Re: Sumpter Valley's Heisler #3

Jim Grigsby Wrote:
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> Well Bret, Tom, and Lon, you are all correct up to
> a point. Actually the Climax trucks were the most
> flexible, as the journals were sprung as well as
> the bolsters.


The deep fire box also made them easier
> to fire. The shallow fire box and over sized
> cylinders of the Heisler can beat down a fireman,
> as all of us who have fired the No. 3 can attest.

Jim, you bring up a good point about some Heislers being considered
over-cylindered (a polite term for under-boilered!). Look at a
side view of some larger ones and you wonder how they got enough
heating surface in the boiler. The barrel is neither long or wide
enough, but they seemed to get by.

Bill Scott of Pickering Lbr. told me that the four 3 truck Heislers
that they had did OK on the 33 mile climb with empties out of Standard to
Schoettgen Pass Camp. They were suited to that job. The question
came up as to how well a modern superheated 3 trucker would have done
on the railroad, but they never did try one out. All one can do now
is to daydream and wonder.