Accoring to the May 2007 issue of ‘Trains’ the 2-6-6-2T Mallet depicted on the front cover and on page 32 is the only working Mallet in America. But I though Union Pacific maintained their Challenger 4-6-6-4 in working order. Can anyone advise?
In Europe there are a number of working Mallets on narrow gauge lines in France and Spain, notably the Vivarais railway in southern France.
A Mallet is technically a compound articulated locomotive (high-pressure on the rear engine, low-pressure on the front engine). UP 3985 is a simple articulated locomotive (high-pressure both engines).
This distinction matters a lot to some people.
Eritrea has at two operating Mallets which I would dearly love to see in action.
S. Hadid
The giveaway is cylinder size - the low pressure cylinders on the leading engine are considerably smaller than the high pressure cylinders on the following engine. Apart from the 3985, the only articulated (geared steam excluded) that I can remember being in excursion service since the end of steam was N&W’s 1218, but she was simple. I gather from stories I heard growing up that the Mallets were very distinct-sounding: soft, mushy exhaust, because the steam pressure had dropped so much by the time it was expelled from the low-pressure cylinders.
Does anyone know of plans to return one to steam? I know Sierra’s #38 is in pieces up in Oregon, and I know a few of them survive in various spots, but I’ve not heard of anyone trying to get another one back on the road (in the States, at any rate). Or are the Orenstein and Koppel engines on the CC&V in Colorado Mallets?
The 110 has the low pressure cylinders on the front which are larger. It sounds great while going up the grade. On one occasion we had to stop between grades to build up more steam. I believe we had a longer train than most days.
Yep, that’s usually where you find them - the high pressure cylinders exhaust into the low pressure cylinders, which exhaust into the smokebox. The Canadian Pacific built a class of 0-6-6-0s with the leading cylinders at the back of the leading engine, presumably to keep the connection between the two sets of cylinders as short as possible, but that was unique (at least on this continent).
re: “The giveaway is cylinder size - the low pressure cylinders on the leading engine are considerably smaller than the high pressure cylinders on the following engine.”
It’s the opposite: the low-pressure cylinders (generally in the front) are larger than the high-pressure cylinders in the rear. To get the same force with lower-pressure steam pushing the piston, you need a larger-diameter surface for the steam to act on.
MidPac. If you ever find a pic of that, I would love to see it. I assume all of those have been scrapped. Thanks
Sweet !
Thats an ex-Rayonier logger isnt it?
I didnt know there was still one operational, thats good to know!
There are pictures around, but I’ll be damned if I can find one right now (in a book or otherwise). If memory serves, I believe they were rebuilt into the first run of decapods. I could be very wrong though.
Midpac, the old US Plywood-originally Kosmos Timber-# 11 is up at the Northwest Railway Museum at Snoqualmie, Washington. She is currently down for flue time, and needs new boiler jacketing and lagging, but the organization just completed a rebuilding shop, so the 11 is scheduled (sometime) to be returned to steam. I had the pleasure of getting a cab ride in her in the late 80s. She is a true Mallet-a compound 2-6-6-2. Originally a side-tank engine, she was re-equipped with an old tank car as a water tender while under Kosmos’ ownership. So, there at least is some hope for another Mallet to run some day.
Rick. Thanks so much for the info. It has been several years since I visited your collection. Is the #11 the one that sat out by the road for a few years? Here is link to museum.
http://www.trainmuseum.org/default.asp
In fact, that’s correct. They had the 11 out by the highway into Snoqualmie for a few years. These days, she’s parked behind the depot/museum. A stand there permits looks into the cab. Nowadays, the equipment out on the highway is the ex-Northern Pacific rotary snowplow # 10, plus all the stuff they used to have stashed up in the woods. The equipment they have in service now include, Kennecott Copper 201-an Alco RSD4, an ex-Weyerhauser FM H-12-44, a GE 45-ton side-rod diesel switcher and a pair of ex-Army industrial sized switchers-which are their preferred motive power. (Fuel economy, you know).
Thanks for that. I was aware of the distinction but I wasn’t sure if UP 3985 was a simple; I believe the BigBoys are too.
I’ve seen photos of the Eritrean Mallets - it’s remarkable how that line has been rebuilt following a 30 war of independence. (Eritrea had been an independant country before the Italians colonised it in the 1890’s, then after briefly being occuppied by the Brits after WW2 it was annexed by Ethiopia, only for the Eritreans to start fighting for their independence, which they eventually won in 1991).
Talking of compounds, on the Welsh Highland Railway (a 2’ narrow gauge line) they’ve now got K1, the very first Beyer-Garratt running. This engine is also a compound and the difference in size between the high and low pressure cylinders is noticeable.
Another significant US Mallet’s very slow restoration to operability is - depending on who you speak with - either in the planning stages or going on at the shops of the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad in Mineral, WA: the Baldwin-built (1909) 2-4-4-2 “Skookum,” ex-Deep Creek Railroad No.126.
http://www.ironhorse129.com/prototype/Mallet/Skookum/Skookum.htm
I understand “Skookum” is privately owned and will eventually return to the owner in Willits, CA - presumably for use and exhibit at the Roots of Motive Power “Redwood Empire History Project” interpretive displays at Mendocino County Museum in Willits.
In the late 1970s, I spent quite a bit of time around then-operating California Western Railroad 2-6-6-2 Mallet No.46 (ex-Rayonier Corp. No.111, sister to the No.110 now in use on the Black Hills tourist operation). The CWR rebuilt the 2-6-6-2 without the split saddle tanks, which compromised her balance, riding quality and to a greater extent, her tractive effort.
Yes, the exhaust sound of a true Mallet under load is mushy compared to that of a simple locomotive. But when CWR 46 attacked the stiff 2.75% ascending grade over the 8-mile stretch from Shake City to Summit with five fully loaded steel passenger coaches behind, she still talked loud. On one occasion I’d arranged with the CWR Roadmaster to ride in his Chevy Hi-Railer ahead of the steam train to a point called “Rock Wall” about 1.5 miles west of the Summit. My buddy Walt and I awaited the train there, and could hear the locomotive laboring up the forested grade and through the torturous reverse curves for the best part of
Shame on me - I knew that!
The UP Big Boys were simple engines - the last Mallets the UP bought new were the 2-8-8-0s that were delivered in the Teens and Twenties, and a lot of them were later simpled and had their drivers re-tired to increase their diameter, so they would be more useful in higher-speed service. The last Mallets the UP bought were some secondhand N&W 2-8-8-2s it picked up late in WWII, to ease a traffic crunch.