N&W vs. ACL

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Bill - There is no reason why an ACL 1800 couldn't have operated on any of 
N&W's main lines, and I don't believe anyone ever said it couldn't.  What 
was said was that it couldn't have operated EFFECTIVELY with N&W's train 
weights and grades.  Rigid wheelbase has nothing to do with it.

As far as the purple people eaters operating on the N&W - they weren't 
expected to be better than the J, and they weren't.  What they were were 
diesels, and available.  Mr. Saunders also leased a number of RF&P units. At 
that point in time the wonderful Js were going to go to the scrap line no 
matter whose diesels replaced them.  It was desired that steam be swept 
aside as quickly as possible.  The relative merits of the locomotives didn't 
matter by then, as long as they were diesels.

EdKing
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2005 8:57 PM
Subject: N&W vs. ACL



> O. K. Fellows,  You can pull the fangs out for heaven's sake.   Even an 

> idiot

> like me knows that the ACL is built on flatter terrain  than the N&W, and 

> we

> are comparing apples and oranges here.   Boy, when you step into this 

> crowd,

> you draw back a nub.   Lighten up a little boys, life is not that serious.

> I have a

> query for Ed King.   On the ACL 1800 4-8-4's,  the front drivers were

> furnished with   lateral motion driving boxes  which shortened the  rigid

> whelbase of the locomotive to  13 feet 10 inche4s.   The Prince book on 

> the

> N&W

> did not divulge the rigid wheelbase on a "J" class locomotive.  Explain 

> why

> it would not have been possible to operate an 1800 over the N&W mainline

> between Norfolk and Cincinnati?     Were there dcurves that could not be

> negotiated  with a 13 foot 10 inch rigid wheelbase?   If so, that is truly 

> a

> corkscrew railroad.   As for the "purple people eaters" on  "Auntie's

> Clothsline

> Railroad", N&W's Stuart Saunders could hardly wait to get his hands on

> some of them and bump those wonderful J's to the scrap line. Tell me I'm

> wrong about that little detail.   Bill Sellers

>

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