Opened This Door Since 1970: Union Pacific Big Blow Found
Rider Auto
18,853 views
Nobody has opened this door since 1970. Behind it: a Union Pacific "Big Blow" gas turbine locomotive, covered in dust and waiting in the Wyoming desert.
Watch the full fictional restoration story, from the first flashlight beam to the roar of first fire. A rancher, a restoration crew, and an 8,500-horsepower machine that burned tar-thick fuel and sounded like a jet engine on rails.
⚠️ FICTIONAL, AI-ASSISTED STORY
This video is a fictional story with AI-generated visuals. The rancher (Tom Halvorsen), the Rider Auto restoration team, and the depot discovery are not real. The locomotive type and its history are inspired by real Union Pacific history.
🚂 ABOUT THE REAL LOCOMOTIVE
The Union Pacific "Big Blow" was a third-generation gas turbine-electric locomotive (GTEL). Union Pacific received thirty of them between 1958 and 1961.
• Power: 8,500 horsepower
• Layout: three units, a cab unit, a turbine unit, and a 24,000-gallon fuel tender
• Wheel arrangement: C-C + C-C
• Fuel: Bunker C, a heavy oil that had to be heated to about 200°F to flow
• Nickname: "Big Blow," for the noise
• Union Pacific ran its gas turbines until 1970
Today, only two Big Blows survive as museum displays: UP 18 at the Illinois Railway Museum and UP 26 at the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden. Neither is operational.
🎨 THE LIVERY
The restored locomotive in this story wears Union Pacific's classic Armour Yellow and Harbor Mist Gray.
🛠️ WHAT YOU'LL SEE
Heavy-haul extraction, a highway convoy, sandblasting, welding, turbine overhaul, fuel tender repairs, a paint booth transformation, and a turbine start-up.
🔔 Subscribe for more restoration stories, locomotive history, and engineering explainers.
#UnionPacific #BigBlow #LocomotiveRestoration
6 Comments
Opened This Door Since 1970: Union Pacific Big Blow Found
Rider Auto
18,853 views
Nobody has opened this door since 1970. Behind it: a Union Pacific "Big Blow" gas turbine locomotive, covered in dust and waiting in the Wyoming desert.
Watch the full fictional restoration story, from the first flashlight beam to the roar of first fire. A rancher, a restoration crew, and an 8,500-horsepower machine that burned tar-thick fuel and sounded like a jet engine on rails.
⚠️ FICTIONAL, AI-ASSISTED STORY
This video is a fictional story with AI-generated visuals. The rancher (Tom Halvorsen), the Rider Auto restoration team, and the depot discovery are not real. The locomotive type and its history are inspired by real Union Pacific history.
🚂 ABOUT THE REAL LOCOMOTIVE
The Union Pacific "Big Blow" was a third-generation gas turbine-electric locomotive (GTEL). Union Pacific received thirty of them between 1958 and 1961.
• Power: 8,500 horsepower
• Layout: three units, a cab unit, a turbine unit, and a 24,000-gallon fuel tender
• Wheel arrangement: C-C + C-C
• Fuel: Bunker C, a heavy oil that had to be heated to about 200°F to flow
• Nickname: "Big Blow," for the noise
• Union Pacific ran its gas turbines until 1970
Today, only two Big Blows survive as museum displays: UP 18 at the Illinois Railway Museum and UP 26 at the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden. Neither is operational.
🎨 THE LIVERY
The restored locomotive in this story wears Union Pacific's classic Armour Yellow and Harbor Mist Gray.
🛠️ WHAT YOU'LL SEE
Heavy-haul extraction, a highway convoy, sandblasting, welding, turbine overhaul, fuel tender repairs, a paint booth transformation, and a turbine start-up.
🔔 Subscribe for more restoration stories, locomotive history, and engineering explainers.
#UnionPacific #BigBlow #LocomotiveRestoration