Russo Loco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Kelly Anderson Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Stathi, #168 does look magnificent, but she is
> > still missing her #3 driver, leaving an
> unsightly
> > gap between #2 and #4!
>
>
> But . . .  But . . . 
> Kelly -
>
> SFAIK, the D&RGW never had any
> 4-8-0's.  The N&W had a few –
> one of which is still quite active at Strasburg,
> PA – and the S.P. had several – one of
> which is stuffed and mounted at a museum in
> Bakersfield, CA – but none of these were
> Narrow Gauge.  Otherwise they were pretty
> rare, IIRC.

Like the Atlantic (which it was largely contemporary of) the 4-8-0 had only a brief period of popularity for the most part within the United States. There were a modest but reasonable number built but (again much like the Atlantic) most of them had been scrapped before the preservation movement got going. There weren't a lot of 4-8-4's made either, but that arrangement is over-represented in preservation owing to it being a late model so most of them were still around at the end of steam. The 4-8-0 saw common use in some other nations. With respect to 3 foot gauge the 4-8-0 was a common and perhaps the favorite type of steam locomotive used on the Colombian 3 foot gauge network from the 1920's onward.

The earliest S.P. 4-8-0's were genuinely interesting machines using the A.J. Stevens multiple-valve arrangement. Testing demonstrated they could achieve 90 to 94 per cent steam pressure at the piston in an era where 80 to 85 per cent was more typical but they would've been unusual to operate with double johnson bars.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2019 07:07PM by James.