Nearly an hour and a quarter of it. Steam at speed. Steam from a standing start. Steam variety. Even a steam motor car (at around 2:30 and again around the 4 minute mark). In HD. All shot in this century. A-4’s (“Mallard” and “Union of South Africa”), Merchant Navy 35028 “Clan Line”, both rebuilt and unrebuilt West Country/Battle of Britain classes, a Castle, a couple of Manors, Black 5’s, GWR small Prairie tanks. It doesn’t really get better than this.
Actually, the 4 cylinder engines sound like 2 cylinder engines because each cylinder is set at 90 degrees to the next one. Rode behind ex-LMS #6201 “Princess Elizabeth” a few years ago. She’s a 4 cylinder engine and while there are 8 exhausts per revolution, it sounds like 4 because of the geometry of the cylinders (2 cylinders exhaust simultaneously as they’re 180 degrees from each other and that happens each quarter revolution), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Cvl5NK7Ho
Compare that to a 3 cylinder engine and you get 6 exhausts per revolution. 35028 “Clan Line” is a rebuilt Merchant Navy with 3 cylinders. Here it is ascending a grade at what I would estimate is about 40 MPH, but it sounds like it’s going faster. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg1ah0l_9p4
I’ve ridden behind both engines and the difference in sound is dramatic. “Flying Scotsman” is also 3 cylindered and can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXm6IaOtYAw Notice the relatively low RPM of the drivers compared to the exhaust beat.
Not really. Most British locos were 2 cylinder, but they did have a considerably higher proportion of 3 and 4 cylinder engines than we did. Then again, they had a considerable proportion of engines with inside cylinders as well. Like this one: http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pics/c.html
Just off the top of my head, the UP 9000’s (4-12-2), SP’s 4-10-2’s, a few Lackawanna 4-8-2’s, some Wabash Mikes and an MP 4-6-2 had 3 cylinders. UP’s 10 4-10-2’s were built with 3 cylinders but rebuilt with 2 around 1942. And, IIRC, Wabash’s 4-6-4’s were built using the boilers of some of the 3 cylinder Mikes. Oh yeah, Baldwin built an experimental 3 cylinder compound 4-10-2 that now resides at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. http://www.railpictures.net/photo/325552/ I believe there were a few more, but those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. Santa Fe was big into 4 cylinder compounds in the early part of the 20th century, but most, if not all, were eventually rebuilt simple.
Can’t help but feel a bit jealous of our friends across the pond when I see what they have in the way of mainline steam. Watching a heavy pacific or similar flash by at 60+ mph with a ‘real’ train on the high iron is, essentially, a pipe dream here in the US. Or a once-twice in a lifetime opportunity.
Still, I’m glad the internet makes it possible for us to see the videos easily, at least.