THE BIG BLOW PT 2

 The APRR tested one of the UP's Big Blow gas-electric turbines for a brief period in the early 60's...

UP 10 rounds the curve as it rolls into town -or more exactly, screams!

The peace and quiet on County Lane is about to be shattered by UP 10!

The big turbine is pulling a hot eastbound reefer extra. The reefers on the head end are owned by Armour. The paint on the Big Blow is "Armour Yellow." A close match!

The train rolls past Hillsdale Yard and Hillsdale proper.

The people in that convertible are probably wishing they had earplugs  as the big GE passes by. They were nicknamed "Big Blows" for a reason: because the 8500hp turbine engines were just as loud as jet engines!

The fire engine won't be needed, as today UP 10 performed reliably. However, sometimes the turbines would catch fire, as they could get very hot. The story is told of one sitting underneath a bridge and the exhaust melted the asphalt!

While the railroad was impressed with the performance of the Big Blow, like the UP, it found that the noise levels were intolerable in populated areas -they were literally jet engines on rails! UP 10 was returned to the UP, and the APRR stayed with conventional diesels: EMD GP30's, GP35's and SD35's; ALCO C425's, and GE U25B's. As for the Big Blows, they only lasted about a decade, before high maintenance costs and the rising cost of the once-cheap bunker C fuel put them out of service by 1969, when they were traded-in on GE U50C's. Today, two still exist; UP 18, on display at the Illinois Railway Museum, and UP 26, on display at the Utah Railway Museum.

On a personal note, while I no longer collect 60's era equipment, I could not resist the Scale Trains model! And just like the real thing, this model will leave you with partial hearing loss if operated for too long in the basement!