Sidney, Nebraska: Big Boy rolled into the railyard at Sidney right on time this afternoon, and it is massive. See video of the arrival at the other DrC’s blog. The sound of a steam whistle is so different, nostalgic for those of us old enough to remember. Local police wouldn’t let us get very close, so I can’t comment on the steamer’s characteristic smell, experienced elsewhere.
I’m certain I’ve never before seen a steam locomotive with eight tall drive wheels on either side, in two sets of four, for a total of 16. The tender holding oil and water is so heavy it has front-to-back wheels under it to distribute the weight, water is very heavy and fuel oil almost as heavy. It has eight wheels on each side, with minimal gaps between.
Big Boy tows a diesel engine which provides compressed air for the train’s brakes - steamers did this with surplus steam but today’s rail cars aren’t designed to deal with steam since diesels don’t generate steam. It also tows a couple more tenders, because water towers don’t dot modern rail lines like they did in the days of steam. The balance of the short train is made up of 3 vintage baggage cars, which probably carry spare parts and spare crew.
Old US 30 parallels much of the track between here and Cheyenne so that will probably be the first 100 or so miles of our return trip which begins tomorrow morning. We fully expect to have a bunch of company on US 30 tomorrow a.m.
