Steam & Excursion > UP 3985 7-30-1992 EB Pequop Mountain Climb! East of Spruce,Nev.

These are the things we dream of....Perhaps a rare, yet pleasent reminder of days when, the largely un-documented WP 401 class Challengers laboured back and fourth, up the desert grades between Salt Lake City,Utah, and Elko,Nevada during thier short life-span...3985 at her best!..Wide open!, Huge bouquet of smoke!..Viewed from the western summit of grade,looking west towards Spruce siding/Wells,Nevada..I used to find remnants of burned coal cinders up here along the tracks, as well as broken pieces of railroad china, they used to toss out the vestibule, if it was chipped I guess!

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/17 02:22 by RailRat.

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My God, they just keep coming! I salute you, sir, for this series of amazing videos. Can't thank you enough. d

FYI, that was Lynn firing for Steve on that portion of the trip.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

          Isn't the 3985 the steam engine that some 'steam expert' said a few years ago wasn't any good, didn't steam well, never was a good design, etc, etc, etc ? Hmmmm, seems to be doing all those things a steam engine is supposed to be doing. More smoke please.   :)

It would seem that the railroad was taking a big risk letting her go out with that big train without a diesal helper???  If all the current negatives about the Steve Lee crew are factual how could the railroad have ever taken that risk??

  Guess the facts show that not only did the previous crew keep her in good running shape but they also knew how to get her over the road and did it without the need to hang half way out the cab window !!

   Great memories when things were run right !!!   IMHO-Ross Rowland

  

  

Please , no accusation intended--Lynn was a friend of mine and I dont have  enough info about this to even pretend I know anything about this question.  But in light of previous discussions about  proper/improper firing and the smoke coming out of the stack on these 2 videos---great video by the way---thank you Jim---  was power/ fuel going unused on this climb?  Was  fuel being used to its fullest potential here ?   Just asking



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/17 07:32 by dougd.

Remember that they're WAY above sea level and it's a bit easier to overfire when you've got less
air to burn.

Out

dougd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Please , no accusation intended--Lynn was a friend
> of mine and I dont have  enough info about this
> to even pretend I know anything about this
> question.  But in light of previous discussions
> about  proper/improper firing and the smoke
> coming out of the stack on these 2 videos---great
> video by the way---thank you Jim---  was power/
> fuel going unused on this climb?  Was  fuel
> being used to its fullest potential here ?  
> Just asking

This was back in the days that that terrible fuel from Sinclair was still being used. Having been there, and done that, I can tell you that in order to maintain 280psi working steam pressure, and still keep the Elesco Exhaust Steam Injector on, you HAD to make smoke! Also, this was prior to the improvements in drafting, and additional installation of LOTS more fire brick.

dpudave Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My God, they just keep coming! I salute you, sir,
> for this series of amazing videos. Can't thank you
> enough. d
Thank you!..and Happy to finally share,especially this segment, most certainly the highlight of my rail "documentarian" days!..I wanted to share the most important segments first, then more to come of the best "in between" stuff!..will try to put more up tonight after work!

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/17 13:23 by RailRat.

The Glory Days of the UP Steam Program !

By firing it that hard, I bet more sand went up the flues than on the rails...

Earlk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> By firing it that hard, I bet more sand went up
> the flues than on the rails...

Not really. Only need to sand her out when the pressure started to drop. A quick sanding cleaned the flues/tubes up so that the pressure came back up, i.e. only talking a few pounds.

HotWater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Earlk Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > By firing it that hard, I bet more sand went up
> > the flues than on the rails...
>
> Not really. Only need to sand her out when the
> pressure started to drop. A quick sanding cleaned
> the flues/tubes up so that the pressure came back
> up, i.e. only talking a few pounds.

OK... I remember when firing the 1744 and 18 over La Veta, if you smoked it up for a runby or such, the first thing you did getting underway was to sand her out otherwise you'd surely notice she didn't steam as well.

A better way might be to sand it during the photo run. Might not get the huge black plume the droolers want, but would that be a bad thing?

An even better way would be to fire it correctly during photo runs and let the whiners whine.

Shows the fireman actually knows how to fire.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/17 20:45 by Realist.

Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> An even better way would be to fire it correctly
> during photo runs and let the whiners whine.
>
> Shows the fireman actually knows how to fire.

I seem to remember doing that one time, on a double photo run, i.e. hardly any smoke on the first pass, just a light haze. Many unhappy people. Oh well.

dougd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ---great
> video by the way---thank you Jim---
My Pleasure!..took Forever to learn how to convert VHS tape to Digital,and not the cheap/lazy way! Including putting together the proper devices and equipment to get even "fair" results from a consumer grade 1990's Video camera, and I did know enough to use a "shotgun" or "telescope" microphone to catch sound with. Anyway,I didn't expect,but do like the interesting conversations that follow my videos.And I didn't realize that the Bad Sinclair fuel made the engines smoke more,was a hassle for the crews to deal with?..but sure made my day!.Plus maybe created blacker smoke like they used to anyway?,when they were coal burners?

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA