There are a lot of articles regarding the subject of locomotive sizes, and I’ll be real: most of them are wrong. There’s a lot of assumptions when it comes to how big locomotives have been in the past, their size, their power, and everything else. So, here’s a list of what, based on my own investigation, I believe to be the heaviest locomotives ever to run on the rails.
0:00 – Intro
1:40 – Union Pacific Big Boy
3:47 – The Yellowstones
6:01 – Chesapeake and Ohio class M-1
7:50 – Virginian Railway EL-3A
9:08 – Union Pacific GTEL Coal Burner
“The Union Pacific Big Boy is a type of simple articulated 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive manufactured by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) between 1941 and 1944 and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad in revenue service until 1962. The 25 Big Boy locomotives were built to haul freight over the Wasatch Range between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming. In the late 1940s, they were reassigned to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they hauled freight over Sherman Hill to Laramie, Wyoming. They were the only locomotives to use a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement: four-wheel leading truck for stability entering curves, two sets of eight driving wheels and a four-wheel trailing truck to support the large firebox.”
“A 2-8-8-4 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation, has two leading wheels, two sets of eight driving wheels, and a four-wheel trailing truck. The type was generally named the Yellowstone, a name given it by the first owner, the Northern Pacific Railway, whose lines ran near Yellowstone National Park. Seventy-two Yellowstone-type locomotives were built for four U.S. railroads.”
“The Chesapeake and Ohio class M-1 was a fleet of three steam turbine locomotives built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1947–1948 for service on the Chessie streamliner. As diesel locomotives became more prevalent following World War II, the C&O was one of several railroads loath to abandon coal as a fuel source, and saw steam turbine technology as a possible alternative to diesel. At the time of its construction it was the longest single-unit locomotive in the world.”
“Alco-Westinghouse EL3A electric locomotive built for the Virginian Railway in 1925.”
“In October 1962, Union Pacific constructed an experimental GTEL of its own, using a modified ALCO PA-1 as a cab, the chassis of a GN W-1-class electric locomotive (bought for scrap from the Great Northern Railway) as the second unit, and a modified turbine prime mover removed from one of the 50 to 75 series locomotives.”
🚂 Further reading 🚂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Big_Boy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-8-8-4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_and_Ohio_class_M-1
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alco_Westinghouse_EL3A_1925.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_GTELs#Experimental_coal-burning_turbine
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I'm just happy that someone recognizes the existence of the DM&IR Yellowstone's. They are often left out of discussions about articulated Steam engines from the US. Happy to see that they were at least represented in a video!
One of the gas turbines is in Ogden Utah
Hey darkness thanks for adding that 0:54
Fascinating as ever.
Hey you should do “5 of the WORST British steam engines”
I am genuinely surprised at the M1 being considered inefficient, especially with speed as a factor. Not a mean comment, I am just trying to explain why I am confused.
Turbo-electric drives are supposed to be the most efficient drive method due to the turbine not needing to be slowed down for slower speed. You can instead have the turbine go at max speed all the time. The only inefficient areas are where the energy needs to be converted from kinetic to electric and back to kinetic again. And even then, the only reason why the USN swapped back to geared turbine drives in the 1920s was mainly due to the Washington Naval Treaty giving weight limits, as a turbo-electric drive is much heavier compared to a geared turbine drive (another reason being how the USN went to Turbo-Electric in the first place was because in the 1910s domestic turbine gear manufacturing was behind the British and Germans, and that's not something you outsource).
I always figured that Turbine engines didn't make it, at least for geared turbines, was because the gear differentials were so hard to shrink down for a locomotive, so Diesel was a more economical method as opposed to paying to work through the teething issues. Meanwhile, Turbo-Electric didn't make it because Diesel being superior to steam in general, with economies of scale with a universal fuel system taking care of the rest.
From what I heard in the video, had the steam generators been more reliable, the M1 would have been a success.
You held the “O” in host longer than usual and it made me very uncomfy.
I have to doubt this videos claim concerning the weight of the Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 locomotives.
Union Pacific 4004 is on static display at a park in Cheyenne Wyoming, there is a sign in front of it which states the locomotives weight as 1,208,000 pounds or 604 tons, not the 548 tons claimed in the video.
