Did Norfolk and Western completely sheath the smokeboxes of Y6bs late in the steam era, or did they leave the upper quadrant unsheathed? The prototype model of the forthcoming Y6b shown at the Precision Craft Models web site shows the latter; my sources are inconclusive.
I tried asking this question on the Norfolk and Western Historical Society modelling list and all I managed to do was hit some hot buttons about the relative merits of articulating only the forward set of drivers versues both sets on articulated locomotives. [B)][:(!]
What you are seeing on the top of the smokebox is the superheater access plate. This wasn’t normally sheathed even if the smokebox was sheathed. The N&W operated Y class engines with and without smokebox sheathing. As to the Y-6b’s I will have to check my photos, slides and books and get back as to that particular engine being unsheathed. I believe all Y-6b’s were built with sheathed smokeboxes. It may have been left off some engines after a shopping.
As to getting a reply from the N&WHS web group…you were lucky to get a response AT ALL from there. It’s the slowest site I’ve ever seen and they never seem to answer the questions posed to them anyway if they do respond.
Unfortunately, most questions on any site seem to get strange answers that don’t apply to the questions.
Email me offline in a couple days and I should be able to give you a better idea about the sheathing question after looking through my stash of info.
Roger
Here’s a good example of the falability of memory. I was going to just jot down a quick affirmative but thought I’d check the MR Loco Cyclopedia. Every picture of a N&W Y (Y-3; Y-6a and Y-6b) shows an unjacketed smokebox, as do all the pix of A class engines.