Be good, don’t fight![:D][:)][8D][;)][:o)][(-D]
The Big Boy wins from a combo of length, height, and weight. He is overall the biggest.
Little known fact that during the early 50’s the Russians decided to claim the “Worlds Largest Locomotive” title by building the nuclear powered “Big Joe” a 4-12-12-12-12-0 monster built in super secret isolation at a secret military base located on the frozen Siberian tundra. Once completed, it was rolled out of the trainshed onto the tracks only to realize that it was too big to go through tunnels and too long for any curves, and while they were figuring out what to next, the heat from the nuclear reactor melted the permafrost under the engine, where upon it crashed thru the rails, the crews leaping from the two-story control cab, sinking under its own ocean liner wieght, thru the permafrost to the center of the Earth, never to be seen again…
All records were destroyed to prevent word of this huge embarasment from reaching Western ears, the crews and builders were dispatched to the gulag’s were they were put to work perfecting the Trabant automobile. The accounts are only now coming to light as the old timers who survived the gulag’s recount the story to thier great grandchildren on cold Russian winter nights…they tell them, if you put your ear to the ground, you can still hear the whistle bellowing deep under the Earth…
Not being nasty, just don’t care.
BRAVO!!!.. Now that’s an answer, and it isn’t even April yet.[:D]
and yet truth can be stranger than fiction
http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/quadruplex/quadrapl.htm
there is another russian loco that was a 4-14-2 so there.
neil.
and give it a rest with blasted big bous and alleghenies. there are much more interesting things out there guys
eeek! it has moved!
i hope it will come back soon - it was a really cool page [:(]
I voted for Big Boy, but I know Yellowstones were heavier (at least NPs were). neilmunck, I 've seen something like your 4-14-2 in a book, only I saw a 4-14-4. It said it was the longest rigid frame steam locomotive ever built.
Yes, And it too was a huge failure.
It had a very nasty habit of trying to straighten out every curve it was on…
Here are all the specs of the largest US steam locomotives ever:
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/misc/largest.html
There were many “largest” steam locomotives.
As for diesels, the double diesels of the UP reigned.
http://www.worldrailfans.org/Articles/US/DoubleDiesels.shtml
Then there were the turbines:
http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/loco/locohs05.shtml
etc
Warren
Was this developed for the mountains or was it just Plain Loco
Weeelllllll [:)], supposedly it was intended for the the Moscow to Vladivostok Trans-Siberian run. the idea was to eliminate the need to stop for water or fuel so the train would run non-stop pulling trains up to ten-miles long. [:p]
The “Big Joe’s” were apparently quite Amazing sight to behold. [:0]
Imagine the largest articulated locomoti
I don’t know what you’ve been smoking, but I don’t think it was coal or oil based!!! Got to admit though, the idea does sound interesting to model…
Congratulations Mr. Smith, I am pleased to present you with your degree in Russian Railroading. Your treatise on the Big Joe was superb, and you have truly earned the title Doctor …
and we all know what PhD stands for. [:D]
Is a poll the right way to determine which was the biggest steam engine? It’s not a matter of opinion, after all, but one of measurement. At a football game they check for first downs with a chain, not by asking what the fans think.
In MODEL RAILROADER we usually cite the Big Boy as the biggest steam engine, because it is (almost). If you add up its length, width, and height you get a bigger number than for any other locomotive (except one). This doesn’t take weight into account – that would be the “heaviest” instead of the biggest – or drawbar pull or horsepower – that would be the “most powerful.” “Big” has a specific meaning related to size, and editors usually like to be careful with the meanings of words.
But there is one engine that beats the Big Boy! It’s not one of those listed in the poll either. The Pennsylvania RR SI duplex-drive 6-4-4-6 adds up to be bigger than the Big Boy when you take the measurements over its streamlined shrouding into account.
Most folks don’t recognize this fact about the S1, maybe because the shrouding, particularly at the rear of the tender, can be seen as just so much cosmetic dressing, whereas the Big Boy is all locomotive. There’s also the point that the S1 was an experiment not found successful enough to warrant duplication, while the Big Boy was built in at least a small quantity and re-ordered after being in use.
But those are matters of opinion or functionality, not sheer size. Like it or not, the biggest locomotive was really the S1.
So long,
Andy
The S1 and the T1 were without a doubt the most Stylish and best looking loco’s ever built.
But as for best’est biggest US loco (not counting the Rusky “Big Joe”) I’ll throw in my hat for the Big Boy.
I didn’t smoke anything…I’m just relating a story told to me by the Grandfather of a gal I knew in College. He was into trains and knew I liked trains and told me the tale of the “Big Joe” , he always did so in very hushed tones while looking around as if the KGB was still listening…[;)]
I would love to model this beasty too, but I’m afraid the costs of the drivetrains alone would bankrupt me…[:D]
Not to mention that it would need some very WIDE curves…[:p]
Maybe part of the “mystique” surrounding the big boy was actually created by UP’s P.R. department, back in those kinder gentler times. Even if it wasn’t statistically the largest, its FAME might have been, which may be why there are so many “believers” today. Those 2 extra little wheels didn’t hurt the story either, and make it easy for those not well versed in railroading to jump to the conclusion that the big boy was king.
I liked Andy’s comment about the poll not really being of much value, but the discussion was good, and the stats on the link provided by warrenjbell were very interesting. Oh, and of course the humor of “Dr. Smith”.[:D]
P.S. Morpar, IT WAS### LOCO WEEDof course.[swg][(-D][(-D][(-D]
I think union pacific Big boy biggest than other locomotive
so huge engine ! and powerful
The PRR 6-4-4-6 may have been a little longer than the Big Boy, but that is just length .This is about biggest steam locomotive. There should be some kind of mathematical equation to determine what was truly the “biggest”. Like–
Weight + Length + Boiler girth= “biggness” [^]