Hey guys, I'm new to this site, and I'm also new to trains in general. I mean, i have some knowledge about to trains thanks to a big book called "The Big Book Of Trains", which displays a whole 2 pages about nearly all trains in history. However, there's no mention of the Big Boy. Why's this? I really wanted to know more about the huge 4-8-8-4, and if it's the biggest train, why didn't the book say anything about it? OR, perhaps the Challenger is bigger after all? Can somebody give me a link to any page which shows some info about it? Thanks, Mark the Maltese :thumbs_up:
First off, welcome to TrainBoard, Mark. Lots of info out there on Big Boys. Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-8-8-4 This site is a treasure trove of info on steam locomotives. Here's a link to their page on Big Boys: http://www.steamlocomotive.com/bigboy/ Here's their page on surviving Big Boys: http://www.steamlocomotive.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?whyte:4-8-8-4;country:USA Some short video clips are available on www.youtube.com. Just search on Big Boy Union Pacific, or some combination like that. Here's an example: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOFD8FDaDI4"]YouTube - Big Boy[/ame] Best regards Ed .
Welcome to TrainBoard! There are also other ways fans like to compare engines. Such as their weight, and ability to pull. A search using Google should turn up many charts about large steam engines. Boxcab E50
There were several classes of Challenger, and I believe all were smaller than the Big Boy. Two other steam engines were comparable to the Big Boy: the Northern Pacific Yellowstone and the C&O/Virginian Allegheny.
Malta Guy, I'm going to move this thread to the Inspection Pit, where it may receive more notice and discussion. I've been away a lot the past month, so I didn't notice the thread here in Photography & Trains.
Many books and writings list the UP Big Boy and the 'largest' or 'heaviest' steam locomotive but they are incorrect the "Allegheny" was. Big Boy is probably the most famous. At the time the Allegheny was built, Lima Locomotive mis-weighed or misrepresented the weight of the Allegheny as being less than the Big Boy. That's probably the biggest reason the Big Boy is generally considered the biggest. Only 25 Big Boys were built and all used by UP. There were lots more Alleghenies built. Check out www.upsteam.com while you're looking up steam locomotives.
The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan has an excellent H-8 Allegheny in the transportation building with other historic locos,and TONS of wonderous exhibits. The museum is big enough to take a couple of days to skim through it all ! If you can make the trip, I think you'll find it most rewarding.
According to "Guide to North American Steam Locomotives", Viginian 2-10-10-2 was about 685,000 pounds Big Boy 4-8-8-4 was about 772,000 pounds Allegheny 2-6-6-6 was about 778,000 pounds. The 2-10-10-2 was last build in 1918 while Big Boy and Allegheny were developed later.
One more note: while the Allegheny was heavier than the Big Boy, it was not the heaviest steam locomotive ever built. There were a few attempts at building 'triplex' locomotives with 3 sets of articulated drivers. None were successful so they don't get much press. The Allegheny and Big Boy were successful.
Ahhh... The problem is how to compare weights fairly. The Big Boy and Allegheny's weights don't include the tender. The Triplexes had drive wheels under the tender, making them more comparable to tank engines.
I always thought these engine types were around one million pounds (453,500 kilos) with the tender included. The Espee cab forward was restricted to areas west of El Paso, Texas because of bridge loading capabilities (Pecos River Bridge) and the cab forward was not as big as these engines. So, these larger engines may have had some restrictions, too.
I often think that weight with tender should be the standard measure, to allow fair comparison of Mallets with Garratts (which are also essentially tank engines). But then how do you handle steam with auxiliary tenders? Simply, tenders aren't integral to a locomotie's design, and can be changed. That reminds me: Were there any steam engines built new with two tenders? I had thought the IC Mountains were fitted with them. The main tender certainly seems to have a disproportionately small water tank, like on NYC engines that were meant to use track pans. But then, from photos, it seems like the Mountains didn't get their second tenders until about five years into their lives.
Aux Tenders Some early Mallets were fitted with aux tenders because the primary tender was really small - so the locomotive and tender could be fitted onto the existing turntables. Virginian did that with their 2-10-10-2s. As for 'standard' reported weights, I wish. Many companies reported just the locomotive. Some reported the locomotive and tender 1/2 or 2/3 full. Some reported locomotive and a full tender. Then you lump in tank engines and triplexs in there and who knows what the reported weight is based on. Was the triplex's weight reported with a full tender, empty tender or somewhere in between? Several tenders were equipped with booster engines - do these count? Boosters do if they are on the trailing trucks under the fire box. Is there a "single source" for weight information that is consistent?
