Watch Retired ‘Big Boy’ Steam Train Rescue a Stalled Freight Train in Nebraska

thedrive.com

15 points·mauvehaus··3 comments

These old steam locomotives might not be environmentally friendly but they're amazing to watch and listen to. I've heard the big boy is great to see in person if you get the chance (they've talked about doing a tour of the west coast of the US for a few years now, hopefully it will happen next year).

If you're into this kind of stuff, check out this video of Union Pacific's 3985 pulling a 143 car intermodal train all by herself back in 1990: https://youtu.be/XhgHrDbN4EU

Of course these heavy hauls are hard on the engine, even just the equivalent of replacing brake pads costs tens of thousands of dollars.

Another way to watch and experience steam engines is to go to an "Old Thresher's Reunion/Show". These are often held in rural parts of the U.S., well worth a drive to see these machines in action. Agricultural steam engines were pre-cursors to modern farm tractors, but used as semi-mobile power for other machinery such as threshing machines, saw mills, balers, etc. Wear an N95 and expect to get soot on your clothes.

My favorite part of the video starts around 0:56 where you watch this tiny guy prepping the coupler on that huge engine. The sheer weight of all that metal, and the power of steam.

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