04-21-2009, 09:14 AM
Along the Line: By Don Day <May 07>Looking at steam engines.
Something that has always confused me, and probably many others is to try and identify an engine by simply looking at it. Yes, back in the days of steam engines, their basic identity was, and still is, by the number of wheels they have. Many steam engines have what is called a pilot truck at the front of the engine, usually with two or four wheels. The pilot truck is used to help steer the rest of the engine along the tracks. Next in line are the driver wheels. These are the large wheels we all associate with a steam engine and that are connected to the power cylinder by a series of rods and levers. These obviously are essential and usually vary in size and number by the physical size of the engine. Some of these wheels can be over six feet in diameter. Lastly, we have the trailing truck, which supports the weight of the engineer’s cab and firebox. As with the pilot truck, an engine may or may not have one, and if it does, there can be either two or four wheels attached. Both the pilot and trailer wheels are considerably smaller than the drive wheels and are not powered.
Now this description may sound like something you’d find in a technical manual, and my job at one time was to write manuals, but this is the easiest way that I know of to lead up to the next step, which is how they describe a steam engine. If you have ever seen something like, “2-6-2” when referring to a railroad engine, it simply means the number of wheels in the pilot, followed by the number of driver wheels, followed by the number of wheels on the trailer. If there is no pilot or no trailer, the number is then “0”, as in: 0-4-0, or 4-6-0, the latter meaning four pilot wheels, six driver wheels, and no trailer truck. Now some larger engines have more than one set of driver wheels and you’ll see something like, “4-6-6-4” to describe the fact that it has two sets of six driver wheels.
However, it doesn’t end there, not on your life. I guess to make things easier, or more complicated dependent on your point of view, specific wheel arrangements have names. At this point though, there is not much consistency since some arrangements go by different names dependent on who built them and for whom. For instance, a 2-6-2 built around 1900 is know as a Prairie, while a 2-8-2 built around the same time is called a Mikado, and all 2-8-4’s are Berkshires. When we get to the 4-8-4, we now have over eight different names for one of those; among them are, Northern, Niagara and Greenbrier. They complicate things even further by usually referring to engines by their road numbers to differentiate it from other similar engines. For example, a specific Union Pacific 4-8-4 with road number 815 would be referred to as: “UP 815.”
Other characteristics can be used to describe a steam engine. A small 0-4-0 may be called a “switcher,” usually used to move cars around a freight yard. Then there’s a “shay.” This type has unusual outboard cams that drive the wheels and is used to navigate the tight curves of a logging line. Another variant is the type of fuel used to power the engine. Earlier engines used wood to fire the boiler. As time passed, there was coal, then oil. Many older engines were converted from one to the other. Lastly, they frequently use the foundry that manufactured the engine in its description. Most prevalent of these were the American Locomotive Company, Lima Locomotive Works and the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Probably, the thing that impresses me the most is that these giants were all produced in the USA by skilled craftsman. It is amazing what was accomplished with the technology of that era, and that most all of these engines that exist today are still capable of running, some built well over 100 years ago.
I hate to admit it, but I’m just a bit overwhelmed by all this. There was a time when I could call an automobile by make and year simply by looking at it, but not anymore; nowadays, I’m lucky if I can identify my own vehicle in the mall parking lot. The same applies to my ability to identify steam engines, so I guess I’m going to stick to counting wheels and be satisfied that I know how to do that.
Something that has always confused me, and probably many others is to try and identify an engine by simply looking at it. Yes, back in the days of steam engines, their basic identity was, and still is, by the number of wheels they have. Many steam engines have what is called a pilot truck at the front of the engine, usually with two or four wheels. The pilot truck is used to help steer the rest of the engine along the tracks. Next in line are the driver wheels. These are the large wheels we all associate with a steam engine and that are connected to the power cylinder by a series of rods and levers. These obviously are essential and usually vary in size and number by the physical size of the engine. Some of these wheels can be over six feet in diameter. Lastly, we have the trailing truck, which supports the weight of the engineer’s cab and firebox. As with the pilot truck, an engine may or may not have one, and if it does, there can be either two or four wheels attached. Both the pilot and trailer wheels are considerably smaller than the drive wheels and are not powered.
Now this description may sound like something you’d find in a technical manual, and my job at one time was to write manuals, but this is the easiest way that I know of to lead up to the next step, which is how they describe a steam engine. If you have ever seen something like, “2-6-2” when referring to a railroad engine, it simply means the number of wheels in the pilot, followed by the number of driver wheels, followed by the number of wheels on the trailer. If there is no pilot or no trailer, the number is then “0”, as in: 0-4-0, or 4-6-0, the latter meaning four pilot wheels, six driver wheels, and no trailer truck. Now some larger engines have more than one set of driver wheels and you’ll see something like, “4-6-6-4” to describe the fact that it has two sets of six driver wheels.
However, it doesn’t end there, not on your life. I guess to make things easier, or more complicated dependent on your point of view, specific wheel arrangements have names. At this point though, there is not much consistency since some arrangements go by different names dependent on who built them and for whom. For instance, a 2-6-2 built around 1900 is know as a Prairie, while a 2-8-2 built around the same time is called a Mikado, and all 2-8-4’s are Berkshires. When we get to the 4-8-4, we now have over eight different names for one of those; among them are, Northern, Niagara and Greenbrier. They complicate things even further by usually referring to engines by their road numbers to differentiate it from other similar engines. For example, a specific Union Pacific 4-8-4 with road number 815 would be referred to as: “UP 815.”
Other characteristics can be used to describe a steam engine. A small 0-4-0 may be called a “switcher,” usually used to move cars around a freight yard. Then there’s a “shay.” This type has unusual outboard cams that drive the wheels and is used to navigate the tight curves of a logging line. Another variant is the type of fuel used to power the engine. Earlier engines used wood to fire the boiler. As time passed, there was coal, then oil. Many older engines were converted from one to the other. Lastly, they frequently use the foundry that manufactured the engine in its description. Most prevalent of these were the American Locomotive Company, Lima Locomotive Works and the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Probably, the thing that impresses me the most is that these giants were all produced in the USA by skilled craftsman. It is amazing what was accomplished with the technology of that era, and that most all of these engines that exist today are still capable of running, some built well over 100 years ago.
I hate to admit it, but I’m just a bit overwhelmed by all this. There was a time when I could call an automobile by make and year simply by looking at it, but not anymore; nowadays, I’m lucky if I can identify my own vehicle in the mall parking lot. The same applies to my ability to identify steam engines, so I guess I’m going to stick to counting wheels and be satisfied that I know how to do that.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD