Two23 posted:Nick Chillianis posted:I'm sorry, but I think I'm over "4014 madness". For the last week I have been watching one YouTube video after another, hoping to catch the engine making some racket. Instead I see the locomotive mostly drifting with the whistle being blown nearly constantly and nothing but siderods clanking away, in the very few moments when the whistle actually shuts up.
The titles and comments on these videos are laughable. Words like "Blasting", "Pounding", "Roaring" etc. accompany videos of the engine barely making any sound at all, no stack talk nothing.
I too was hesitant to go, even though it was easily within my range at only three hours away. In the end I went and I'm glad I did. It really doesn't come through on videos and photos how massive this thing is. It is something to see. Considering how expensive it is to maintain and run who knows how many chances you're going to get to see something this big moving? Most of the photos I've seen of it seem to be taken by people who just stand by a crossing to take a shot. You really get no sense of its scale that way, or even see all of it at once. As for "blasting/pounding/roaring," true there's no truth to that and it sounds like it was written by an overexcited teenage foamer. As I watched it in Nebraska I was amazed at how silently it seemed to glide along--much quieter than the diesels that ply those tracks. So anyway, in the end I'm glad I went for the experience. It was a different experience than I thought it would be but it was still a good one. I think of the 4014 in a similar way as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and the big sequoias in Yosemite. All are something you should see at least once in your lifetime.
Kent in SD
I guess you're missing my point. I've been around the 3985 under steam and have taken lots of video of her (She's only 10' shorter than 4014). I've seen six of the preserved 4000 class engines. I'm more than aware of 4014's size and scale.
The reason it glides so silently is because it is pulling nothing relative to its capabilities. The diesels you see are hauling thousand of tons of freight behind them.
4014 is hauling maybe 1200 tons. She can easily handle 10-12 times that much tonnage on the prairie.
The closest the UP gets to me is Memphis, TN, about a 6-7 hour drive. If she comes there I'll go see her.
Until then, I'll just hope she finally is allowed to strut her stuff on Cajon Pass and Cima Hill.
