I was thinking exactly the same thing! We can only hope!
It is a most excellent video:
-Wow-. I'm not one for kettles but damn, that is a great clip. 3985 is an absolute beast.
Isn't it? There's very few railway related videos I come back to but that's absolutely one of them. We desperately need someone to sort out Big Boy doing the same thing.
I'm basically in the same boat (Mostly I prefer the noise of big diesels over steam). But I decided I had to experience 'Big Boy' in the metal when it visited the LA area back in 2019 - just standing alongside looking at the huge firebox, cylinders, bearings and rods was worth it, let alone seeing it running (my videos):
They weren't GP40's - the front diesel is an SD70ACe and behind it is an ES44AC, both 6-axle, around 4400hp and 195 tonnes each.
It's not that hard at a basic level for freight locos - I tend to look first at the radiators, which are quite different shapes on EMD/Progress Rail and GE/Wabtec locos. If it's 4-axle (Bo-Bo) power then it's most likely EMD GPxx ('Geeps') as 4-axle GE locos are relatively rare these days (passenger locos excepted). Also 4-axle locos are mostly used on local freight and yard work rather than line-haul freight.I never properly got to grips with recognising US traction types beyond 'bloody hell, that looks industrial'
It's both (in the right place)
I was grinning like a idiot watching the second clip #4014 banking the train over the crossing, losing and then regaining grip in her leading driving wheels. In absence of her actually pulling a long heavy freighter (so far), I'll relish her pushing a stalled one!Surprised it hasn't happened already quite honestly. But yes, one of UP's customers needs to twist their arm and repeat it with #4014 already.
Possibly my favourite steam clip of all time (I say this as a lad who prefers diesels). Pure, unabashed muscle and that thunderous, flat out exhaust sends chills right up the back (to the point the whistle being pulled at 0:41 is almost drowned out). Doing what she was designed and built to do, even if the sight of a steam-hauled intermodal is a odd one.
...and that isn't even a 'heavy-haul' loco, it was designed as a fast-freight loco with 70 inch drivers (the Challenger had 69 inch and Big Boy 68 inch drivers, so essentially the same).
(even though I'm mostly a diesel fan!)
Too right, just the description of two giant N&W Y6s assaulting a steep grade with a fully loaded coal train makes me wish time travel was a thing; one of many US steam locos I wish I could have seen in their prime: UP Challengers/Big Boys, N&W As & Y6s, SP Cab-Forwards, C&O H-8s, to name a few (I'm also a diesel fan as noted above)....and that isn't even a 'heavy-haul' loco, it was designed as a fast-freight loco with 70 inch drivers (the Challenger had 69 inch and Big Boy 68 inch drivers, so essentially the same).
The N&W 'heavy-haul' equivalent were the 2-8-8-2 compound 'Y' series Mallets like the Y6 with 58 inch drivers and over 700kN of tractive effort (more than a Big Boy) - one of them could apparently handle 100 coal cars in the mountains (with assistance from another one on the worst gradients), then when the trains reached the flat coastal plain, two trains would be combined into a 200 car train hauled by a single 'Y' east to the port at Norfolk, VA. That's real economical steam heavy-haul, 1940's style...
Now a lineside seat for pair of Y6's pulling and pushing a coal train upgrade is definitely a candidate for a time machine wish list
A modern US diesel loco with AC traction drives e.g. ES44AC or SD70ACe will beat the Y6 low-speed tractive effort but not the power at higher speeds.
Of course I presume that's just one loco - one of the key advantages of diesel/electric traction over steam is that multiple locomotives can be controlled from a single cab.
Yes - an ES44AC is rated at approx. 740kN continuous, 810kN max. The 30+ tonne axle load helps a quite a bit with that...
Err, yes of course.
