User Manual
HISTORY OF THE UNION PACIFIC FEF-CLASS 4 - 8 - 41
Of all the thousands upon thousands of
mainline steam locomotives that worked for
Class I railroads, only one is still on the
active roster of its original owner, having
never been retired. This extraordinary
survivor is Union Pacific class FEF-3 No.
844, the last-built of UP’s 45-member fleet
of magnificent 4-8-4’s. The FEF’s were
designed to haul heavy passenger trains at
high speeds over long distances, and that’s
what 844, kept on UP’s books as a corporate
goodwill ambassador and a reminder of the
steam age, still occasionally does, although
the trains are day-trip excursions, not
transcontinental limiteds.
The first 4-8-4 locomotives were built
in 1926 for the Northern Pacific Railway.
The wheel arrangement became most
commonly known as the “Northern” type,
although several railroads chose to call their
4-8-4’s by other names, including Niagara,
Pocono, Greenbrier, and Potomac. The UP
did not use any of these monikers, but, in
keeping with its practice for other wheel
arrangements, called the type “FEF,”
for Four-Eight-Four. Powerful and fast,
Northerns were suitable for both heavy
passenger and fast freight work, and many
roads considered them dual-service engines.
The 4-8-4 found wide acceptance, with
1115 being built for nearly three dozen
railroads before production ended
in 1950.
In 1936, when Union Pacific’s
passenger 4-8-2’s were having trouble
keeping time with heavy trains, UP
locomotive designer A. H. Fetters
and Alco worked together to
develop a 4-8-4. Otto Jabelmann,
who would soon succeed Fetters
as UP’s top motive-power design
man, also contributed. Classed
FEF-1 and carrying road numbers
800-819, UP’s first 4-8-4’s were
delivered in 1937. The 4-8-4’s
performed better than anticipated, and soon
UP was working on an even better version.
Though broadly similar to the FEF-1, the
FEF-2, largely a product of Jabelmann and
his design team, was a significant step above
its predecessor. Numbers. 820-834 arrived
from Alco in 1939 sporting larger cylinders,
higher drivers, and greater overall length and
weight than the earlier 4-8-4’s. The FEF-2’s
were designed for a top speed of 110 mph and
developed maximum continuous horsepower
at 90 mph. Jabelmann was a great believer in
standardization, and the FEF-2’s contained
many components also used in UP’s 4-8-8-4
Big Boys and 4-6-6-4 Challengers.
Water capacity had been a problem for
the FEF-1’s, so a larger tender was provided
for the FEF-2’s. The greater weight necessi-
tated more wheels, giving rise to the first
“centipede” tender, which
featured a conventional 4-wheel truck
followed by 10 wheels in a rigid frame.
This design was later applied to UP’s
Challengers and Big Boys, plus some
smaller engines on other roads.
World War II brought tremendous traffic
increases to all railroads, and the burden on
western carriers increased in 1944 and ’45
as the campaign in the Pacific was stepped
up. To handle this traffic, UP received from
Alco in 1944 what turned out to be its final
group of 4-8-4’s, FEF-3’s 835-844.
The war babies were virtual duplicates
of the FEF-2, the main external differences
being the FEF-3’s double smokestack and
cast pilot with enclosed coupler pocket.
Material shortages necessitated heavier steel
in certain components, resulting in a 7700-lb.
increase in weight over the FEF-2.
Outstanding as UP’s 4-8-4’s were, there
was some room for improvement.
History of the FEF-Class 4-8-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 2
The FEF-Class 4-8-4 Locomotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Sound, DC or DCC Control Systems . . . . . . . . . 4
Operating the FEF-Class 4-8-4 Locomotive . . 5-8
Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9- 10
Lubrication & Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 12
FEF Function Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
CV Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Tender Diagrams & Parts List . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Locomotive Diagrams & Parts List . . . . . . . 15-18
CONTENTS
Thank you for purchase of this Genesis FEF
steam locomotive. Every effort has been
made to make it an accurate replica,
specific to a particular engine and its time
in history. Additionally, we’ve tried to make
sure the engineering of its mechanism and
electronics is the best yet from Genesis.
We hope all this hard work brings you
hours of pleasure, whether running it on
your layout or examining its every detail.
Sincerely,
The Genesis Team
Photo Cour
tesy of Richard Kindig