Mogul vs Consolidation

[sailor38]

I am an advid hobbyist but, alas, have not been a railroad historian - yet.
So, here's a question for you students of the wonderful history or railroading:
I believe the Consolidation essentially replaced the Mogul as the road engine of choice. Why? Did the eight drivers produce more pulling power than the six? Was the Consol faster than the Mogul? Smoother? Was one preferred over the other for freight? Or passenger service? I guess this could've been posted in the coffee shop, but it's too late now. Anyhow, I'd love to see a lot of conversation on this topic because I will learn so much from you all. Thanks and best to all![:)]

[twhite]

The Consolidation was an outgrowth of the Mogul, but with the additional set of driving wheels, had more tractive power. I believe the first Consolidations came out around 1866, and were designed for the railroads that formed the Lehigh Valley (hence the name--'Consolidation'.) They were originally used in mountain service on the East Coast, and became very popular nation-wide by the turn of the 20th century. Until the advent of the Mikado and Santa Fe types, the Consolidation was pretty much the standard freight locomotive in America. The Mogul was limited by its wheel arrangement (though some very powerful Moguls were built by the Southern Pacific in the 20th century for use in California's Central Valley, where they were referred to as 'Valley Mallets.') and firebox size, whereas the extra driving wheel set on the Consolidation provided not only more tractive effort, but also allowed for an elongated firebox, hence more steaming power to produce that extra tractive effort. They lasted until the end of steam on many railroads, either as helper locomotives or yard locomotives or branchline power. Some railroads, like the Western Maryland designed very powerful Consolidations that remained in main-line use until the end of steam. Probably more Consolidations were built than any other steam locomotive. Except for Espee's 'Valley Mallets', the Moguls became relegated to mostly branch-line service, especially in the Midwest. I could be wrong, but I don't think too many of them were built after 1900.

[Anonymous]

The Boston & Maine used both 2-6-0 and 2-8-0's in both freight and passenger service up until the mid 1950's. Wonderful engines! D&H had some of the largest 2-8-0's built as well.
Bachmann makes a decent B&M model of one...and it runs excellent.

http://www.bachmannchina.com/products/imgs/ho/11416.jpg

Danbury Museum is currently restoring B&M #1455 a Mogul.
http://www.trainsarefun.com/danbury/images/1455.jpg

http://www.danbury.org/drm/steam.HTM

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: sailor38:
I guess this could've been posted in the coffee shop, but it's too late now.

Actually you posted it in a good place. The Coffee Shop is not a good place to post questions like this. While it has a lot of posts, you have to remember that it's been running almost 9 months. There are really only 20-30 people who drop in there on any regular basis. So when you post something there you are really only exposing the question to a very limited number of people, and the odds of getting an answer are therefore much smaller.

You got a couple of pretty comprehensive answers by twhite and minuteman, neither of whom hang out at The Coffee Shop, so you did better by posting here.


Other good forums (within the Trains.com website) to get answers to prototype questions like this would be:
Model Railroader Prototype Information Forum
Classic Trains Forum
Trains Magazine Forum


You're more than welcome to drop in at The Coffee Shop, but remember that although we do talk trains, it's really designed as an off-topic thread where people can talk about anything.

Regards

Ed

[Paul3]

The Consolidation was a dud on the New Haven. The NH stuck with Moguls until the end of steam in branchline service.

The problem with Consols are that they are really slow, usually. And the NH was a curvey, passenger-type road. Quite frankly, the Consols they had could not get out of the way on the main. The Moguls, while not speed freaks themselves, were faster and easier on track on the NH. They couldn't pull as much, but they were better suited to run. And so the NH stayed away from Consols for the most part, relying on a lot of Moguls to pull the freight until the coming of more modern power (passenger trains were handled by a large fleet of 4-4-0's in this era).

The NH was an early user of rear-trailing truck locos, with Atlantics and Pacifics being used early (the NH eventually had 4 classes of Pacifics). Mikados were also used on the NH, tho' not in great numbers. Really, it was the Mountains that set the standard for freight on the NH, with some Santa Fe's thrown in for good measure.

Paul A. Cutler III
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Weather Or No Go New Haven
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