this is among one of the largest steam locos that i have ever seen wow this thing is huge look at the guy next to it in the bottom half of the photo standing next to the fifth driver from the front!!
picture isnt there bud…[:(]
well atleast i cant see it…
Yep, that sure is a massive steamie. I believe that is what is called a “Big Boy” loco.
Actually it is not. The final articulated locomotives built in the 1940’s were much larger and heavier that the older 2-10-10-2s pictured. If you could park a new ES44AC or SD70 next to one of these, the steamer (not counting the tender) would be shorter. #3000 pictured was only 108’ long including the tender. C&O 4-8-4 #614 is around 115’ long including tender, while the Yellowstone/Big Boy 2-8-8-4/4-8-8-4 class was 125-130’ long with the tender.
The 3000 & friends were the “big boy” of their day (c. 1910). They were even bigger when you consider that they were HAND FIRED. No stoker. They also did not last too long as shown. The Santa Fe split them up into a pair of 2-10-2’s each.
That is a Virginian 2-10-10-2 designed for pulling coal att en miles an hour. Those front cylinders are 48" in diameter. A drawing and more pictures were in MR in possibly the late 70’s. Those cylinders were so wide that when shipped to the Virginian they were transported on a rail car and installed on site so as not to wipe everything out along the racks on the way to the Vgn. For the photo I think they got the shortest guy they could find to make them look even bigger.
yup its big…but seeing these 2 beauties together working was awsome…and together they pretty huge…
Damn!! There is no way this steam would make it on today’s curves!! no way!!
being an articulated the ridged wheel base isnt as long as you are thinking…and realistically most roads in service now were in service the same way 80 90 years ago…curves are straightened here and there sure but for the most part the tracks are in the same place they were when they were built
Hey,
Look closely at the NPR lead loco…Did she split the rail there and is on the ground?