Union Pacific Big Blow

Union Pacific Big Blow is the nickname for a fleet of gas turbine-electric locomotives built for the Union Pacific Railroad beginning in 1958, the third and most powerful generation of the railroad's turbine locomotive program, rated at 8,500 horsepower and, for years afterward, among the most powerful single locomotive units ever built. Like Union Pacific's earlier turbine locomotives, they burned low-cost heavy residual fuel oil that would have damaged a conventional diesel engine, and their nickname came from the distinctive roar of the gas turbine at full power. Despite their power, rising fuel costs and high maintenance needs made diesel-electric power more economical, and Union Pacific retired its turbine fleet, including the Big Blow units, by the early 1970s, ending the railroad's decade-long experiment with gas turbine power.