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Steam & Excursion > A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oregon!Date: 07/05/15 04:54 A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oregon! Author: LoggerHogger Some steam locomotives tell you by their sheer size and appearance what they were built to do. This in one such locomotive.
Jim Boynton was at the helper yard at Kamela in the Oregon Blue Mountains in July 1938 when he came upon this giant waiting for her next assignment. Union Pacific ordered this big 2-8-8-0 in 1918 from Schenectady with but one idea in mind, power. They needed just such a 57-inch driver engine with high pressure cylinders at 26x32 and the low pressure cylinders at 41x32. and 210 boiler PSI to create the 103,000#s T.E. they needed from a helper engine. Well this is what they got. Just one look at UP #3606 and you know she was built for helper duty just as this that she was assigned to out of Kamela. What a beast! Martin Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/15 09:12 by LoggerHogger. Date: 07/05/15 07:25 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: patd3985 I believe the crews called them a "bull moose"! I seem to remember seeing a few of them in the early 50's when my dad worked out of The Dalles and Huntington. Thanx Martin for a great UP. steam fix!
Date: 07/05/15 07:25 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: Frisco1522 I always liked the look of those "Bull Moose" engines. Joe Collias had a photo of one of them leaving the yards with a train and described is as a Silurian Monster slithering out of town. Great description.
Date: 07/05/15 07:44 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: Fallbridge4449 Again another great photo and commentary Martin---Kamela sure brings back some memories. My wife and I wondered around there some waiting for UP 844 to crest the summit of the Blue Mountains back in 2007 I believe. The wye was still intact but not in service if I'm correct.
Dean Date: 07/05/15 07:57 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: tomstp Unusual to see only one sand line per engine on a helper engine.
Date: 07/05/15 08:04 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: jbbane Thanks Martin! To the comment about the wye at kamela, it has been torn out for a while now. I wonder if they still have a wye at Gibbon? Seems like a couple winters ago they were using manned helpers for a while, so wondered where they took them off and could turn them?
Date: 07/05/15 08:04 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: Lurch I'm sure if that engine were to slip, when the wheels grabbed the rail again it would pull the track out of alignment.
Date: 07/05/15 08:16 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: up833 i have been to Kamela many times but never thought of it as a helper assignment location..being the Summit of the Blues. I would think that Kamela would be where helpers would cut off and return back downgrade to LaGrande or Gibbon. Maybe I am misunderstanding the use of the word "assignment"??
Thanks/Roger Beckett Date: 07/05/15 09:25 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: Tominde I can't imagine hand firing that thing. 1918...would it have a stoker? Or perhaps oil burner. That thing had to use some serious steam.
Date: 07/05/15 09:29 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: GMUP Built with a Duplex stoker, this one was converted to Oil in 1937, the year It was assigned on the O-WRR&N
GMUP Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/15 09:31 by GMUP. Date: 07/05/15 09:35 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: patd3985 Tominde Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > I can't imagine hand firing that thing. > 1918...would it have a stoker? Or perhaps oil > burner. That thing had to use some serious > steam All U.P. engines on the west coast were oil- fired. There was very little use of coal except up north in Wasington (GN,NP etc.),I believe.. If there was any use of it around the Oregon area, I'm not aware of it. Date: 07/05/15 10:19 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: Chico43 up833 Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > i have been to Kamela many times but never thought > of it as a helper assignment location..being the > Summit of the Blues. I would think that Kamela > would be where helpers would cut off and return > back downgrade to LaGrande or Gibbon. Maybe I am > misunderstanding the use of the word > "assignment"?? > Thanks/Roger Beckett Maybe the crew cut off and spotted the engine there and went to beans? Went on the law? etc. etc. Date: 07/05/15 15:19 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: asheldrake the OR&N 197 was converted from coal to oil in the 1920s.......so it burned coal for 15+ years running in Oregon. Arlen
Date: 07/06/15 14:17 Re: A Big Bruiser Of A Union Pacific Helper Waits At Kamela, Oreg Author: patd3985 asheldrake Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > the OR&N 197 was converted from coal to oil in the > 1920s.......so it burned coal for 15+ years > running in Oregon. Arlen I should have worded my reply a bit more informal! I was talking about the U.P. steam in Oregon in its later years. Say 1925 'til it's end around 1956. Thanx for the correction Arlen......................Pat |