because last months thread was closed I am starting another be nice!!
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At Laramie's train show last weekend, I heard that the Bog Boy will be viewable this Saturday at the Steam Shop. No further details.
I think it's significant that UP continues to make improvements to the steam shop.
Hopefully this bodes well for steam in America in the future.
Jim
EBT Jim posted:I think it's significant that UP continues to make improvements to the steam shop.
Hopefully this bodes well for steam in America in the future.
Jim
Improvements? What "improvements"?
The description of the CNC lathe is rather humorous. It's "robotic", lol. A lot of fluff there. CNC lathes have been around for half a century. While they have come a long way, there is nothing particularly special about the one they bought.
Hot Water posted:EBT Jim posted:I think it's significant that UP continues to make improvements to the steam shop.
Hopefully this bodes well for steam in America in the future.
Jim
Improvements? What "improvements"?
I'm not interested in this childishness, Jack.
Ed Dickens is, right now, busy doing what he does every day ..... and you are, right now, busy doing what you do every day. All is well .... be happy.
TexasSP posted:The description of the CNC lathe is rather humorous. It's "robotic", lol. A lot of fluff there. CNC lathes have been around for half a century. While they have come a long way, there is nothing particularly special about the one they bought.
You're right, a bit of fluff ...... but it was for the general public .... many of whom may not even know what a lathe is, even less so CNC. UP is trying to put a positive, interesting spin on things for the general public. Hopefully before steam locomotives are just an altogether forgotten part of our great American history.
What is important is that Union Pacific IS making these investments.
Sometime when I read the OGR forum, it seems as if there are some folks that go through life looking for things and people to criticize.
Happy Railroading
I agree, the nitpickers get annoying after awhile. Nothing seems correct or right to a certain group. Give us a break.
Isn't the fact they invested in a brand new CNC lathe saying something about their steam program?
I don't know what size it is, or what brand, but I'd bet it wasn't cheap.
Ed
be nice.
EBT Jim posted:Hot Water posted:EBT Jim posted:I think it's significant that UP continues to make improvements to the steam shop.
Hopefully this bodes well for steam in America in the future.
Jim
Improvements? What "improvements"?
I'm not interested in this childishness, Jack.
Ed Dickens is, right now, busy doing what he does every day ..... and you are, right now, busy doing what you do every day. All is well .... be happy.
TexasSP posted:The description of the CNC lathe is rather humorous. It's "robotic", lol. A lot of fluff there. CNC lathes have been around for half a century. While they have come a long way, there is nothing particularly special about the one they bought.
You're right, a bit of fluff ...... but it was for the general public .... many of whom may not even know what a lathe is, even less so CNC. UP is trying to put a positive, interesting spin on things for the general public. Hopefully before steam locomotives are just an altogether forgotten part of our great American history.
What is important is that Union Pacific IS making these investments.
Sometime when I read the OGR forum, it seems as if there are some folks that go through life looking for things and people to criticize.
Happy Railroading
Agreed!
Age of the technology aside, the fact that UP approved spending what surely was a hefty bill to improve operations and efficiency at the steam shop says a lot about their commitment to the program.
I would think that if I were a machinist charged with hand making a boatload of bolts all day I long would appreciate this "new" technology.
Ed
Is May 10 the 249th aniv. of the first transcon railroad? If so, the UP steam team has a lot to do.
149, that is. Maybe an announcement concerning the upcoming sesquicentenial?
Bruce
Jim Wrinn's article on the UP Steam Shop and the Big Boy progress in the June issue of Trains (pp 48-51) is well done with lots of photos! Jim has done a great overall job with the magazine! I started subscribing as a young man in the mid 1950's and David P. Morgan was my hero!
The real trick is converting the engine to burn oil. Somethng that large is going to use a lot of it.
When the railroads were using Bunker C as a fuel, they had to keep it warm so it could flow. Is there still the same concerns with the fuels they use in oil burners?
Dominic Mazoch posted:The real trick is converting the engine to burn oil. Somethng that large is going to use a lot of it.
True, however 4014 will really never have to work that hard in her new career.
When the railroads were using Bunker C as a fuel, they had to keep it warm so it could flow. Is there still the same concerns with the fuels they use in oil burners?
No. The current oil fuel of choice for the larger oil fired steam locomotives, is reprocessed waste oil, which is about the consistency of SAE 40 weight motor oil, and thus does not have to be heated, unless the ambient temperatures are well below freezing. Plus, the waste oil is much cheaper than purchasing the high end "power plant oil", such as #5.
That "Bunker C" was a PIA! Thanks to recycling, there is a better alternative as HOT WATER pointed out.
Tinplate Art posted:That "Bunker C" was a PIA! Thanks to recycling, there is a better alternative as HOT WATER pointed out.
It should be pointed out, for those unfamiliar with what the "bunker fuels" really were. They were the by-product of refining crude oil. As crude oil was distilled down, or "Cracked", into the various high-end highly volatile liquids, then the various fuels (gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuels), and finally the various lubricating oils, what remained in the bottom of the Cracking Towers, were the "Bunker solids". The western railroads and Navy & marine vessels purchased such Bunker fuels by the pound, for boiler firing. The stuff had to be heated to at least 175 degrees, just to keep it fluid enough to move.
With the discovery and development of plastic, around the early 1950s, the Petro-Chemical industry really expanded, to the point that the by-product, i.e. Bunker Fuels, were now longer "cheap throw-away" products. Thus, as the oil burning steam locomotives were being phased out and replaced by diesel electric locomotives, the Bunker fuels were less in demand, and as the plastics industry rapidly grew, the left-over crap in the bottom of the Cracking Towers was simply all used up as a highly sale-able product.
Today, I'm not sure that one could even purchase any of the old, original "Bunker C" product for locomotive fuel. About the only thing available today would be #5 or maybe #6 "black oil", and of course asphalt.
Thanks for posting this update. Tomorrow’s announcement should be interesting.
Also the U.P. Gas Turbines burned that bunker C oil.
