From my files on the origin of the Mudhen name:
According to engineer/author J.D. True, they got the name 'Mudhen' because
"During the winter with ice and snow build up along side of the track the
mainrod crank would lift the engine slightly from side to side creating a
movement something like a duck waddling."
[It Happened on the White Pass, p 90]
mike
The class 125 (later K-27) ran about 27,000 pounds driving axle load,
against ~15,000 for the 70/72 classes (C-19 & C-17), and only ~13,000 for
the 60 class (C-16). Those were the heaviest engines on line prior to 1903.
And while the 125's permissible operating districts were severely
restricted, at least initially, I doubt that the track was really in a state
to handle them. Engines so much heavier than usual would quickly find all
those little weaknesses that lighter power skated right over.
Another part of the truth is doubtless that, with the outside
counterweights, they really do appear to be waddling along like a duck. This
is particularly true when viewed from down slope or alongside even a low
embankment. This is not a viewpoint common to railroad modelers, but one
worth considering.
The comment about Mudhens being a "trash duck" suggests another
aspect. I doubt that the 125's were welcomed by the engine crews when they
were introduced. The new engines could handle nearly twice the load of the
traditional heavy power, and this doubtless caused a general demotion of
newly promoted engineers and firemen. At very least, the number of train
crews was temporarily reduced and opportunities for promotion were
restricted. I suspect that "Mudhen" was initially intended as a derogation.
It could well have been "dammed Mudhen", at least during the first years.
But keep in mind that the 125's were the first engines with outside
counterweights on the D&RG/RGS/C&S 3' gauge system. For nearly 20 years
they were the only such engines. Thus they were quite distinctive, and
worthy of a distinctive name.
This seems to have also happened on the White Pass, where the J.D.True quote
indicates that the K-28's, reported to have been called the "sport model" on
the D&RGW, were called Mudhens on the White Pass.
John Stutz
When the D&RG first announced the K-27's the local Salida paper
nicknamed them 'Monsters' because they were able to do the work of three C
Class locos. Later they were, according to Dennis O'Berry called 'mudhens' by
the crews because they waddled like a coot duck. No other reason.
Some one suggested that it may have been caused that when the edges of the
right of way were icy, the low slung running gear of the Mudhens would lift
the engine of the track very slightly and cause the motion. I somehow doubt
that of an loco weighing 125 thousand pounds (about 57 tons) but there is
something to this rumour.
Salida was laid with dual gauge track. The standard gauge was laid with 100
pound rail, the third rail for narrow gauge was ,in places, laid with rail
as light as 52 pound which is much lower. This meant that NG locos ran on a
tilt. Not an issue until the first of the
K-27's arrived in 1903. They are built low, so low that in places
their rods and counterweights had less than an inch clearance on the unused
standard gauge rail and this may have been an even greater
issue negociating turnouts. I am pretty certain that i have read
something about this when the rod DID connect with the rail and caused the
loco to lurch.
Mark Kasprowicz
Oxford England
