Virginian–thanks for the site–opened MY eyes a little, heh-heh! Actually, I was thinking of the Y6b (a loco that I really admire, by the way) in terms of simple, not compound starting TE, comparing it with other simple articulateds. And I was NOT talking about sustained horsepower, remember. Compound articulateds were capable of incredible starting TE, which fell off noticabely when run ‘simple’ at speed (which many of them were). However that’s a really fine list, and a really fine website.
UP’s big boy was the largest, C&O’s allengy was the strongest, SSRA’s 4-14-4
was the largest nonarticulated, UP’s 4-12-2 was America’s largest non articulated,
Erie’s 2-8-8-8-4 had the most amount of drivers, PRR’s duplex had the least amount
of drivers for an articulated, & N&W’s J-class 4-8-4’s were the most powerful non
articulated.
No, N&W’s Js were good, but they weren’t that powerful. C&O’s
T1 class 2-10-4s could easily out pull a J, as could PRR J1e class 2-10-4s. And let’s not forget ATSF’s superior 2900 class 4-8-4s, and UP’s all mighty 9000 class 4-12-2s.
Ain’t no 4-8-4 tougher than the ‘J’. End of that story. A 2-10-4 certainly ought to have more umph than a 4-8-4 primarily PASSENGER locomotive.
The Virginian Triplex had more wheels than the Erie folks. It was a tie for drivers. It’s just that Virginian was used to things working right, and they liked things that way, so they converted theirs into two locomotives.
I do not consider turbines steam locomotives, even though Jawn Henry was the best of those. I’m simple. No chuff, no steam engine. Yes, I do realize it was a steam powered.
Of latter day steam, the Y6b was the strongest, the Big Boy was the longest, and the C&O/VGN Allegheny/Blue Ridge was the most powerful.