Thanks for sharing. That is one great steam engine
thank you also to the UP steam crew.
Ok, honest question for the Trainiacs:
Mars light not necessary so removed?
WITZ 41 posted:Ok, honest question for the Trainiacs:
Mars light not necessary so removed?
Sort of. Know body knows the real reason the current manager removed the red Mars Light, but it was some 3 or 4 years ago. Technically, it was no longer needed. The original intent of those red Mars Warning lights was primarily on those railroads with LOTS of double track. If for some reason the train went into emergency, the red Mars Warning was automatically turned on, and opposing trains were NOT to pass the train in emergency. Once the train had been fully inspected, and found to not be fouling the adjacent track, the Engineer would recover the air brakes, and reset the red Mars light.
Understood. Thanks.
10 days till we steam from Denver to Cheyenne behind this amazing piece of historic railroad equipment. Gonna be ridding in the first dome car "Challenger". Can't wait!!! Thanks to the Denver Post Dispatch and Union Pacific Railroad for making this trip possible. It's the 25th Anniversary this year!
I was told the reason was two fold. The bracket was broken (yes I know it could have been repaired) and Ed wanted the engine 'as delivered' look.
Hello, OGR Forum Rail Fans
Gary
Attachments
Chuck Sartor posted:I was told the reason was two fold. The bracket was broken (yes I know it could have been repaired) and Ed wanted the engine 'as delivered' look.
Funny....but while I like the 765 without a Mars Light, the 844 almost looks naked (to me) without one.....kind of like a dog without its collar on.
I think it looks just fine without the Mars light. The as delivered look is classic .
Hi - Rail Fans
Attachments
Good to see another steamer out and running the rails. Good looking engine.
Well, you have a short train. Was the 6900 class engine there to provide power, dead weight, braking, backup, or all of the above?
I would think there would be a test train with the weight of the Special, BEFORE running the special?
I would imagine the diesel was more for braking than anything else. Plus the dynamics could be used to simulate a load for the steam engine.
Dominic Mazoch posted:Well, you have a short train. Was the 6900 class engine there to provide power, dead weight, braking, backup, or all of the above?
The 6936 was being used in dynamic braking a LOT. If careful attention is paid to some of the many videos out there on the web, one can hear the dynamic brake grid blower motors on the 6936.
I would think there would be a test train with the weight of the Special, BEFORE running the special?
The DDA40X was capable of providing more dynamic braking load than 844 could accelerate with, so pretty much the same as that big, long, heavy CFD Special passenger train. The 6936 will have to be used MU'ed behind 844 on the CFD Special, since 844 is not capable of maintaining the schedule all by herself.
Chuck Sartor posted:I was told the reason was two fold. The bracket was broken (yes I know it could have been repaired) and Ed wanted the engine 'as delivered' look.
Not a UP historian, was it delivered in black or two tone gray?
BobbyD posted:Chuck Sartor posted:I was told the reason was two fold. The bracket was broken (yes I know it could have been repaired) and Ed wanted the engine 'as delivered' look.
Not a UP historian, was it delivered in black or two tone gray?
Assume you mean UP 844, and NOT the "bracket" discussed by Mr. Sartor, yes all the UP FEF 800 class steam locomotives were delivered in black. The two-tone gray "passenger scheme" was not developed until 1946, and first appeared on Challenger 3976 (the idea for the two-tone gray was first proposed by the workers at the Albina Shops, in the Portland, OR area). Other "passenger assigned" steam locomotives then began receiving the two-tone gray styling.
Allegheny posted:The as delivered look is classic .
Including all that chrome-plated bling! 
smd4 posted:Allegheny posted:The as delivered look is classic .
Including all that chrome-plated bling!
Amen to THAT!!!!
I hate Mars lights on locomotives !!
jim pastorius posted:I hate Mars lights on locomotives !!
I like 'em....
Rusty
Attachments
Images (1)
jim pastorius posted:I hate Mars lights on locomotives !!
Well,,,,,,that's one opinion.
Not me, I love mars lights on steamers and car-bodies. In fact, the other series GS locos which lack the mars lights look strange in my opinion.
