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UP Big Boy 4014 coming to Texas next month


UTCzech III

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Talking with one of my supervisors this morning that's about 25 years younger than me. Asked him if he was going to take his kids to see Big Boy when it's in Ft. Worth. He had no idea what that was and seemed unimpressed with going to see a steam engine until I pulled up a pic. When he saw why they called it Big Boy he went "Holy Shit!" He will be taking the kids to see it now.

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1 hour ago, otisdog said:

See post # 121 in this thread.

Well, I stuck my head in all of the open fireboxes in the locos at the State Fair, if that counts.

Shit like this, and ships and planes, is why I became an ME.  It's kind of ironic how much time we spent studying steam considering it is obsolescent, but it gave me a new appreciation for locomotives and steam turbines and whatnot.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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2 minutes ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

Steam may be becoming obsolescent for locomotion, but it is still very much used for plenty of things, from industrial heating to power generation.

Nukes don't magically create electricity or propulsion.

sand-pebbles-mako-mcqueen.jpg?w=708&h=34

Live steam, sleepy steam.

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When I said "been inside", I meant more than up to your shoulders.

When I was in HS, I was a "Junior Member" of the Gold Coast Railroad Museum, located on the N side of Fort Lauderdale airport.

Their steam loco was donated by US Sugar & used to run the sugarcane fields in / around Lake Okeechobee.

Small kid + small space + an air compressor & needle scaler = "get on in there".

Unfortunately there are cracks in that engine that I don't think will ever get fully repaired.

The GCRR relocated to Miami not far from MetroZoo (former US Navy facility for blimps) & I was part of the move S. Rode all the way down on the last car, the Ferdinand Magellan - Presidential railcar used by Roosevelt & Truman (famous "Dewey Defeats Truman" pic was taken with Truman on the back) & Reagan for his whistle stop tour in '84.371f8212655af48968a3976a8d1d0fd7.jpg

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

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2 hours ago, ROFL BOX said:

When I said "been inside", I meant more than up to your shoulders.

Aktually, I was all the way in. I was asked to move a couple of the lights, so I crawled across the grates. I didn't want post #121 to seem boastful, I wanted to portray the emotion of the guy who maintained 4014 for all those years, and the ironic, bittersweet loss of "his engine", chosen because it was in the best shape of the remaining Big Boys, due to his efforts.


 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Not the greatest video, had an 18 wheeler coming up behind me on the road I was standing on… csb just found out the lady in the cab behind the fireman is my cousin, super aggy (her husband is the mayor of College Station..) apparently her son arranged for them to ride down to aggyville 

 

 

Edited by UTCzech III
eff it, video won't upload properly (seems to work on mobile), but it was cool
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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 month later...

thank you for saying that!  Been bugging me all day 'cause for all I knew, the bald dude in the tulsa tuxedo was his dad's brother or best friend or some shit.  

Happy for your Dad Francisco in that he was still doing cool shit up until the end.  Going to see bygone era trains, building model railroads, visiting old railyards...it was a pastime my Dad and I enjoyed in my youth.  I do a little of it now with my oldest and she's taken to it (old steamer in Bertram and some similar hill country flyer deal).  I'd still love to take her to see the Big Boy one day.  Guess we'll settle for the light rail to nowhere in the interim.  

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