I remember seeing a pic of a 2-4-4 a long time ago.It was a cab forward with the cilinders in the rear of the loco. I’m building a 2-6-4T off the image in my head to run a short passanger train, I’m trying to figure out how to work this (and power it for that mater.)Any pics, concepts, plans, etc. Thanks.
Hello “S&G,” You may be thinking of a 2-4-4T Forney type tank locomotive. Forney’s idea was to run the engine tank first, with the four-wheel truck leading, for better guidance at speed. Several of these locomotives were used on rapid-transit and suburban lines, and on the two-foot narow gauge lines in Maine. Forney’s concept never seemed to catch on, though, and photos show the engines running boiler first as often as not. There were drawings of the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes two-foot-gauge 2-4-4T No. 9 in the June 1957 “Model Railroader.” (Photocopies are available from customerservice@kalmbach.com.) So long, Andy
As Andy Sperandeo said, the 2-4-4T Forney was a common rapid transit loco, used on the New York elevated railways before electrification as well as on the Maine 2-footers.
As for the 2-6-4T wheel arrangement, the JNR C11 class fills the bill and was often operated bunker first on branches where there were no turning facilities at the far end. Somewhere in my assortment of unclassified junk I have a photo (taken in the late '50’s) of a C11, running bunker first, hauling a box car, an empty gon and two passenger coaches on the Katsuda-sen outside Fukuoka.
More recently, Bill Kleinert gifted me with a Tenshodo C11 model in 1:80 scale. It picks up rail power from the drivers on one side and the short wheelbase 4 wheel truck on the other - no problem to me, since my specialwork is all solid-frog construction, but it would be VERY unhappy on Atlas insulfrog switches.
For a kitbash, I would look at a medium-drivered 2-6-(whatever) that picks up power from the drivers on both sides. Cosmetic changes to a steam loco superstructure (or putting a completely new superstructure on an existing mechanism,) and adding or deleting non-driving wheels, isn’t very difficult.
Happy locomotive building.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
If I remember correctly Lima did drawings of a 4-6-4T but it was never produced, by that time diesels were already making enough headway that they figured it wouldn’t sell. The idea was it could be like a GP and run backwards or forwards equally well, like on branchlines and/or commuter trains.
BTW some of the NYC Forneys ended up in northern Minnesota on logging railroads after New York electrified those lines and sold off the steam engines.
I’m slaghtly confused, were the fireboxes at the front or the rear of the loco? My chassis is set up like so F o-O–OO-oo The gap in between the drivers is for the firebox and the four wheel truck is to hold up the “tender” portion of the loco. The one I’m thinking of was a rebuild after a crash to make it look more modern. Mine is almost box cab motor looking (fitting sence it will be running along side them)
There was a small cab-forward in California…the North Pacific Coast, maybe? Seems like Kemtron or somebody made a cab front for it years ago.
The Boston & Albany had large 4-6-4T engines around WW2. So did the Jersey Central. CRRNJ also had older tank engines, as did Lehigh Valley, around 1900. Many many many years ago AHM had an N scale Q-1 4-6-4T engine, which was a CB&Q engine, I think.
North Pacific Coast #21 was built in 1901, and was scrapped after only a few years. Here is a web page about it:
http://www.ironhorse129.com/Projects/Engines/NPC_21/NPC_No21.htm
The Kemtron cab front I mentioned fit a Docksider, and turned it into a cab forward.
It was Canadian National that had the 4-6-4Ts, not B&A; and the CB&Q engines were 2-6-4Ts.
North Pacific Coast #21 was built in 1901, and was scrapped after only a few years. Here is a web page about it:
Thanks guys, NPC’s #21 is almost what i was thinking of , the only difference being that the cab I was thinking of looked more like the SP cab forwards w/ the steel skirting down the face to the rails. It should work though. Do you think I should add a superstructure over the boiler or leave it open?
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/cabforward/
has a page about cab-forwards. There was an Italian 4-6-0 that had an SP-looking cab (to my eye), and cylinders under rear of the loco …(close to the tender).
I seem to remember a model in an ad in The Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette, years ago. The name Steamboat Springs-something-or-other keeps coming to mind…
I cant think of any other American cab forwards…
Hi S&G,
This one is not exactly what you asked about, but a bit similar. This type of loco was common around the world, except in North America.
They were designed for suburban services so ran either direction. Not quite “cab forward”, but they ran “cab forward” quite often. Maybe close to 50% of the time, because turning the engine would only waste time.
The photo was taken near Sydney Central in 1967. By that time 3085 was a yard shunter and possibly a “pet”. She was 55 years old by then. The suburban lines she was designed to work had been electrified 40 to 50 years earlier.
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For a detailed Autocad image of this type of locomotive go to the following web site! SteamCad.Railfan.Net Scroll down the list to "NPC#21 Cab forward 4-4-0
Boston and Albany received five 4-6-6T’s from Alco in 1928. They looked like stubby 4-6-4 Hudsons.