Real locos don't have Mars lights, only radio controlled. Famous last words: "What's that flashing light ?"
From the FWW department, I like Mars lights on steam locomotives. That's how they looked in their last decade of regular service, they give an "all business" look to the locomotives, and add a bit more color to a fundamentally black machine. Really don't care for historical revisionism.
mark s posted:Really don't care for historical revisionism.
What historical revisionism?
mark s posted:Really don't care for historical revisionism.
It's not revisionism, no more so than when they repainted 4449 back to it's 1941 paint job and markings several years ago...
mark s posted:From the FWW department, I like Mars lights on steam locomotives. That's how they looked in their last decade of regular service, they give an "all business" look to the locomotives, and add a bit more color to a fundamentally black machine. Really don't care for historical revisionism.
Revisionism would be adding a Mars light to a Santa Fe 2900 class Northern (or any Santa Fe steam locomotive for that matter.)
Rusty
Beautiful watching this thing back running! But it makes me feel even sadder that, all apparently due to one Grinch, we can't have an engine like this running in Canada! 
Not even after all the $$ have already been spent to bring CP2816 "back from the dead!"
I hope somebody will be imaging 844 in 4K video! Railfans of the future demand it!
If Ed wants to make the 844 look as she was delivered (sans Mars light) he should also remove the elephant ears.
Stuart posted:If Ed wants to make the 844 look as she was delivered (sans Mars light) he should also remove the elephant ears.
Then he would also have to convert her back to coal burning, and THAT sure isn't going to happen!
Better be happy with what we got. Enjoy !!
Ok, ok. How about revisionism that changes the appearance of a locomotive that employed a Mars light for 60+ years, and ran without one for 8 or so years?
mark s posted:Ok, ok. How about revisionism that changes the appearance of a locomotive that employed a Mars light for 60+ years, and ran without one for 8 or so years?
Things change...
There were probably complaints when UP renumbered her to 8444 and also when the numbered her back to 844.
I felt the same way when they removed the 765's Mars light. But, I've gotten used to it without. Heck, if they could resurrect CB&Q 5632 from the primordial scrap iron pool without a Mars Light, I wouldn't complain...
Basically, it all boils down, it's the UP's locomotive, they can do what they want with it. Plus as long as 844 has never been retired, any configuration is correct.
As long as the locomotive boils water, it's still the 844.
Now, lop the Mars light off 4449, THAT would be a problem...
Rusty
MARS lights are just fine on fire apparatus!
Attachments
Images (4)
I thought a "MARS" light was a particular type of lighting system made by the, er, "MARS" company?
True. There's a MARS light, and Pyle Gyralite. I believe they have two different patterns as they are patented and copyrighted.
Last Year's Rail-Fanning at the Cheyenne Frontier Days, we saw UP E9's • X-951. The Union Pacific Yellow, just jumps out at the Rail Fans. This is classic Union Pacific.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Gary
Attachments
trainroomgary posted:Last Year's Rail-Fanning at the Cheyenne Frontier Days, we saw UP E9's • X-951. The Union Pacific Yellow, just jumps out at the Rail Fans. This is classic Union Pacific.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Gary
Union Pacific on the front, again. The unit no longer looks "naked"!
What is the significance of those keychain-type things at 0:25 of this video that Gary posted?
EBT Jim posted:What is the significance of those keychain-type things at 0:25 of this video that Gary posted?
Those are the individual employee identification & craft tags, which are hung onto the FRA mandated Blue Flag, affixed to the cab. The first employee hangs his/her ID tag on the Blue Flag, and then affixes the Blue Flag itself to the side of the cab, on the Engineer's side. As additional employees arrive at that job site, each intern hangs their one individual ID tag on the Blue Flag. The locomotive is NOT to be moved whatsoever, until the Blue Flag is removed, and the Blue Flag is NOT to be removed until all the employees working on that job site, have finished and removed their individual ID tags. Then, and only then, is the ORIGINAL employee that placed the Blue Flag, allowed to remove his/her own ID tag, and then remove the Blue Flag.
This procedure is also followed throughout all railroad diesel shops in the U.S., per FRA regulations.
