Articulateds vs. double-heading, case of the Sante Fe

[daveklepper]

How many and how long did they last?

[wabash2800]

But the Santa Fe purchased some second-hand N&W Y-3's during WWII for Raton Pass didn't it? I suppose it was because they were available at the right price, not because there was other non articulated power out there?

Victor A. Baird

www.erstwhilepublications.com

[Firelock76]

BaltACD

Chief operating people of the period all had their own prejudices of what was best and would not let any facts stand in the way of their opinions.

 

Just like today brother, and not just in railroading, trust me.

[BaltACD]

Chief operating people of the period all had their own prejudices of what was best and would not let any facts stand in the way of their opinions.

[Firelock76]

Dave asked the same question on the "Trains" Forum and I did my best to asnwer it there, but in a nutshell the Santa Fe's experience with their first articulateds left such a bad taste in the company's mouth they walked away and never looked back. 

They didn't like the additional maintanance involved with articulateds either.

[timz]

rcdrye

[SFe] Helper districts were also relatively short compared to other western carriers.

They weren't, of course-- but what if they were? Why would that make articulateds unsensible?

It's a waste of time for us fans to try to guess why one RR chose this kind of engine and another RR chose that kind. Their decisions were based on cost of operation, and we have no idea what those costs were.

[rcdrye]

Except for Raton Pass, Santa Fe had moderate grades on its main lines.  The early Mallets were not particularly successful (even the straight boiler versions) due to limited steaming capacity and lack of superheaters.  By the time better articulated design came along Santa Fe was reasonably satisfied with its well-designed non-articulated power.  Helper districts were also relatively short compared to other western carriers.

[daveklepper]

Not yet haing an answer with someone with direct experience with AT&SF steam operations, your answer seems appropriate.

[ndbprr]

Not an ATSF guy but I will take a stab. If like the PRR they found that repairs tied up the equivalent of two engines and was not worth the effort. What year does the picture represent? World war two resulted in huge traffic demands for the railroads taxing facilities and rolling stock

[daveklepper]

I am inspired by the truly great Rose painting "Walking across Texas."  But why two beautiful Ripley 4-8-4's?

Granted the early AT&SF experiments with huge Mallets with bending (jointed) boilers weren't successful, but could they not benefit from approximating their neighbors' Challengers, Yellowstones, and Articulated Consolidations?  Why was their Texas-type their largest modern freight power?

Or was the kind of scene dipicted in the picture a rare phenomenon?