Y Class, Etc

[NW Mailing List]

Years after steam power was gone from N&W, I was puzzled when I would read 
articles proclaiming the Y class as drag engines good for 45 mph at best. 
Well, I grew up along the northern end of the Shenandoah Division and you 
could have fooled me.  The Y's were the principal freight locomotive there, 
and they did roll.  How fast I don't know, but 50 mph was the posted speed 
for freight.  They pulled trains as fast as the diesels that replaced them.

As for the much maligned ACL 4-8-4's, their problem was counterbalancing. 
Once the amount of lead was reduced, their operation became satisfactory. 
And during World War II they did duty pulling passenger trains as intended. 
With normal postwar traffic levels and the rapid dieselization of ACL they 
ran out their last miles in freight service.  My guess is ACL got 10+ years 
of service from them, so they were fully depreciated when they were sold for 
scrap.


>From an article I read years ago, UP was revolutionary in their thinking 

about counterbalancing formulas for their modern steam power.  The weighting 
was much lighter than what was the accepted industry standard.  UP's 4-8-4's 
were built for passenger service at high speeds, and a certain number of 
Challengers assigned to passenger trains had no trouble maintaining 70 mph. 
Had ACL's 4-8-4 been treated similarly when built, their problems would have 
been avoided.  When  EMD's E class units hit the market ACL believed they 
were suitable only for new lightweight streamliners.  Had ACL been as 
confident as Seaboard which bet their money on the E's, they should never 
have bought those 4-8-4's.

--Rick Morrison