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Testifieth Big Jim: "Another way N&W folks spoke of engines between themselves was by the "Hunerd" system! The A's were 12 Hunerds, the J's were 6 Hunerds, the Y's were 20 or 21 Hunerds, the SD45's were 17 or 18 Hunerds and so on and so forth ." Actually, if you got an ol' South Side Virginian with a head full of snot, it sounded more like "honnids". Dave Ingles of trains had a discussion some years ago about how C&O guys pronounced the name of their 2700-series 2-8-4 Kanawhas. Several folks weighed in with their versions (Kan-aw, Kan-aw-ah, Kan-aw-y, etc.), but the one that ended the discussion was the guy who said what they really called them was "twenny-seven-hunnerds" (no South Side Virginians there). Murph sayeth: "I figured C&O would have had at least some similar topography that would have produced similar steam designs." C&O bought engines not designed to fulfill the same requirements as N&W. According to Hrsimaki's history of Lima Locomotive Works and Dr. E. L. Huddleston's various writings, the famous 2-6-6-6 was actually designed to make a name for its designers, the vaunted Advisory Mechanical Committee - they wanted the reputation for designing the most "horsepowerful" steam locomotive ever. They did it. But considerations of profitability for the C&O didn't seem to enter into the picture, and C&O's management evidently didn't know the difference. This was the big difference; N&W's top managements (Presidents, etc.) up until 1957 were all guys who had had experience in the operating and other departments. C&O's top managers were lawyers, and not even located on line (Cleveland). They'd buy anything the AMC told them was good. They scored well with the 2-10-4s of 1930 and their 4-8-4s, but the World's Heaviest Hudsons looked a little out of place on a coal road, and the 2-6-6-6s were very expensive and very heavy and were out of place on Allegheny Mountain, which is where they were first used. Old Timer
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