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Quoth GP40-2: "The old N&W made most of its money by hualing coal down hill from the coal fields to the tide water. You could make a tidy profit from this type of operation using just about any type of locomotive." <br /> <br />Beg to differ, forty. N&W had three mountains to deal with on the main line: Elkhorn, which was a maximum of 2% before 1950, 1.4 after that; Alleghany, which was 9 miles of 1%, and Blue Ridge, which was 1.2%. There were others on major coal-producing branches. Making money hauling coal downhill was a myth, propagated by people who either didn't know what they were talking about or had their own reasons to belittle the N&W's accomplishments. What are your reasons? <br /> <br />At the end of steam, N&W's mines were producing about 5000 cars of coal per day, 5 days per week. A little more than half of that went east, over those three mountains; the rest went west, over a couple of hills between the coal fields and connections at Columbus. How would you deal with that? <br /> <br />King has never said that a Y-6 as configured would be the answer to everybody's questions. But he did say that a compound with, say, 63" drivers, and all the improvements incorporated in the Y-6, might be. And don't forget - the Y-6's boiler was about the same size as a UP 800s; and it weighed 80 tons less than Big Boy. <br /> <br />But nobody except the N&W ever tried. You flatly say that the compounds would be too slow getting back down the mountains, but you're talking about UP and B&O 2-8-8-0s and others that the steam gurus gave up on. You refuse to consider that a higher drivered compound with a low-restriction Low Pressure exhaust system could have done the job, and that if it could, it would have used a lot less fuel and water in so doing. <br /> <br />The Y-6 was designed for N&W. N&W had curvature to cope with, as well as grades. <br /> <br />Do you think Big Boy could have done the job on the N&W? First of all, he'd need an extra joint to get him around N&W's curves. <br /> <br />You talk about the Western engines having to make those long runs, and run fast between the mountains. How long did they run between servicing stops? Did they run farther than the 150 miles from Roanoke to Bristol? How fast did they run between the mountains? Fast enough for the Big Boy to really NEED to be good for 80MPH? <br /> <br />Oh, and if you really believe that N&W made money hauling coal down hill, read King's story about getting them up the hill in April 2004 TRAINS. If you're still not convinced, give me about a week's notice and I'll meet you in Williamson, W. Va. and take you on a little tour. <br /> <br />Old Timer
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