Union Pacific FEF Series
The vehicles of the class FEF of the Union Pacific Railroad (UP ), also referred to as Class 800, are steam locomotives with the wheel arrangement 2'D2 ' (Northern). In the total of 45 locomotives, there are three series of delivery or subclasses FEF -1, FEF 2 and FEF 3, wherein the FEF -2 and -3 in the coupling wheel and cylinder diameter different from the FEF -1.
The last locomotive of this series, No. 844, was the last to be built for the UP steam locomotive. It was never taken out of service and is kept operational by the UP until today.
History
In the late 1930s, the tensile loads on train operation were so great that the 2'D1 locomotives class 7000 came to its limits. After the collapse of such a locomotive, in whose train also the official car of the President of the UP was queued, ALCO was awarded the contract to build a stronger engine, the 20 coaches with 90 mph could pull (145 km / h) in the plane.
The first 20 locomotives were delivered in 1937. They were given the numbers 800-819 and the name FEF what for "four -eight -four " ( the wheel arrangement 4-8-4 in the Whyte notation) stood. They had a coupled wheel of 77 inches (1956 mm). The first Kuppelradsatz was displaced laterally, so that despite a fixed wheelbase of 6.7 m was given nor the necessary Kurvenläufigkeit. Despite the size of the locomotives only two cylinders were present, as was almost invariably common in the United States.
The locomotives proved themselves excellent, and 1939 yielded an additional 15 ALCO locomotives with numbers 820-834, which were designated as class FEF -2. They had up to 80 inches ( 2032 mm) enlarged dome wheels and a larger cylinder diameter, so that the tensile force remained about the same. The six-axle Tender was replaced by a seven- " Centipede " Tender, in which the rear five sets of wheels were fixed in the frame.
The ten locomotives delivered in 1944 (No. 835-844 ), which were called FEF -3, differed practically only in the materials used by the FEF -2.
After the Second World War all FEF were converted to oil firing. Because the passenger trains were increasingly driven by diesel locomotives, the locomotives were last used in freight service. Between 1957 and 1962 they were retired, only the youngest of them, the FEF -3 # 844, was held for special trains in operation. Between 1962 and 1989 she bore the number 8444, because 844 was included in the numbering plan for a class of diesel locomotives.
No. 844 was not retired as the only steam locomotive of a Class I railroad until today. She is regularly on special trips across the United States to use them, where it is permitted to continue for speeds up to 79 mph (127 km / h).
Specimens received
A FEF -1, a FEF -2 and two FEF -3 have been preserved:
- # 814 is in the West Rail Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs (Iowa).
- No 833 is at the Utah State Railroad Museum, Ogden.
- # 838 serves as a source of spare parts for No. 844
- # 844 is operative stationed in UP depot in Cheyenne ( Wyoming).
Gallery
Front view
Boxpok dome wheels
Travois