This question come up every once in a while -
Obviously not all geared locos of the same manufacturer were the same. But generally the Heisler was the speed demon and the Climax at the bottom. The Shays and Willamettes in between.
It was said that there are two top speeds for a geared engine - One is the top speed you can actually run at without doing damage and the second where you can run with parts flying off the loco. The wear and damage rate swings up exponentially after the first speed limit although locos were often run farther than that. Brett is right - We oftentimes have run the #3 Heisler at around 15mph but prudence (and the track speed rules) tell us that a few miles an hour slower allows the loco to live much longer. Reports of Heislers doing 30 are not unusual but.........
The Climax is an interesting one - The Hillcrest loco at Mt Ranier gave me the impression that we were running 15 mph until I looked out the cab window and saw that we were crawling. To say that a Heisler is a "contraption" is not an exaggeration. But I understand that, when pulling a load of log cars, they smoothed right out. Otherwise it's like a ride on a 90 ton grasshopper. I was impressed.
The operations of a modern day excursion railroad cannot be compared to a loco being used in regular service. One of the reasons is that a Climax or Willamette is a very rare very valuable piece of machinery and breaking one can be a big deal. An operator won't take the same chances that a regular operator who runs the loco under load every day will.
To the excursion operator it's a rare piece of jewelry to be protected - to a logger it's a tool, a machine.
Lon Wall
Volunteer on the Sumpter Valley railroad!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2016 10:08PM by Nelson Bros Lumber Co..
