I was curious about the pulling power of some of the smaller steamers. I’ve read on here than SP frequently ran 80 car trains of empty gondols and pulled them with a single 2-6-0. The throttle was wide open and they were barely moving. How in the world…? Wouldn’t the drivers slip at full throttle?
About how many freight cars could a 2-6-2 pull ? (and no not a drag freight, but more like 25-35MPH)
Looking at the specifications of the various 0-6-0, 2-6-0 and 4-6-0 locos in Model Railroader Cyclopedia - Volume 1 Steam Locomotives, it appears that most have a tractive effort close to 35,000 pounds. The best of the road engines would probably handle 30 or so cars at 25 mph. The major limit would be the grate area of the firebox, which determines how much steam can be generated.
The SP “Valley Malley” 2-6-0’s, which were built from parts of dismantled 2-6-6-2’s, were very powerful - and very heavy. That weight caused them to go to scrap early, since they couldn’t be run on lightly built branches. The Wabash had the opposite situation - a couple of aged Moguls which were lighter than the available diesels, making them the only locos that could cross a rather fragile bridge. All of the newer coalburners on the line steamed off to the scrap merchant while those two 2-6-0’s soldiered on (until the bridge was beefed up to handle the weight of a GP-7.)
Perhaps someone with more knowledge can chime in on American 2-6-2’s. The only one I have data for was very modern (built between 1938 and 1947,) had very nice lines and ran on 1067mm gauge rails.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - including 2 C58 class 2-6-2’s)
I was guessing is was something like 20-30 cars.
Let me put it this way. Southern Pacific rated its A-3 Atlantics for 2400 tons in the San Joaquin Valley. These are 81" drivered 4-4-2’s (and yes, I’ve seen pictures of 4-4-2’s on freight trains including an A-6 4-4-2 in helper service). A Mogul of class M-6, M-8, or M-9 had 63" drivers and a tractive effort of around 33,000 lbs. My guess is that these locos would have been rated at around 32-3400 tons or so in the Valley. The average empty weight of a 40’s era steel freight car is in the neighborhood of 20 tons, so yes, a 2-6-0 could easily handle 80 or so empty cars without even coming close to slipping its drivers and could probably reach a speed in the 40-45 mph range.
Andre
Ah, now I understand perfectly. A 4-4-2 in freight service? That sounds almost as odd as an 0-6-0 in passenger service[:P]
It did happen, but was most certainly not a regular occourance.
And then there was the incident of the MILW passenger train pulled by I believe a Hudson and an 0-6-0 coupeled to the back to push the train out of the station but for some reason they couldn’t get it uncoupled and the engineer of the Husdon just kept going and soon the little 0-6-0 was flying along at 90+ MPH.
There were some pretty powerful 6-drivered engines. FWIW Northern Pacific’s first Cuyuna Range iron ore trains in the early 1900’s often used 2-6-2’s.
This incident is legendary on the Milwaukee Road - URBAN legendary. Did anyone capture this occurance on film; what a sight to see; a little 51 inch drivered six coupled switcher highballing along at 90+ miles per hour - every time the rods lift to the top of the revolution the centrifical force throws the locomotive four to six inches off of the rail and then, when the rods slam back down to the bottom, the locomotive hammers back down onto the rail. And it did all of this without derailing. It was certainly a good thing that the Milwaukee Road laid their track with 350 pound rail; otherwise that pounding would probably have demolished the rail on that section of track. And just think; Milwaukee Road is a thriving enterprize that did not go belly up in 1990.
Thank you so much for sharing this incident with us;please share more of these URBAN Legends on the first day of the fourth month of the year; they will be more appreciated at that time.
NOTE FOR PCARRELL;
See, I don’t have a negative attitude!!!