UP 4014?

A friend sent me a photo of the 4014, and ask if I knew what the cylinder on the top front is.
There are three, a big one, a smaller one, then a very small one on the top.
Need to know what the small one is on the top?

Thanks
Don

 

What do you mean by “top front”? of the locomotive? The steam chests? The only thing I could find with three things on top of each other was this image: If that is what you are asking about, that is just the end of the steam pipe from the smokebox to the pistons.

 

I have the photo in rail image but can't get it here!
Don

 

Are you looking at the various domes along the top length of the boiler? If so, the two large domes are sandboxes and between the two is a smaller steam dome. The casing you see just behind the number boards and bell is a fairing around the exhaust stacks.

 

That's the one need to know what the small cylinder on the top of the other two is for?

 

That is the other side of the cylinder I circled in the other picture. You can see the firebox in the background, and with only one set of drivers in between it and the cylinder, that is the rear set of pistons. That top cylinder is probably for the steam pipe, and the one next to the piston valve is probably the exhaust, since it looks bigger. I might have them mixed up, but generally the input is at a higher pressure than the output.

 

Regardless, the Big boys are incredible machines for all time.

Doug

 

It might have a part to play in it, but to make steam locomotives even more complicated, another cylinder was added on top of the ones we are already discussing. I found this picture on the internet that shows the reversing piston linked to the L shaped rocker above the stub ended pipe on the piston valve. That means our unknown cylinder is not the power reverse.

 

At first I thought it was a "drifting valve" that the ATSF used on their steamers, but I don't think UP ever used them.

 

Yeah, I don't think it's really a cylinder, it's just a housing connecting to the swiveling steam exhaust pipe to the smokebox. Right?

Doug

 

I don’t think it would swivel, or at least it shouldn’t under normal conditions. The rear set of drivers is rigidly attached to the boiler. Only the pipes to the front engine would need to move. The thing I still don’t understand is why the steam pipe doesn’t just have a 90 degree bend at the end. Maybe the pressure would burst such a tight corner.

 

Oops, yeah, that wouldn't have to swivel, only the connections to the front engine. But it obviously is connected to the steam pipe. Yeah, the bolted-on head at the rear is a poser but I'm sure there's a reason.

Doug

 

Anyone hear anything new on the progress on the 4014? UP still has it listed as heading to the 150th Golden Spike celebration late in April along with the 844.