Them Ol' Steem injines

[NW Mailing List]

Dear Ed,

How well do you think the following locomotives would've done?

1). DM&IR Yellowstone
2). PRR Q-2, supposedly more BHP than an H-8.
3). D&RGW 2-8-8-2

Patrick
pfwhalen at gmail.com

On Saturday, August 15, 2015, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
wrote:

> Here are two more for you steam performance guys to consider.
>
> The 2184 is coming around the curve at Walton Tower with a 10,000+ ton
> coal train.  The 2179 is the pusher on the same train.
>
> The “84” dropped down the mountain out of Bluefield and then went to work,
> lifting that train up the New River’s .2 per cent grade at between 29 and
> 32 MPH.  It was necessary for it to put 5,500 horsepower on the drawbar to
> accomplish this.  Then she, with the help of an identical sister, will have
> no problem lifting this train up to Christiansburg on Alleghany’s 1 per
> cent grade – they’re rated for 5,150 tons each.
>
> Now, these two engines are capable of putting 332,000 pounds of low-speed
> drawbar pull (and/or push) to get this job done.  I remember one double
> which had to get its pusher east of Walton Tower on the grade itself.  It
> was raining.  The train was in several curves and on the grade and the two
> Y’s got her moving, and on up the grade she went.  That job took every
> ounce of the 332,000 pounds.
>
> Now consider putting other locomotives in that position.  The two
> Triplexes would have done it, but neither would have made the mountain
> without stopping to blow up steam.  Two Virginian AE 2-10-10-2s would have
> done it, but one of them would have maybe made 15 MPH coming up the river.
> Two Big Boys didn’t have enough low-speed oomph to get this train up the
> mountain; Big Boy was rated for 4,800 tons on one percent.  An H-8 could
> have brought the train up the river that fast, but it would have taken more
> than two of them to get it over the Mountain.  So pick your favorite and do
> the math.
>
> Two more cents . . .
>
> EdKing
>
>
>
>
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