Bob,
That is a pretty big little engine.
Eureka Vs. Montezuma
Drivers: 42” vs. 40”
Bore: 12” vs. 9”
Stroke: 16” vs. 16”
Boiler, Outside Diameter: 42” vs. 34”
Indicated Horsepower @140psi: 247 vs. 139
Indicated Tractive Effort @140psi: 7419lbs vs. 4382lbs
The Eureka currently runs at 100psi
Indicated Horsepower @100psi: 177 vs. 99
Indicated Tractive Effort @100psi: 5299lbs vs. 3130lbs
So even with the Montezuma running @140psi and the Eureka running at it’s present 100psi, the Eureka still has a 38 horsepower, 917lbs of tractive effort advantage. We all know how much the Eureka can haul at her present 100psi, would you want an engine that can pull that much less?
Though I will say that a Montezuma replica running at 140psi will have a MUCH higher efficiency rate than the Eureka so fuel and water consumption would be lower pulling the same loads.
A replica of an engine like the Montezuma would only turn a profit, over a very long period of time, to groups and museums that have low ridership numbers, otherwise it would be “fouling the main” for much larger regular revenue runs such as on the D&S or the CATS.
Your idea for a “engineer for an hour” program may work to cover operational costs, but I don’t think it would make down payments on the loans to build the sucker. And if it was a regular attraction intended to make money to pay for itself then the novelty would be lost and ridership low or tickets sold at low prices because people will want to spend their money on the bigger trips.
Basically for the price to build a Montezuma one could pay little more and have a 2-4-2 Tank, 4-4-0 or 2-6-0 all of which would have much more bang for the cost of building them. Or in some cases it could be cheaper to get a K36 running again to pull big long, big revenue, trains. The drivers alone would be in the $20,000 range just to have the wheel center patterns made. Cylinder patterns would be a few times that much. Most Live Steamers don’t have to pay for pattern making and have the machine equipment in their garage.
On a personal note, I would love to see a replica built!
Hey, Bob Keller! Want to have a go at it as a warm up to a C-16?
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Curtis F.