The Union Pacific 9000 Series Locomotives currently are compatible with TRS 2004, TRS 2006 and TC 1&2.

Update 1/11/09

The Locomotives are currently NOT fully compatible with TC3 and TS 2009.  I am working on upgrading the Locomotives to work with these newer versions of Trainz.  Please check back soon to see about the updates.

To Purchase the UP 9000 Locos Click Here

The Union Pacific 9000 Series Project

Dedication

The 9000 series project is dedicated to my Grandfather who worked for the Union Pacific starting in 1940.  He worked as a telegraph operator and worked in several different stations in Southern Idaho.  Later he was drafted into the Navy and served as the chief of telegraph operators aboard the San Saba troop transport ship from 1942-1945.  While working for the Union Pacific my grandfather developed a great passion for the steam locomotives and the 9000s were his favorite.  He has told me many stories about them over the years thus inspiring me to build them and bring them back to life in the world of Trainz.  Unfortunately my Grandfather passed away in December 2004 from cancer at the age of 84.  He was my hero throughout my childhood and best friend until the day he died. 

 Note of Thanks

The 9000 series project owes a tremendous thanks to the following individuals:

The Project

The 9000 locomotives were the main freight engines of the Union Pacific from the delivery of the first locomotive in 1926 until the debut of the challengers in 1936.  These were tremendous locomotives in their day and they continued to serve the Union Pacific right up until the end of steam.  Most of the engines remained in service until 1956.  As a tribute to these great locomotives, the 9000 series project consists of 4 locomotives, each representing a different road number.  These are not merely reskins, but very unique locomotives each differing from the rest. 

The road numbers included in the series are:

In addition the 9000 series will feature the first fully functional 3rd party steam cab.  There are 2 versions of the custom cab.  The 9000 series engines were ordered from Alco in 5 different sets.  The first 2 sets, UP-1 and UP-2 had dome throttles.  UP-3 - UP-5 locomotives had front end throttles which resulted in a different position of the regulator.  In addition to the placement of the regulator, the later classes of the 9000s were equipped with the D-3 stoker which dramatically alters the appearance of the cab.   The cabs of the later sets of locomotives were also delivered with the interior painted gray.  Cabs from the earlier locomotives had interiors that were painted green.  Locomotives 9000 and 9014 have the dome throttle cabs and locomotives 9021 and 9087 have the front end throttle cabs.  Below are some screenshots of each cab.  Each cab has an animated fireman that adjusts the valves on the stoker.  Below are some shots of the fireman for engines 9000 and 9014.

 

Dome Throttle Cabs

         

 

 

Front End Throttle Cabs

Warning, the screenshots are 1200 x900

Pictures of #9000, the first locomotive of the series

Pictures of #9014 the first "bald face" 9000 engine

Pictures of #9021

Pictures of #9087

Number 9000 on Display in Pamona California

History of the 9000 series locomotives

In the 1920's Railroads began seeking ways to move heavy loads at a much greater rate of speed.  Up until that time, many companies used Mallets, the first articulated locomotives, which were known for their power, but often had top speeds of little more than 20 mph.   The early articulated locomotives such as the mallets had problems with stability at higher speeds and so locomotive builders sought to increase power and speed by building 3 cylinder locomotives on a rigid frame.  The idea of the 3 cylinder locomotives was not a new, however locomotives had been steadily increasing in size to a point that they could no longer grow in size due to the forces exerted by the larger cylinders and without breaking or cracking the frames.  In the early 1920s the idea of using 3 cylinders came to the front of US builders minds.  One of the advantages of 3 cylinder power is a more even distribution of cylinder thrust.  With a standard 2 cylinder locomotive, there are 4 "power pulses" per revolution of the bogeys and with a 3 cylinder locomotive you get 6 pulses per revolution.  The reduced rail pounding, wheel slip and in general provided a more smooth ride to these locomotives as the running gear and bogeys seemed to be more balanced.

Union Pacific and Southern Pacific approached Alco with the idea of building a high speed freight locomotive.  Until that time 2-10-2 locomotives for both the Union Pacific and especially the SP where the main high speed freight locomotives.  The idea was to increase the size and power of this design by transforming it into a 3 cylinder locomotive.  The third cylinder for this locomotive was located between the frame and was connected to a cranked axel on the second set of driver wheels.  The 3rd cylinder was set at and 8 degree inclination that allowed the main rod and cross head of the 3rd cylinder to clear the axel on the first set of drivers.   It was decided that the best way to operate the valve gear for the third cylinder was to use the Gresley Valve gear which was invented by the British Locomotive builder, Nile H. Gresley.  This valve gear consisted of 2 rocker arms that were attached to the extending valve stems of the outside cylinders and sat on the front of the locomotive.  The inverse sum of the motion of the two outside cylinders created the proper motion for the valve of the 3rd cylinder.   The additional weight of the Gresley Valve Gear on the front of the locomotive necessitated a 4 wheel leading truck and results of these designs was a locomotive with a 4-10-2 wheel arrangement.  The Union Pacific ordered one for testing and it was given the road number 8000. 

This locomotive was delivered to the Union Pacific in 1925 and underwent extensive testing and it was quickly determined by the Union Pacific design department that in order to take full advantage of the 3 cylinder design and power an even bigger locomotive would be required.  The designers at Union Pacific quickly began working day and night working in conjunction with the builders at Alco to come up with a new design based data collected from #8000.  The idea was to add one more axel or set of drivers and the results of theses discussions and design was a 4-12-2 locomotive.

