who has the power

i was wondering who has more horse power/ and tracktive effort. the big boys or the D M I R yellowstones? thanks big boy

The Yellowstone wins the tractive effort prize, but not by much (140,000 vs. 135,375 lbs). But the ore hauler had smaller drive wheels (63" vs. 68") and lower boiler pressure (240 vs. 300 psi) so it probably lagged in horsepower. The BB was rated at 6300 max hp at 41 mph. I have not found any published figures for the DM&IR loco, but I would expect its hp to be in the 5000 to 6000 range. The 2-8-8-4 could probably pull a bit more, but at lower speed. That was ok for an ore hauler. UP needed to move faster. The all-time horsepower winner was the PRR Q2, which officially churned out 7986 hp at 57 mph. Its TE was a respectable 100,800 lbs, with an additional 15,000 available from a booster.

Our 2-8-8-4’s did, thats who!

Wrong. The all time winner was the C&O Allegheny which had the largest boiler ever put on a steamer. The PRR figure was indicated HP on the Altoona test plant. The Allegheny figure was drawbar HP measured in actual service.

They both do. Depends on what you want to do with them.

The B&O 2-8-8-4 were used because new production was denied during the war years, and they were just about the lightest and smallest of the Yellowstone family. They did thier work very well.

Light and small? I don’t know how anyone could consider something 126 feet long, 16 1/2 feet high, and weighing 1,010,000 lbs small :slight_smile:

Actually, the EM1 were members of the Yellowstone family in wheel arrangement only. They were a completely new design compared to the other locomotives of that wheel arrangement. The EM1’s were designed to be a powerful heavy fast freight engine, and not as a low speed lugging engine.

Compared to thier ore-hauling big brothers of the same class, the B&O engines were lighter and smaller.

They did the work very well indeed. I am hoping for the day one gets produced with QSI in HO scale either diecast or plastic.