raised a few eyebrows while I was doing some Vacuum break stuff.
I always enjoy the videos. Hopefully you come up north east some time.
4:10 If you forgetfully leave the sander on four half an hour like I did once in OpenRails, will the sand pile up and act like chocks?
That's when your Coal Shovel becomes a wheel chock remover. 😄
I’d love to see a couple more Big Boys restored and made operational.
As cool as it would be, it wouldn't make sense in a lot of ways. But yes, I'm with you there.
Love the in focus bar. 😂
4004 has steam heat line off the back
That is studio apartment levels of firebox!
Cool! 😊
I live in the uk and volunteer at Telford steam railway and The biggest I’ve fired on is a 6 foot firebox on 5619
How do you like firing that engine?
Mark has fun with Big Choo Choo.
Great train noise
I Saw 4014 before restoration to operating I saw it at the Rail Giants Museum Pomona CA
To say I'm chuffed would be an understatement...
"rear engine" with accompanying sound effects 17:47
theres so many valves how do you remember them all
You learn, it takes a fair bit of time though.
16:35 - 27:10 And that is how modern steamtrain engineers/enthusiasts are born. Comming out of the firey womb of the firebox.👍😁
Edit: Also half expected them to shut the hatch and go for lunch the moment Mark climbed in there.
The doors still move pretty freely, so we could have shut him in there!
With an engine this big, how did it navigate yards? I assume the head brakemen would be on the point checking switches. Or the yards that could handle this would have switch tenders or power switch's in the yard....
Good question! The short answer is, both!
The longer answer is, it depends on the yard. No matter what, the brakeman would be riding point, hopping on and off to throw switches, directing, etc, but the larger yards also would have dispatch towers to control switches. The brakeman would have a lot to do in the yard, and if they weren't on the ground doing something it was pretty much necessary to have them riding point because the boiler and tender would create some pretty serious visibility issues. As a result of this, the stirrups on the front (you can see them in our video of us opening the smokebox) as well as the ladders on the tender are designed to be very easily hopped on and off of frequently.
I consider Cheyenne to be home base for the Big Boys, and in the case of Cheyenne they had their westbound dispatch tower over by the Crow Creek bridge. Because this was pre radio, they had phones as well as loudspeakers all over the yard that could be used to communicate with the engine crews.
One thing you'll also notice on the rear of the tender is a big red light, known as a backup light, this was specifically used when the engine was running light in the yards. Hope this answers your question and hope you enjoyed the video!
Hey Hyce awesome video. Can you make a video on how to build and design a steam locomotive. I need help understanding the math formula for designing an outside frame counterweight.
Thanks