Big Boy Fans wont like this one...LOL

[Anonymous]

Well...being my really bored self i got curious about something. I KNEW there had to be a steam locomotive out there that was BIGGER than the big boy. The Allegheny??? NOPE. But i remembered something somone mentioned at the Railroad club a few weeks back about the "Big Engine"....so i did some searching. Did you Big Boy fans know...that the big boy was 132 feet 9 inches coupler to coupler. And did you know that the Pennsy S1 6-4-4-6 was 140 feet 3 inches coupler to coupler?????????????? OH...DID I HIT A NERVE??? LOL. Sorry....i couldnt resist razzing you guys just a little on that one!!!!

WITH LOTS OF LOVE.

Johnny Dash 9[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah, I knew that. But the 6-4-4-6 was unsucessful. It couldn't make the final curve into I think it was New York station. So there for the Big Boy still rules supreme. Although, the Yellowstones may have been heavier.........

[Anonymous]

I like to hear good about the "Standard Railroad of the World until 1968". I hate New York Central!! They pushed the Pennsy out of business. Anyway, back to the story, I think the UP's real monsters are the DDA40X, DD35, and U50C(GE can never do anything good when it comes to diesels, they knocked Alco out).

[Anonymous]

uhh, I think the NYC Bought the pennsy.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by HighIron2003ar

uhh, I think the NYC Bought the pennsy.

They did, they formed Penn Central which went bankrupt in two years causing the biggest bankruptcy in US history at the time and is still in the top 10 worst companys ever. PC jacked up their car-hire (charges railroads put on each other every time one railroads car showed up on another) prices, didn't pay theirs causing five more class 1s to go bankrupt and many shortlines to go under. They wreck the every single railroad in someway.

[AltonFan]

QUOTE: dougal sez:
". I hate New York Central!! They pushed the Pennsy out of business.

Then Highiron2003ar responded:
uhh, I think the NYC Bought the pennsy.

The NYC and PRR merged. The NYC (Green Team), under Alfred Perelman, was modernizing and innovating before the merger. The PRR (Red Team) OTOH was a more traditional operation, which tended to keep doing what they had been doing. When the Penn Central merger was consummated, it turned out that PRR was senior partner, and in the end, it was the Red Team's failings, plus a lot of other stuff, that wrecked the Penn Central.

I recommend The Wreck of the Penn Central, No Way to Run a Railroad and George Drury's Histrorical Guide to North American Railroads for more information.

[nfmisso]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dougal

I like to hear good about the "Standard Railroad of the World until 1968". I hate New York Central!! They pushed the Pennsy out of business. Anyway, back to the story, I think the UP's real monsters are the DDA40X, DD35, and U50C(GE can never do anything good when it comes to diesels, they knocked Alco out).

What about the Alco C855 ? And the GE U50 (with four B trucks from the little turbines and V16 engines, the U50C had two three axle trucks from the big turbines and V12 engines)

Regarding GE, remember that GE built all of the turbines used on the UP, including the pre WWII steam turbine - electric.

[Anonymous]

There is no single engine that is the "biggest" in all categories (weight, length, tractive effort, etc, etc). It really doesn't matter much anyway. Locomotives of whatever type are there to do a job. If they are successful at doing whatever task they were designed and created to do, then the locomotive was a success. The rest is just a pissing contest.

Warren

[Anonymous]

Didn't know if you'all saw this site or not.

http://www.steamlocomotive.com/misc/largest.html

[AltonFan]

Now if you want to discuss which locomotive was the best all-around performer, my vote would be for the USRA heavy mikado. It could be used in virtually any service, it was not too big to do local and switching chores, but it was not too small to handle general freight. It could probably do well in passenger service as well. On some railroads, this was as modern as steam could get.

[ndbprr]

A little misinformation about the engine. It was displayed at the Worlds Fair on Long Island for two years running at 100mph on rollers so it didn't derail going into New York. The PRR was using P5a and GG1 electrics at the time it was built and it or any other steam engine was never used in the tunnels to Manhattan or Long island. It ran as an experimental engine between Chicago and Crestline, Ohio whihc was always the PRR testing area for engines. I t was the T1 4-4-4-4 that derailed on the curve into the Pittsburgh station initially which a minor reallignment fixed.