Subject:
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UP engines (was Re: New pictures of 700, Potential challenge to big red
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Wed, 6 Jan 1999 17:03:38 GMT
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Reply-To:
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lpien@ctp.iwantnospam.STOPSPAMcom
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817 times
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John Neal wrote:
>
> Not to start a "mine's bigger than yours" war or anything but...
> I built a UP EMD DDA40X a while back (which was, I believe, the longest loco ever
> built at 98'5") which was 70 studs long and could take turns (but with no
> articulation). Sadly, it has been cannibalized and I'm sure Ben and Larry will
> want me to put my photos where my mouth is, so I won't make any claims to fame
> until I reconstruct and post . So until then I'll just have to be a legend in my
> own mind : )
> -John
Well, I'd love to see pics. UP as a firm is a source of some of the most
behemoth engines ever... They are always trying to get more horsepower
into one engine package than anybody, because they use more horsepower
per train/ton than anybody else. A modern unit coal train with mid train
and end train helpers may have well upwards of 50,000 horsepower applied
between the 4 or 5 leads, 4 mids, and 4 end train helpers.
The DD40AX is a gorgeous design, one of the first ever to use the wide
or safety cab on a freight engine. It is basically 2 SD40s on a common
frame, mounted back to back. Two prime movers, two generator sets, two
electrical panels, two radiator sets, two main blowers, everything.
IIRC, the radiators are mid unit.
It uses 4 axle non articulated trucks. (1) John, how did you do those
trucks? When I was doing Big Red I could not even do a three axle truck
without introducing a pivot (which I claimed was a "steerable truck")
GM's main competitor, General Electric, not to be outdone, concurrently
supplied the U50 to UP. A U50 is basically two U25s mounted back to
back, two of everything as well, but with the radiators at the unit
ends, IIRC. However GE chose to use a pair of standard 2 axle trucks per
end (which support a span bolster, which in turn supports the frame)
instead of designing a 4 axle truck. Smarter business decision as that 4
axle truck GM did was never used on anything else, and a span bolster is
a lot less design work than a whole truck, it has no moving parts, after
all, just bearing surfaces.
These are both late 60's vintage engines. The DD40AX is also called the
"Centennial" because it was delivered in 1969, 100 years after the UP
golden spike at Promontory Point, finishing the first US transcon. Both
would make excellent models
Another monster engine that UP played with (2) is a result of
experimenting with Gas Turbine technology. UP wanted to see if they
could get 10,000 horsepower into one package and the turbines were a way
to do it. A turbine engine looks like a stretched(3) Alco PA1 or FA1,
but has mid unit side walkways instead of being a full cowl. It had a
separate fuel tender (4), and sometimes two. It made a godawful banshee
howl, even when not at speed or under load. These turbines were capable
of delivering the horsepower, but the maintenance and fuel costs (there
basically isn't an idle, and you didn't dare turn them off except at an
engine facility as they are as hard to start as a jet engine) ate UP
alive so they dumped the idea. A model of one of these would be truely
specacular to behold.
This concludes today's UP trivia lesson.
1 - and thus is suitable only for mainline service where the curves are
not as sharp. The UP mainline through Nebraska may be the finest heavy
freight fast running main in the world, it can support well upwards of
150 trains a day
2 - a diesel generation earlier, in the early/mid 50s through early 60s
3 - which shows how big it is, because a PA-1 is already huge to start
with.
4 - the second tender was often from a retired Big Boy or other
articulated, with both bunkers converted to hold fuel oil (or in this
case, Jet-A) and rode on Centipede trucks.
--
Larry Pieniazek http://my.voyager.net/lar
For me: No voyager e-mail please. All snail-mail to Ada, please.
- Posting Binaries to RTL causes flamage... Don't do it, please.
- Stick to the facts when posting about others, please.
- This is a family newsgroup, thanks.
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Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: New pictures of 700, Potential challenge to big red
|
| Not to start a "mine's bigger than yours" war or anything but... I built a UP EMD DDA40X a while back (which was, I believe, the longest loco ever built at 98'5") which was 70 studs long and could take turns (but with no articulation). Sadly, it has (...) (25 years ago, 6-Jan-99, to lugnet.trains)
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