Why did Virginian called their 2-6-6-6 Blue Ridge instead of Allegheny like the C&O. What's the reason.
Corporate competition plain and simple as far as I know. Virginian wouldn't use the name given by their competitor same as NYC used Mohawk and Niagara instead of Mountain and Northern.
Same me, different spelling!
My guess is that the name 'Blue Ridge' had more significance to the Virginian than 'Allegheny'. Just like you wouldn't expect the NYC (The Water Level Route) to refer to their 4-8-2's as 'Mountains'.
Simple. Those who pay the bill get the naming rights.
The Virginian 2-6-6-6 also got to visit a certain blue 0-6-0...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t_zsnNs-VYI
Here is a two minute short showing a few 2-6-6-6 locomotives under steam.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WVNHywKHOOk&pp=ygURdmlyZ2luaWFuIDItNi02LTY%3D
Here is 26 minutes of Virginian Vignettes taken by August Theime from 1949 until the N&W purchase of The Virginian.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G3ix6fUNaL4&pp=ygUadmlyZ2luaWFuIHJhaWx3YXkgY2xhc3MgYWc%3D
Here is 1.5 minutes of 900s at speed.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kx7iUU8-pZA&pp=ygUbdmlyZ2luaWFuIHN0ZWFtIGxvY29tb3RpdmVz
kgbw49Here is a two minute short showing a few 2-6-6-6 locomotives under steam. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WVNHywKHOOk&pp=ygURdmlyZ2luaWFuIDItNi02LTY%3D
Noticed a couple of cameo shots of the 1309's breathern in the form of the 1303.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
From personal experience at the B&O Museum I can tell you you can't really appreciate the size of an Allegheny ( or Blue Ridge) until you see one up-close. It's breathtaking!
Flintlock76 From personal experience at the B&O Museum I can tell you you can't really appreciate the size of an Allegheny ( or Blue Ridge) until you see one up-close. It's breathtaking!
Backshop Flintlock76 From personal experience at the B&O Museum I can tell you you can't really appreciate the size of an Allegheny ( or Blue Ridge) until you see one up-close. It's breathtaking! Agreed! The first time that I saw #1601 at the Henry Ford Museum, I was awestruck.
Agreed! The first time that I saw #1601 at the Henry Ford Museum, I was awestruck.
What's really interesting at the Henry Ford Museum is after seeing both VGN 1601 and the AGEIR boxcab was realizing that the diesel is OLDER than the steam locomotive.
Interesting that the narrator says C&O didn't realize these were high speed freight engines until they moved them to Ohio.
Most people could tell that by looking at the builder's photos.
Ed
7j43k Interesting that the narrator says C&O didn't realize these were high speed freight engines until they moved them to Ohio. Most people could tell that by looking at the builder's photos. Ed
Not really unusual. It's been said the Union Pacific didn't realize just how good their FEF (4-8-4) class of locomotives really were until they were downgraded to freight service when the passenger diesels showed up. Those FEF's were capable of handling anything the UP threw at them.
I wonder if the guys at Lima realized the 2-6-6-6's were high speed freight engines.
And if they did, why they didn't inform C&O, rather than waiting for them to eventually figure it out.
I thought Hirsimaki made it abundantly clear that high horsepower at speed was a principal element of the design. A major reason it was so 'overweight' was the complex steam-tract arrangement that gave free admission and exhaust at high cyclic. The target design was the N&W A class, and reportedly there was great glee when the first test results showing greater horsepower at speed came in.
No one familiar with steam technology would understand the design as anything but a fast-freight engine, and although 'sight unseen' about C&O's contemporary department of motive power, it is difficult to the point of disbelief to think that the people who would order the M-1s and the F-19 conversions into poppet-valve Hudsons would not recognize the Lima design as high-speed power even if there had been no AMC design history.
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