Nostalgia & History > UP's Big Blows

I bought the slides that i scanned these from recently. I'm kinda surprised that there hasn't been much interest shown in UP turbines on TO. I used to know a modeler who just went apes*** over UP turbines.

Con

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#26 is preserved at the railroad museum in Ogden, UT.

I wish GE would have used this nose on the p-42s.

I like to see the Veranda type off U50 .
Has any one got some to place here..?
Please........yours snoopy51

But there has been an interest here in this subject with photos on and off in the past.

The ex-UP X-18 is now at the Illinois Railway Museum. Unfortunately, I never saw or heard one operate. But my experience with them goes back to November '73 when a young kid, who grew up to become Highgreengraphics, showed me around the Cheyenne, WY, roundhouse. Thanks again Jim. The #26 was parked behind #29 at that time. I think #18 was in Salt Lake or Ogden, UT, then. Gerry

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I remember sitting in the Stater Bros. restaurant (now called La Villa) in Colton in the early 1960s and watching them come east of Colton Tower to make a pickup. As the engineer would open the throttle you could hear this roar that sounded like an airplane was going to land on the restaurant and all of the windows of the restaurant would vibrate. It's no wonder they were banned from California. They were very loud. I'm surprised the engine crews tolerated them because of the noise.

Were those engines riding on Fairbanks Morse type trucks? It sure looks like it.

JDE

Thanks GJP - Glad to do the favor way back when, yup, and there's your hat! I never heard a turbine run, either, but I sure got to run through 26 and 29 a lot - including a couple of lengthy one-on-one guided tours by the roundhouse foreman Bob M. which helped to peak my young (I was 15 and had the full run of the place) interest in railroad mechanical things - - - Fascinating oddball industrial technology for sure! --- --- - --- JLH

Steamjocky Wrote:
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> I remember sitting in the Stater Bros. restaurant
> (now called La Villa) in Colton in the early 1960s
> and watching them come east of Colton Tower to
> make a pickup. As the engineer would open the
> throttle you could hear this roar that sounded
> like an airplane was going to land on the
> restaurant and all of the windows of the
> restaurant would vibrate. It's no wonder they
> were banned from California. They were very loud.
> I'm surprised the engine crews tolerated them
> because of the noise.
>

Actually they were relatively quiet in the cab. When the auxiliary diesel wasn't running, it was like being in a dead unit, and it was a long way back to where the turbine exhaust was located (opposite end of the B unit).

It was the folks outside who got the huge dose of noise pollution.

Best regards,

Rob L.

One or two of these were stored behind the old Western Carloading building in Salt Lake City near the UP depot in the late '70s. I don't remember the number(s).

Dave, won't swear to it but I believe that was 16 and 18, at least the control units and they were
at the GE Appuratus Shop at least through the early seventies.

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> But there has been an interest here in this
> subject with photos on and off in the past.

Ya, it is true...wish I had ever had a chance to see and hear them too....

Steamjocky Wrote:

> Were those engines riding on Fairbanks Morse type
> trucks? It sure looks like it.

There are a lot of similarities alright, but the FM truck is noticeably more asymmetric. See this Train Master photo from Don Ross' site: http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/fmTM2.jpg

I've posted this before, but here are a pair of Big Blow cab sections waiting to be scrapped at Erman Corp in Kansas City, KS in 1990:

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Steamjocky Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I remember sitting in the Stater Bros. restaurant
> (now called La Villa) in Colton in the early 1960s
> and watching them come east of Colton Tower to
> make a pickup. As the engineer would open the
> throttle you could hear this roar that sounded
> like an airplane was going to land on the
> restaurant and all of the windows of the
> restaurant would vibrate. It's no wonder they
> were banned from California. They were very loud.
> I'm surprised the engine crews tolerated them
> because of the noise.
>
> Were those engines riding on Fairbanks Morse type
> trucks? It sure looks like it.
>
> JDE


JD, La Villa is closed now, you'll have to settle for ice cream across the street...

SOB

I too am surprised of the lack of discussion of the UP turbines on this site. As a former hobbyist and collector of model trains, I had purchased all the Turbine models produced by MTH in "O" gage several years ago when they were manufactured. The history of those engineering marvels has a special place in locomotive development and history.

Jim