Repowering a pair of hudsons

[nkp_174]

WoW....Two stars in one picture...!!! I think I like the one with the side-by-side headlights the best...!!!

Were the Pacifics & Hudsons the ones with the largest drivers (excluding the ol' timers with their huge drivers)..?? I think that's what I find so appealing in those two types...the drivers really stand out....

Typically they were. NKP hudsons had about the smallest drivers I can think of on a hudson...essentially equivalent to the USRA light pacifics...73" drivers...while the NYC's and most other hudsons were more like the USRA heavy pacifics...79" drivers. The tallest drivers I can think of were the 84" drivers on the Milwaukee Road's Atlantics & F-7 hudsons, and the Santa Fe's big hudsons. The NYC 4-4-0 was the only comparable 19th century locomotive...equipped with 86" drivers for a publicity stunt. The smallest drivers I can think of on a 4-x-4 were the N&W 4-8-4s with their 70" drivers.

In the 1880s, 60" drivers were standard on 4-4-0s (the standard freight & passenger power)...with some classes having 66" drivers and some 4-6-0s having 56" drivers. switch engines had 48" drivers. I am giving typical numbers here, not outliers. In 1920, I would say that 51"-57" were typically for switchers, 57"-63" for freight power, and 69"-79" were typical for passenger power. After 1930, switch engines were the same, with freight power typically being 63"-69" and passenger power being 73"-80"...with 4-6-2s, 4-6-4s, and 4-8-4s pulling the varnish.

The NKP's modern switchers had 51" and 57" drivers. The branchline engines had 57" and 63" drivers. The freight engines had 63" and 69" drivers. The passenger power had 73" drivers.

I think I'll work a little bit on the #1 hudson today...but I'll be spending most of the day on my 2-8-0 which I'll be posting in the next few days in a Scratchin' & Bashin' thread.