Re: Speed on the D&RGW ng lines

Hi Russ,

Not necessarily a fair comparison. Both the SP's GS#/GS4 and the Union Pacific's FEF-3's were equipped with Boxpox drivers which took counterbalancing to a new level. They also had roller bearings. On the other hand, all the Grande 2-8-2's had good old-fashioned automotive-style counterbalancing weights that worked--to a point. And they had plain ("friction") bearings too. One of the rationales for the Boxpox design was to reduce the hammer blows to the rail caused by old-fashioned counterweights, not just to simply increase running speeds. The question then becomes not how fast various K-series locomotives could run, but what price to your track infrastructure you were willing to pay for increased speed. Bear in mind, likewise, that the average steam locomotive is a machine exquisitely designed, perfected, znd manufactured to beat itself to death. Speed only exacerbates that problem. What longevity are you willing to compromise by running above the designed operating speed? See below.

PS. Back in the Dark Ages, before there was a Georgetown Loop, I worked for its predecessor railroad, the Colorado Central Narrow Gauge Railroad in dear ol' Central City, CO. We had a relief engineer (IIRC, his name was Jack Spence) who had retired from a long career on the SP, including running GS3/GS4 locomotives. He once told me of an evening trip up the inside of the Bay peninsula from San Jose to San Fransisco on a train powered by a GS4. He was late and trying to make time. He said--and I had no reason to disbelieve him--that he had the speedometer on that GS4 pinned at 120 m.p.h.! Try that in your K-whatever! That locomotive must have been a rockin' and a rollin'!

Mike