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This is an interesting conversation, but the same defending and bragging on certain locomotives has been going on since railroading began. I was privileged to be at Roanoke in 1956 for a week and watched the A's in action with large coal trains. They were very impressive, but never ventured from the N&W tracks like the diesels do now. I got to see the 1218 run on a passenger excursion, but it was not built for that purpose. The actual weight on the drivers and the number of drivers is the main factor in drawbar tractive effort, but horsepower is developed by the cylinder, driver size, boiler pressure and the ability to make steam in great amounts, which involves the firebox size along with the design of the flues and combustion chamber. I have included an Excel chart that shows the specifications for several of the largest 8 driver type steam engines and two of the 6 driver engines. The specifications are in Steam’s Finest Hour and are fairly close to actual numbers. The numbers tell much of the story and if you analyze the requirements that the railroad had when they designed the locomotive, you can come up with many results. For instance, the C&O wanted to move heavy coal trains, 14000 tons or more at a reasonable speed and do it efficiently. They were designed to replace the 2-10-4’s that had moved this coal and other heavy freight prior to the Allegheny’s. Both types were used on general freight also, but the bottom line was the heavy coal trains that C&O moved. I had to eliminate several other engines due to the excell chart not fitting in this format. Here are some specifications to compart your favorite lage engine to each other. Road UP N&W C&O DM&IR Class Big Boy A Allegheny Yellowstone Drivers 4-8-8-4 2-6-6-4 2-6-6-6 2-8-8-4 Weight Drivers545,000 432,350 471,000 565,000 1 Driver axle 68,125 72,058 78,500 70,625 Adhesion Factor4 4 4 4 Engine Weight772,000 573,000 724,500 699,700 TE In lbs. 135,375 114,000 110,200 140,000 Drivers Size 68" 70" 67" 63 Cylinders 4 4 4 4 Cyli size 23 3/4" x32" 24" x 30" 22 1/2" x 33" 26" x 32" Pressure 300 lbs. 300 260 lbs. 240 lbs Grate Area 150 122 135 125 Compare and give me your thoughts. Sorry about the table not lining up correctly, I have tried to correct it, but have not been able to fix it. I looks correct with the excel chart but does not translate over to this format the same way. Each number can be read in order for each engine that is listed. They do not fall directly below the particular engine.
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