Engine "Slippery-ness"

[NW Mailing List]

I know factor of adhesion is the ruling factor of slippery-ness in  
locomotives.   How much of this feature was because of the engineers  
handling of the engine?

I see on the may videotapes and DVD's the society sells the Y6b's  
slipping a front engine or an A class slipping a rear engine and I'm  
sure the engineer is right on the throttle to back it off  a notch or 2.
The engines of lesser boiler pressure are not so slippery but thats  
due to less push on the cylinders.

How touchy was the handling of the power right at the theoretical  
limits of their design?

I know of lots of things which limit some engines, like back pressure  
and counterweight limitations because of wheel diameter, but these  
factors don't interfere with the slipperiness.

I'm very interested in what it was like to be the engineer or fireman  
on several N&W Locomotives.
Pushers, Mine runs, and time freights all interest me.

I model the 1930's for the look of the engines.  The K3's and Z1's are  
wonderful.
My favorite is the M2c and M class engines.

I may end up designing a fleet of them based on my Sunset brass one.


Mark Lindsey
y3a at earthlink.net