What about the Triplex engine? It was a 4-8-8-8-4, though it didn't run the greatest, it was built and ran nonetheless.
This video is literally them heavy boys😂
If there is a new topic of rating locomotives, how about something like Top 5 fanciest or classy locomotives or even cars, planes etc.
As a train enthusiast (and a railway engineer), I'm actually surprised that the "Big Boy" even made it to the list!
Hey darkness, although the U.P. Big Boy wasn’t the heaviest i do believe it was still the largest steam locomotive as far as length and I believe tractive effort
Hey, this tier list (I think) makes it the first from you that doesn’t feature something from… well, you know. British Rail. 🤔
The Union Pacific Big Boy is the worlds largest steam locamotive and technicaly the largest ever built in the world when you factor in the "average". While it was usually never number 1 in any one specific category, it came close enough to number 1 in quite a few categories consistently. So factor in Power, weight, length, height, width, etc… Then average it out against the averages of the other top 10 locomotives in the world and the Big Boy comes out on top with the highest overall average. Making it the "overall" largest locomotive ever.
When it came to power, weight, and sheer size the United Stateds dominated the world when it came to the size of it's trains and locomotives. But the U.S. also has the worlds heaviest loading guage too. And it's rail network was consistently upgraded to handle larger and ever heavier locomotives as a result.
Th GN electrics had traction motors on all axles making the UP Coal Turbine experiment an A1A-A1A+B-D-D-B
Thanks for sharing this video with us! Duluth is pronounced "duh LOOTH"
Could you do video about shorlived or unpopular locomotives like the PRR J1a
Your Duluth pronunciation gave me a chuckle. Duh-Looth is how I've heard it for that past 30 years. Looth is said like tooth.
Where did you get the 548 for the Big Boy? With tender combined it weighs over 600. Seriously, UP list its weight as 1.2 MILLION pounds. As for the Yellowstone, I cant find anything that reliably lists it near the Big Boy in weight. I can only reliably find its weight to be 1.1 million pounds.
What about nuclear engines? True, none of them were ever built, but had they been, they would’ve been the heaviest due to the need for lead casings around the nuclear core.
I was told by an old timer that the UP coal burning gas turbine had a unique sound.
I high pitch wir, coupled to a deafening roar, punctuated by an occasional crash of a turbine blade being thrown through the sides.
This was told by my best friends dad, David Genau who’s father was an engineer for the UP in the thirties through the fifties.
David was in his early teens when these experiments were being conducted and witnessed this unit first hand.
BIG CHUNGUS!!!!!
12:36 A MILLION POUNDS THAT IS THE BIGGEST CHUNGEST OUT OF THEM ALL
What were your sources for the Virginian Railway EL-3A? I may some stuff that can help you?
Stop the scariest voice crap, you ruin everything
Duluth is pronounced, "Duh-looth"
ohio train
As a rail fan who lives near Duluth, thank you for mentioning the DM&IR yellowstones, it's astounding to me how often they fail to get brought up in these sorts of discussions because they really are more powerful than the big boys and with how much they had to do with the WWII war efforts and so forth, what with helping to supply a substantial majority of the country's iron ore and all. That being said, the way you pronounced Duluth is so wrong that it's funny.
I just want to add that that last locomotive is heavier than a Bainbridge or Truxtun class destroyer, from 1902, at full load.
would be interesting to see the most dense locomotive list
I love that you include a very famous Northeastern Minnesota’s railroad that is defunct called DMIR. Love seeing local railroads when watching here in NE Minnesota.
i feel like im gonna get hate for this, but what about triplex locomotives?
One aspect that I always find misleading is when quoting steam locomotives weights it’s alway unclear whether the weight includes the tender or not. This really needs to be clarified as in many cases two identical locomotives can have significantly different weights as the tenders can be designed for long haul or short hall requirements. It’s frustrating seeing these figures quoted and not knowing if it’s just the loco or loco and tenders. Keep the content coming.🇦🇺
Number 1: Your mom
The C&O M-1 has been saved. if you go to the B&O railraod museum you will see one in the parking lot.