Hello Tom!
Sunday October 19 1997 07:53, Tom Walker wrote to Ken Freeman:
 TW>  But the Big Boy would have the best PR value to whoever operated it.
But where will it run? The curves that will let it run is in Wyoming and only 
a few other states. The Big Boy was mainly built to conquer Sherman Hill 
between Cheyenne and Ogden, Utah. That's the reason they say "Big Boy never 
ventured far from Cheyenne".
Also, it's fuel consumption would negate almost all attempts to revive one of 
them. UP at one time tried to use an oil fired Big Boy and it was found not 
to be very good. Just too big of a firebox.
BTW, reported fuel consumption was almost 2/3rds of its load of 25 tons of 
coal and 25000 gallons of water, just to climb Sherman Hill according to the 
movies, "Last of the Giants" and other movies about Big Boy. If you don't 
think it would be rough, watch the movie about Challenger, 3985, in "The 
Union Pacific's Clinchfield Challenge". Going around a curve with a parallel 
track, the Challenger re-modeled the side of a coal hopper with it's running 
board. 
Everywhere they went, they had troubles. There were curves they couldn't 
negotiate, bridges that weren't strong enough to allow the Challenger's 
weight. IMO, it would be pure h... to take the Big Boy anywhere nowadays 
except around Cheyenne.
But it would be NICE!!! At least I've got the movies. About 500 all told, 
majority about STEAM!!! The KING of rails!
                               -=[Bob]=-
        Internet: classa@juno.com or rwingend@mail.orion.org
... Windows 95: A filthy rest room along the information superhighway.
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