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Re: Why did Rail Giants give away the Big Boy?
Author: [ET] That Genset Foamer
Date: 11-24-2015 - 20:00
There's some interesting discussion about all on RYPN...
First of all, it was UP's Executives who pushed Dickens into the 4014 restoration, not some legacy of Dickens's. Several RYPN users state on the previous page did state Dickens does have a considerable in the Denver railroad preservation scene.
However, much of the delays stem from UP Steam adopting the Six Sigma program and requiring lots of bureaucracy, and calibration, and new tool fabrication, and so on. It's the same reason as to why UP replaced a lot of the staybolts on UP 844, even those from the 2004 rebuild. Documenting the principles does have its merits from an liability standpoint but I digress...
BTW, most preservationists balked at the restoration of a Big Boy, saying that you would have to part the dozen or so of others out to restore one. UP intends, by the Six Sigma protocols, to pretty much "jack up the whistle and build a new locomotive underneath it"--even parts with aesthetic blemishes are even to be replaced according to executive directive. Better that, and the 4014 (and sister locomotives) being stored under a roof, as opposed to being outdoors in an institution that may come under fire for the value of its land...even Steamtown or the 1361 Restoration crew have that to their chargin.
First of all, it was UP's Executives who pushed Dickens into the 4014 restoration, not some legacy of Dickens's. Several RYPN users state on the previous page did state Dickens does have a considerable in the Denver railroad preservation scene.
However, much of the delays stem from UP Steam adopting the Six Sigma program and requiring lots of bureaucracy, and calibration, and new tool fabrication, and so on. It's the same reason as to why UP replaced a lot of the staybolts on UP 844, even those from the 2004 rebuild. Documenting the principles does have its merits from an liability standpoint but I digress...
BTW, most preservationists balked at the restoration of a Big Boy, saying that you would have to part the dozen or so of others out to restore one. UP intends, by the Six Sigma protocols, to pretty much "jack up the whistle and build a new locomotive underneath it"--even parts with aesthetic blemishes are even to be replaced according to executive directive. Better that, and the 4014 (and sister locomotives) being stored under a roof, as opposed to being outdoors in an institution that may come under fire for the value of its land...even Steamtown or the 1361 Restoration crew have that to their chargin.