The new wheel arrangement of 4-12-2 were given road numbers starting with 9000.  These road numbers are believed to have been used because there are 9 wheels on each side of the locomotive and the locos were often referred to as the "9s".  The first locomotive,#9000, was delivered in April 1926 after only a few months of designing and a mere 4 months on the erecting floor.  The locomotive immediately began testing and it became apparent that the loco could do everything it was designed to do and the Union Pacific took a liking to this locomotive as it represented "Big Power", one thing the Union Pacific always prided itself on, and the company bought 87 more locomotives of this type over the next four years.  Later this design became know as the "Union Pacific Type" locomotive as it was the only company to use this wheel arrangement. 

The 9000s quickly replaced the 2-8-8-0 mallets that the Union Pacific had been using which could only travel at speeds of 25 mph.  The 9000s could pull the 100-125 freight cars that were previously pulled by the mallets at speeds of 50 mph or better and could do it 80% more efficiently.    These locomotives were the main workhorses over Union Pacific mainline from Cheyenne to Ogden until the debut of the Challengers and Big Boys. 

The 88 locomotives owned by the Union Pacific were all built by Alco in Schenectady,  New York and were delivered in 5 separate orders from 1926-1930.  The first order, UP-1 consisted on locomotive #9000.  The second order, UP-2 consisted of locomotives 9001-9014, all delivered in 1926.  UP-3 consisted of locomotives 9015-9029 and numbers 9700-9707, which were delivered in June and July of 1928.  The 8 locomotives numbered 9700-9707 were ordered for the Union Pacific subsidiary Oregon Washington Railroad & Navigation Co. and were used on this branch line until 1929.  At that time they were resold back to the Union Pacific and renumbered 9055-9062.  UP-4 consisted of numbers 9030-9054 and were delivered from June through October in 1929.  The final order was for numbers 9063-9087 and these locomotives were delivered in July and August of 1930.  

These were the largest successful rigid frame locomotives in the world and they ruled the rails until builders were able to perfect the articulated design and the Challengers and the Big Boy came along.   Here is a comparison of the 3 locomotives.

How much did the 9000 pull?

Look at the following table from The Union Pacific Type Vol II by Kratville and Bush.  The table shows what tonnage was assigned to several classes of UP locomotives over the listed sections of track along the UP mainline.

 

A brief history of the "bald faced" Nines

The 9000 class locomotives were built before ball or roller bearings were considered appropriate and the standard for reciprocating parts on steam locomotives.  Many builders of this time did not think roller bearings would stand up to the pressure and work on the freight engines of the era.  Thus the 9000 series locomotives were built without roller bearings.  One of the first and most troublesome parts on the 9000 engines became the friction bearings on the Gresley Valve Gear on the front of the locomotive.  These bearings tended to wear out quickly and once they began to wear it caused inappropriate timing of the steam into the third cylinder and thus the locomotive began to "work against itself" resulting in even further damage requiring repair and maintenance.  One of the solutions suggested at the time was to remove the Gresley Valve Gear and replace it with what was termed the "third link".  This revision of the valve gear consisted of adding a 3rd link for the inside valve on the right side of the locomotive.  This link was operated by a second set of Walschaerts Gear that was also placed on the right hand side of the locomotive.  The motion from the third link was transmitted via a rocker arm that was bored into the right side of the frame and produced a rocking motion that in turn transmitted the motion to the inside valve.  This revision seemed to help with maintenance costs of these locomotives.  With the building of the 3rd order of 9000 engines roller bearings were placed on the rocker arms of the Gresley Valve Gear and this greatly reduced the wear on these parts.  Thus only engines from the first 2 orders placed by the Union Pacific, UP-1 and UP-2, were converted to the third link engines which resulted in only 8 of the 88 4-12-2 locomotives built ever received the third link.  Number 9014 was the first engine to have the 3rd link applied to it.  Later engine numbers 9006-9009 and 9011-9013 were converted to third link locomotives.

In addition to the above mentioned revisions, the crosscompound air compressors were moved from the front of the smoke box to the sides of the locomotive.  This revision had nothing to do with the adding of the third link, but was done to make the maintenance on the pumps much easier as they were now more accessible.  The removal of the pumps from the front of the locomotive drastically changed the appearance of the locomotives and they were quickly nick-named the "bald faced nines". 

The model of the 9014

The third picture above of the 9014 shows the third link and double Walschaerts Gear on the right side of the locomotive.  After spending several hours studying detailed diagrams and reading notes on the locomotives of the third link I was able to build the parts to the specified size and animate them correctly.  I am confident that I was able to achieve the motion very close if not exactly how it was on the actual locomotive.

Pictures of the Real Thing

Here are some pictures of the real thing.  I want to thank Lonnie Perkins (lrperkins) for going to Pomona California and taking the following pictures of the only remaining 9000 series engine. 

Of interest, number 9000 that you see below was the first 4-12-2 locomotive built, it was the last of the 9000 series to be retired and it is the only locomotive of the series remaining.

   

   

   

   

   

   

       

 

Below is a sound file from one of the 9000 engines while it was in service.  The recording was made in the 1950's so the quality is not great, but it is definitely worth listening to.  The file is 2.5 MB in size.

 

UP 9000 Sound File Click Here

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