8,500 HP Turbines Burned $1.2M in Fuel - Why UP's Most Powerful Locomotives Bankrupted Themselves
14K views · Mar 8, 2026 · People & Blogs
Comments · 14
@RailSystemsUSA · 6 months ago · pinned
$847 for one run—7x more than a diesel. If you were the UP president in 1958, would you scrap them or double down? Tell me what you'd do 👇
@davidgrisez · 6 months ago
I have seen other videos about the Union Pacific Gas Turbine Locomotives. Union Pacific was the only railroad that used gas turbine locomotives for a period of time. The main problem was that the fuel efficiency of the gas turbine locomotives was terrible. The price of running these gas turbine locomotives could only be justified because of the low price of heavy bunker C fuel oil at the time.
3
@Uswesi1527 · 6 months ago
The problem was not in horse power. The problem was in how to create more torque with less available horsepower.
@jamesarndt8542 · 6 months ago
Photos are incorrect…..
1
@jimgarofalo5479 · 6 months ago
The first thing I would do is get rid of the unnecessary captioning. YouTube has their own available BY CHOICE. If I wanted to read the story, I would have bought the book.
@LarryStuart · 6 months ago
More half baked content farm drivel. Rail Systems USA didn't even bother to research proper photos. The "Union Pacific Gas Turbine Electric Locomotive" which is presented starting at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk9IlLRFANE&t=166">2:46</a> actually a diesel locomotive, the General Electric EMD F7A diesel electric locomotive.<br>Also, the video falsely states that they were powered by Pratt & Whitney FT4 turbines, even though the FT4 turbine were first run in 1962, while the last Union Pacific GTEL was delivered in 1961. In fact, the locomotives, including the gas turbines burning bunker C oil, were manufactured by General Electric.
4
@Greatdome99 · 6 months ago
What kind of stock footage are you using? Some of its clearly European, others are AI generated cartoons!
1
Up next
The 900 HP Streamliner That Hit 120 MPH in 1934 -Then Union Pacific Buried Every Photo and Blueprint
Rail Systems USA · 1.6K views
$14 Million Locomotive SCRAPPED After 5 Years - PRR S1's 140-Foot Design Killed It
Rail Systems USA · 351 views
Why the Amish Are Leaving America for Canada's Dying Towns
Amish Faith Today · 26K views
Best Engine Ever…🔥 Rare Old Engines Starting Up Sound That Will Blow Your Ears
ProtonTech · 542K views
German Helmets Had That Strange Flare for One Brutal Reason
Frank Ledger WW2 · 122K views
Why A Train Ran 66 Miles Completely Out Of Control
Locomotive Geek · 258K views
It's Over: Bonds COLLAPSE to WORST Levels Since 2002 - Netherlands BANS Microsoft
House of El · 83K views
Steam's Most Powerful Locomotive — Scrapped for Pennies | C&O Allegheny H-8
Rail Systems USA · 265 views
Why the Inline-Six Won | Former Caterpillar Engineer Jim Coles
Earthmoving Legacy Center · 348K views
The Machine That Ended the Brakeman — The Westinghouse Air Brake
Before The Machine · 1K views
The Baldwin Train Factory: From 70,000 Locomotives to Nothing
Empires Lost · 51K views
Why Is a Magnetron So Dangerous?
Grandpa Walter · 311K views
Why Did America’s Passenger Trains Decline After the Highway Boom?
How America Used to Live · 112 views
Why the Man Who Invented the Car Engine Lost It in Court — The Four-Stroke Engine
Dustrialize · 12K views
America Needed Germany’s Ball Bearings — Then One Factory Made Them in America
WW2 Total Archive · 130K views
Rolls-Royce Merlin :The Engine That Won Britain's Greatest War
Britain's Iron Machines and Forgotten British Gunmakers · 144K views
The Engineer Who Built a Locomotive Too Powerful to Test
Street Wars · 639 views
The Train WRECK That Changed Safety Laws Forever (1918 Nashville Disaster)
Rail Systems USA · 725 views
Why German Engineers Couldn't Understand How Britain's Worst Bomber Became The Lancaster
British Bastion and British War Machine · 192K views
How Dangerous Is Nitroglycerin Really?
Grandpa Walter · 279K views
Best Engine Ever…🔥 They Don't Build Them Like This Anymore… Legendary Engine Starts!
ProtonTech · 233K views
The Most Hated Man in America — He Owned 15,800 Miles of Railroad
Rail Systems USA · 70 views
When German Pilots First Chased the Mosquito — And Realized They Couldn't Catch It
The Shadow Files · 375K views
Why Old Locomotives Had Giant 'Ears' on the Front
Steel on Rails · 298K views
The British Train Line Bait That Made German Supply Locomotives Flip at High Speed
WWII War Records · 168K views
HOW DO TRAINS ACTUALLY START? The Physics of Moving 100,000 Tons
Vintage Trains · 271K views