Forgotten ‘Four Aces’

Steam locomotive smoking with passenger train on curve

Forgotten ‘Four Aces’ Northern Pacific 4-8-4 No. 2626, originally the Timken “Four Aces” roller-bearing demonstrator, leads a Seattle-Cle Elum, Wash., fan trip through Kanaskat, Wash., in August 1957. Despite efforts to preserve the locomotive, it was scrapped a year later. Photo by Albert Farrow […]

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Super Power premier

Steam locomotive produces smoke on fast train

Super Power premier The era of modern steam power dates to Lima’s development of Super Power and the Boston & Albany Berkshire (2-8-4), which hauled freight through its namesake mountains. But the B&A locomotive’s small (63-inch-diameter) drivers failed to take advantage of its boiler to generate steam fast enough for high-speed service. Number 1421 is […]

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