This week the historic Union Pacific 844 was in Oakland. I grabbed a few pics. As I looked over this masterpiece of engineering I wondered if we could even make the wheels for this monster nowadays. I doubt it. The drive wheels are 80-inches in diameter and their are 8 of them.
Ahh, back when men were men and, the USA could manufacture stuff that was the envy of the world…
What a monster. Very cool.
John, I think a company like Bucyrus International, that makes heavy mining equipment and designed the shuttle crawler (well it was the Saturn V crawler at the time), and now owns the company built it (Marion Power Shovel).
The good ol’ U.S. of A still has some heavy equipment manufacturers.
Now thats craftmanship WOW
This summer many of the big Steamers come together at Owasso, Michigan. SP4449, NKP 765 and PM 1225, not sure about 844 or 3985. I live just 75 miles from Lima, the home of the epitome of steam Superpower, The Daylights (4449), the NKP Berkshires (765), Sad to realize what went on in that now rusty old town 75 years ago.
I miss the days when NS still ran 611 and CSX ran 614, but only UP still realizes the importance of History amoung US railroads.
This is as cool as the train in “Back To The Future III”
Sure we can make stuff like this again. You should see the enormous trucks that Cat make for the mines in Western Australia. Those are seriously huge.
No batteries on diesel locomotives. The diesel engine drives a generator. The generator drives the electric motors that drive the axles thru a set of spur gears.
Now speaking of submarines: the diesel engines drove generators that charged the batteries. The batteries drove the electric motors that turned the shafts. But only when the boat was under water and no air was available for the diesels.
You guys are making me feel old! I remember the dozen or so steam engines that pulled fan trips in Cincinnati 1969-1989. Just a few years ago!
Fr. Dale in Cincinnati
Long live steam.Over here we made the mistake of putting frieght on lorries,blocked roads.I’ll say this for our American cousins,you get stuck in and do the job.