Re: Cold Water Brooks

Herb Kelsey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mr. Bane's sharing of the SVRy's first No. 2, a
> Brooks loco, jogged a memory. In Lew Lathrop's
> Little Engines and Big Men there is a
> mention of a C&S Brooks Mogul as a "Cold Water
> Brooks."
>
> Anybody out there know what he was talking about?
> Don't know if he was referring to a particular
> troublesome engine or a characteristic of the
> builder's product or??? Thoughts?
>
> Ps: Thanks Jim for posting so many great
> historical photos from the collection!

The 15x18 Brooks mogul (and a couple of their other short-wheelbase mogul designs) had rather undersized boilers for their cylinder needs. Impossible for them to keep steam up if working hard at any kind of speed. Other railroads using that type of model quite often used them for slow freight service or switching. I think the idea was to get maximum possible starting power on the available weight, even if it meant tradeoffs in other respects.

The long wheelbase Brooks mogul engine (like the common 14x18) had more usual ratios between cylinders and heating surface and was typically well-regarded.