Joined: 23/11/2010(UTC)
Posts: 193
Location: U.K. Midlands
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There was a post earlier this year discussing the new Big Boy No 4019 with smoke deflectors and if this was prototypical as no photographs are to be found showing them fitted. Firstly ALL or nearly all Big boys were fitted with smoke deflectors !!!! To explain these are not the "Elephant Ear" type fitted to the model but were a foldable hood which surrounded the funnels and could be erected when passing through tunnels to prevent dislodging soot ( or rock ). The photos below show them on my "Precision Craft Models" H0 Big Boy No. 4024.   Looking at my Trix and Marklin examples they are missing from both ! HOWEVER I have just received a book from the USA which contains a photo of 4019 WITH Elepant ear smoke deflectors  This book is "Union Pacific Steam - Big Boy Portraits" by Bush and Eherberger and published by Challenger Press. Alas the book is long out of print but copies are available as I found but not cheap ($30 + postage). The photo is on page 67 and shows 4017 departing Ogden Utah with an eastbound freight on January 19th 1946. It was taken by Emil Albrecht but web searches faild to find the photo outside the book. It states that the experiment was not sucessful and it is not known how many runs were made with the deflectors but another source states " a few trips" The cover also shows 4019 with deflectors but this is a copy of a painting. For obvious copyright reasons I cannot copy the photo from the book but for those interested the book as I said is still available. Hope this helps. Regards, Colin.
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 1 user liked this useful post by EMD_GP7
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Joined: 16/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 15,454
Location: DE-NW
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Hi, Colin! Originally Posted by: EMD_GP7  Firstly ALL or nearly all Big boys were fitted with smoke deflectors!!!! I didn't know that. Would be nice to have them digitally operated with a servo. The German term for the big ears is "Windleitbleche" - and that’s what they do: they lead or steer the wind and the wind will take the smoke with it. Kinda sorta indirect smoke deflectors. The type you show on your pictures is a direct smoke deflector (the German term would not fit for those). The former were meant to direct the smoke upwards to keep it away from the cab. The latter direct the smoke to the cab (probably makes no difference in tunnels anyway). |
Regards Tom --- "In all of the gauges, we particularly emphasize a high level of quality, the best possible fidelity to the prototype, and absolute precision. You will see that in all of our products." (from Märklin New Items Brochure 2015, page 1) ROFLBTCUTS  |
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 Joined: 23/08/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,597 Location: Beverly, MA
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Hi all,
The smoke deflectors on the ALCO UP 4000 series were all experimental.
Dr D
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 Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC) Posts: 1,067 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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That's an interesting gadget for a loco. I suppose if the blast from the exhaust was powerful enough to warrant such a "smoke deflector", I would say it wouldn't have too many problems throwing smoke clear of the cab.
It would be interesting to see how reliable they were in practice, with all the dust and grit being thrown into the mechanism. I can imagine that they also had a noticable effect on the draught of the loco.
Cheers,
Rick
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Joined: 23/08/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,597 Location: Beverly, MA
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Once again,they were experimental.  Edited by user 02 November 2012 12:53:35(UTC)
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Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC) Posts: 1,067 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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In the 1820's steam locomotives were experimental too...
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Joined: 23/11/2010(UTC)
Posts: 193
Location: U.K. Midlands
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Quote:The smoke deflectors on the ALCO UP 4000 series were all experimental Hi, While the "Elephant Ears" smoke deflectors on 4019 were experimental and unique to the 4000 class the funnel "Smoke Hoods" were certainly not. Re reading my copies of "Big Boy" by William Kratville and my recent book of Big Boy portraits they show that all Big Boys (4000 class) were fitted with smoke hoods and they remained in use until the end. A problem with the smoke hoods was that sometimes they would not retract correctly and remained partially erect. About 10% of the many photos in both books show Big Boys with partially erected hoods from 1944 until 1958 and seen on many different locos ( including 4019). One even has half a hood raised. The last "Challenger" class Nos 3950 - 3969 were also fitted with Smoke Hoods and all three of my H0 model Challengers from Athearn Genesis and Lionel have them in the funnel surround ! According to the Kratville book, standing orders stated that any loco with a smoke hood fitted had to prove that they worked before running over Sherman Hill ! So far from being experimental the smoke hoods were a standard fitting throughout the Challenger and Big Boy periods. Regards, Colin.
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Joined: 23/08/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,597 Location: Beverly, MA
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Hi all, Ok,Colin,now I know what your talking about! Dr D
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