07-14-2012, 11:20 AM
Steamtrains Wrote:The size of the engine is staggering....But what is more impressive is its mechanical "perfection". When it began to move I was expecting all sorts of creaks and groans...Not to be...It started up as smoothly as your grandpa's Cadillac...Amazing....
Cast steel frame + all roller bearings have a lot to do with that. Locomotives with fabricated frames and a load behind them, now they'll groan!
What I find amazing, flabbergasting, astounding, is that that piece of industrial art cast frame - really the heart of the whole thing - has been in *constant* service pulling real load at higher speeds for 65 years. Given that steam locomotives are much rougher on themselves than diesels, that's astounding / flabbergasting / amazing. Overall a testament to a solid modern-steam design by Alco.
The above amazement assumes that the frame has never been exchanged with one of the part donator FEFs. Does anyone know this for sure?
How many times have the cylinders (part of the cast frame) been re-lined?
Matt Goodman
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio