Rayonier was one of several logging companies that operated articulated 2-6-6-2 locomotives. No. 120, an oil-burning 2-6-6-2 built in 1936, hauls a trainload of freshly cut lumber near Humptulips, Wash., on September 28, 1960. Philip C. Johnson collection In the 1890s, the Gotthard Railway in Switzerland operated the first Mallet locomotives. They were compound articulated […]
One of Seaboard Air Line’s high-speed, twin smokestack 2-6-6-4s – the largest steam engines on the railroad’s roster – charges out of Raleigh, N.C., with a freight in 1941. Homer R. Hill During the latter half of the 1920s the single expansion articulated locomotive had evolved into a very capable machine. It could lug a […]
Mammoth C&O Allegheny No. 1603 summons its 110,200 pounds of tractive force to haul a heavy coal train through West Virginia. Chesapeake & Ohio In 1940, the Chesapeake & Ohio needed new locomotives to meet a burgeoning demand for transportation. Its biggest engines were a fleet of single expansion 2-8-8-2s, purchased in the mid-1920s to […]
A scant three years after Alco introduced the Mallet to America (with the delivery of B&O’s sole 0-6-6-0 in 1904), the Erie took delivery of three camelback 0-8-8-0 Mallets – the first eight-coupled Mallets, also built by Alco – and put them to work as helpers on Gulf Summit in New York state. Southern Railway […]
Marc Horovitz Gauge 1, 1:20.3 scale, live-steam ShayAccucraft Trains31112 San Clemente St.Hayward CA 94544Price: $1,799Web site: www.accucraft.com All-metal model based on a Michigan-California Lumber Company Shay; three cylinders; butane-fired boiler; hinged cab roof; displacement lubricator; boiler fittings include safety valve, pressure gauge, water glass, check valve, filler plug; blow-off pressure, 50 psi; hand pump in […]
In 1928, the Northern Pacific went shopping for a locomotive that could eliminate doubleheading on the eastern end of its Yellowstone Division between Mandan, N.Dak., and Glendive, Mont. NP’s line through the Badlands had a series of long grades in both directions that made helpers impracticable and had long been one of the railroad’s operational […]
Better than most railroads, perhaps, the Union Pacific understood fast freight service. With an expansive network of lines spread across the western states, the railroad had to maintain fast schedules in order to remain competitive. Mindful of this, UP purchased the first heavy fast freight locomotives: unique three-cylinder 4-12-2s, built by Alco from 1926 to […]
The proving ground for Union Pacific’s locomotives was a 75-mile portion of its busy main line between Ogden, Utah, and Evanston, Wyo. Eastward trains faced a climb through the Wasatch Mountains on grades of 1 percent or better. It was an expensive line to operate, particularly given UP’s practice of running big trains that typically […]
Norfolk & Western’s Jawn Henry (named for the legendary “steel-drivin’ man”) was the last of a handful of U.S. experimental steam turbine locomotives, which appeared as a response to the diesel-electric locomotive’s overall superiority to conventional steam power. Turbines first came into use for steamships and power plants around 1900, and their advantages over reciprocating […]
A cranky, old toy train locomotive with a terrible growl, a hot-running motor, and anemic power may be trying to tell you something. Before deciding to retire it, though, check the clearance in the armature brushplate bushing. A worn or defective bushing often results in one or more of these locomotive maladies. The solution is […]
Fig. 1: Pry off the original smoke unit cover with a screwdriver to gain access to the inside. Fig. 2: Remove the heater coil and smoke unit lining, both of which will be replaced in the conversion. Fig. 3: After scrapping and cleaning out all the pellet residue, make sure the air hole is not […]
Pennsylvania HO K4 Pacific This powerful HO scale model of the Pennsylvania RR’s classic K4 Pacific is MTH Electric Trains’ first HO scale locomotive. It has a long list of features, including properly timed smoke and sound effects and an automatic electronic system that operates on layouts using DC, Digital Command Control (DCC), or the […]
