You had to stand at trackside to get the full effect: Union Pacific’s final class of turbines, the 8500-hp Class 23 and 24 Big Blows, were BIG, almost 166 feet long overall, 16 feet tall. And loud. The screaming sixteen-stage compressor, ten combustion chamber two-stage turbine kept them out of urban areas. But here on the open country east of Laramie, Extra 28 East has plenty of empty space to itself as it begins the 1200-foot climb up Sherman Hill on March 19,1966.
