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STEAM POWER THIS SUMMER


KaBar

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Trains.com is reporting that Union Pacific's UP 3985, "Challenger", will be rolling on excursion runs east of the Mississippi this summer. Leaving Wyoming with a run through Nebraska to Iowa, then to Chicago June 12, then down to Milwaukee for the weekend June 15-16. If you've never seen a genuine, no-shit big ass steam locomotive, this is a good chance. The Challenger is a 4-6-6-4. That's not the biggest ever, but it's right up there. Word is that it will be pulling vintage passenger coaches from the 1950's era. Check it out!

 

http:www.uprr.com/aboutup/excurs/spring02sched.shtml

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Several Oil-Burners Based on West Coast Too.

 

Vinyl---There are several big oil-fired steam locomotives based on the West Coast. The Sante Fe 3751, which is a big Baldwin 4-8-4 built in 1927 is based in Los Angeles at the Redondo Engine Terminal. It's owned by the San Bernadino Railroad Historical Society (SBRHS). Because of California's screwed up insurance regulations it has to be towed to shows and stuff, but it does have locomotive power. Big steam engines are somewhat hazardous, because they typically run at pressures around 200-215 psi, and if the boiler blew it would probably kill the crew and a buncvh of by-standers, but thay isn't likely to happen unless it was pulling a real heavy load. Passenger cars aren't heavy. Cars loaded with something like gravel or pig iron might be too much. It ran to the Railfair in Sacramento in 1999, and was at Fullerton, CA for Railroad Days this year. Check sbrhs.com

 

Also, up in Portland, there is the Spokane, Portland and Seattle No. 700, which is a 4-8-4 built by Baldwin in 1938, and SP 4449 (Southern Pacific GS-4 Daylight , which is a very well known steam locomotive. The 4449 is a Lima 4-8-4, built in 1941.

 

So you've got several choices. Check out their schedules on the net. They don't run excursions all the time, but it is something that can be done if you're willing to take the time and effort (and expense) to do it.

 

Down here in Texas we're going to see the Frisco 1522 this MONTH! Check frisco1522.org

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Pig Iron

 

The LAW---Pig iron is a complex alloy of iron, carbon and other elements generally considered to be contaminants. It contains about 3% carbon and is the chemical precursor to "wrought iron", which is the original form of iron-carbon metal that Man formed into agricultural implements, weapons and tools. The original iron furnaces (ovens is more like it) were built of clay, and iron-bearing ore and earth was formed into a ball and fired by charcoal and a bellows, at a relatively low temperature (around 850 degrees or so.)

 

Modern pig iron is the low-quality iron amalgam that is the form of iron used in the formation of steel. It is poured into large round, barrel-like ingots and commonly shipped by rail. Sometimes pig iron is crushed (it's relatively brittle, compared to steel, sort of like a very impure cast iron) and shipped by gondola car, sometimes it's shipped in ingots. Anyway, a carload of pig iron is a heavy-ass rail car, almost as heavy as a carload of crushed granite or something like that. They add scrap steel to pig iron and limestone and coke (coal) in the steel furnaces and melt it all down to make steel. I've never actually seen this, but I've read about it.

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