I finally have a GN 4-8-4 to add to my roster. Now I can replace the Pacifics on my main passenger train.
http://s1134.photobucket.com/albums/m620/northern10/Great Northern/?action=view¤t=003.jpg!(http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m620/northern10/Great Northern/003.jpg)
Den:
OOOOOHH!! That’s a beauty. Now get yourself a dual-service S-1 to keep it company. Love those GN 4-8-4’s, one handsome bunch of iron horses. Don’t know which model I like better, the Belpaire S-1 or the non-Belpaire S-2. Either one looks VERY good at the head of a train.
Tom [:D]
An excellent idea. I was surprised that the S2 does not have a Belpaire firebox…
Say what? Belaire was a Chevy??
Edjucktateme on Belpaire thingees…
Seriously, I was not 'there in ‘Steam Days’ I need, but really want to learn all I can…
What identifying features do you see that differenciates a the firebox…
Uhh… The PC way to put this is, “I’m a novice & I want to know…”
Really I don’t know, help!!! Please!
( I am severely deficient in steam chronology, terms, & details) & so I just post diesel pix…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebox_(steam_engine)
Engine equipped with normal radial stay firebox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:4-8-2.jpg
Engine equipped with Belpaire firebox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PRR_N1s_7246.jpg As you can see, top of the firebox is squared off.
Engine equipped with Wooten firebox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Erie_L-1_2601.jpg (note that not all engines equipped with Wooten fireboxes had the cab astride the boiler). http://www.yesteryeardepot.com/DH604.JPG
Both the Pennsylvania and the Great Northern used Belpaire fireboxes extensively. Here’s a pic of GN S-1 4-8-4 # 2552. http://www.yesteryeardepot.com/GN2552.JPG The S-2’s (which also had larger drivers) used radial stay fireboxes.
Andre
Don:
IIRC, the S-2 and the GN 4-8-2’s were the only locos on the railroad to have radial stay fireboxes instead of the Belpaire.
Check around, you can probably find a used PFM S-1 at a really reasonable price. I picked one up a few years ago, and it runs smooth as silk. I think I saw a couple on the Caboose Hobbies brass site. GN used the S-1 as a dual service loco, and they look good hauling either passenger or freight.
Tom
Andre,
Thanks for taking the time to assist me, I copy pasted the links & will look them over is detail!
This is better than a casual & accidental book!
Thanks again!!
Personally I prefer the GN’s P-2 Mountains. But both the P-2’s and the S-2’s were beautiful machines. Care to fill us in on the maker of this model?
I saw a beautiful S-2 brass model with a “glide drive” wherein you could push the loco down the track (and the drivers would turn). It was one of the last of the PFM imports, as I recall, and I wanted it so bad my teeth were sweating. Beyond my reach though, and I haven’t seen one sice (haven’t really been looking).
Actually GN had quite a few types of steam engines that came with radial stay fireboxes, particularly engines made in the 19th or early 20th century.
I have a BLI USRA Heavy Mikado on my layout, which didn’t have a belpaire firebox. The recent Spectrum 4-4-0 is fairly accurate for a GN 4-4-0 with a radial firebox. (The rear driver should be farther back under the cab, but overall it’s a very nice looking model.)
I’ve long suspected that a Spectrum USRA Heavy Mountain with a Spectrum vanderbilt tender would come pretty close to a GN Mountain, but haven’t tried it yet. (Ya it wouldn’t be super-accurate, but it would be pretty close…and a LOT cheaper than brass!)
