I’m sort of embarrassed asking this question, I just saw a video of the loco starting up and there was a lot of chuff-chuff-chuff for a 2 cylinder locomotive, could this locomotive have 3 cylinders?? I’ve tried every website for the information and all they talk about is the size of the locomotive. It sort of sounds like the British 3 cylinder steam engines , any help out there?
In the description of the Victorian Railways 4-8-4 locomotive known as Heavy Harry, it says:
*'*Heavy Harry’ was the largest non-articulated locomotive ever to run in Australia and on more than one occasion was able to demonstrate it’s true capabilities by hauling the ‘Spirit of Progress’. With its large boiler, Belpair firebox complete with combustion chamber and thermic syphons, double blast pipe, three cylinders and conjugated valve gear the ‘H’ class was indeed quite unique. The only other three cylinder 4-8-4 locomotives in the world being the German ‘06’ class.
The Wikipedia article on 4-8-4 says:
Victorian Railways H220, the largest non-articulated steam locomotive ever built in Australia, is believed to be the only surviving example of a 3 cylinder 4-8-4.
Based on that information, I’d have to say that UP 844 is not 3-cylinder.
All U.P. Northerns had 2 cylinders. Steam loco cylinders operate from both sides so 844 has 4 exhaust beats per driver revolution. The only 3 cylinder locos on the U.P. were the 8000 class 4-10-2’s, which were all converted to 2 cylinders ~1941 and renumbered into the 5000 's, and the 9000 class 4-12-2’s which ran to the end with 3 cylinders.
If it was steam-era footage, common practice on U.P. was to put the train number in the number boards of a helper loco doubled headed on the front end of a train. Since most freights operated as ‘extras’, a 9000 class 4-12-2 helping 844 would have X844 in the number boards.
Problem with old home Movies is that there was not sound synchronize or recorded with home movies.
later people began using a audio tape recorder to record the locomotives seperate along with movie recording. then they attempted to add the sound later.
a lot of old movies producers just grabed any thing that was close and added it for effect.
approx. 1970 Kodak came out with a home movie camera with a magnet strip along side movie film for their 8mm camera that recorded sound as it recorded images
UP829: Is that a double exhaust per cylinder? that makes sense as the video (Rather new with sound) and it seems there are 2 tubes exiting from the smokestack,this can explain 4 exhaust beats per rev. By the way these are pretty nifty looking locomotives, I’ll try to remember what site it was on, the camera followed beside the loco at speed so there is sound also, very impressive. Thanks to all.
It is definitely a two-cylinder locomotive. Rode behind it twice: Once on a fan trip in the summer of 1960 and on the last eastbound City of LA in 1971. Remember that you get two chuffs from each cylinder for each driver revoluton, so four chuffs for each revolution.
Want to hear and see this monster? Go to youtube, look for UP 844 Pleasant Hill Missouri and Return to Cheyenne. Great stuff, you can really hear the close together "chuff’’ it sounds like a 6 cylinder locomotive, also very low pitch whistle.
No, the 844 is a two cylinder locomotive. It does have a double stack. Kinda rare for a non-articulated locomotive.
UP used double stacks on the 2nd & 3rd series Northerns as a way to reduce back pressure. This resulted in a lot of smoke drifting into the cab at higher speeds, so they added the ‘elephant ear’ smoke lifters. I’ve never been able to decide if I like them better with or without the elephant ears.
The ‘ears’ used on later NYC Mohawk 4-8-2’s used for passenger service were virtually identical, so I suspect the design probably came from Alco. Other Alco 4-8-4’s had them as well, including the Niagras and I believe the D&H locos.