steam engine typs

[rambo1]

Good moring to all I just whant to know why steamers have names like atlantic pacific birksire and decapod? thanks rambo1.........

 

 

[tstage]

Rambo,

Not sure about the others but the decapod is an easy one: deca means "10", pod means "foot" (as in podiatrist).  Therefore, a decapod locomotive is "10-footed" or has 10 drive wheels.

Tom

[howmus]

The Whyte System is a naming system using the wheel arrangements as the name of the loco.  ie: 2-8-2, 2-6-0, etc.  The Whyte System is the "official" name used.  The other names such as Atlantic, Pacific, Mogul, Mountain, etc. are popular names that the engines acquired through use or were designated by the roads using them.  Therefore there are different common names for the same engine.  For instance the 4-8-2 is known as a mountain on most roads but was called a Mohawk on the NYC and a New Haven on the New Haven.......  The first locomotives each had their own name such as the John Bull.

You can find information on the Whyte System and common names here: http://www.steamlocomotive.com/misc/wheels.shtml

[Paul3]

Not exactly, howmus.  The "Whyte" system has official names associated with it.  At the turn of the last century, there were only a few loco types...most were known by the number of total wheels ("8 wheeler", "10 wheeler", etc.).  When new types arrived, someone, somewhere, coined a name by referring to the new type of engine by the RR that bought them, the area they ran through, etc.  So a 2-8-0 became a "Consolidated" (named after the RR that bought them, IIRC...a "consolidated" RR).  A 2-6-0 became a "Mogul" named after some RR's robber baron president.  A 2-8-2 became a "Mikado" because they were first orded by Japan.  Etc.

There was no real rhyme nor reason...some names simply stuck and that was that.

However, in the 1930's, RR noticed the publicity of new loco type names, and started trying to force their own names on existing loco types.  The New Haven tried this with their 1937 4-6-4's by calling them "Shore Line" Type.  It didn't stick, and even the NH publically started calling them "Hudsons" after only a couple years.

BTW, the NH also tried to call their 4-8-2's "Mayflower" types, not "New Haven" types.  It, too, was not a success.  The locos were ok, but the name just didn't wash.

Finally, just about all locos in the 1800's were "named".  Only with the coming of late 1800's financial crises and negative public opinion did RR's stop lavishing attention on their locos...and simply painted everything black with a simple number.

Paul A. Cutler III
*************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
*************

[howmus]

Hi Paul,

You are absolutely right in your post.  I knew all that stuff, but couldn't bring it to the front of my old mind when I wrote the post.  I was also trying to "simplify" the whole thing.  Your answer is right on the money.

edit:  Actually, I decided to look up the Whyte System again and have found this from Answers.com.

"The Whyte notation for classifying steam locomotives by wheel arrangement was devised by Frederick Methvan Whyte and came into use in the early 20th century. Whyte's system counts the number of leading wheels, then the number of driving wheels, and finally the number of trailing wheels, this being the common pattern of the conventional steam locomotive."

From several other sources I verified that the names of the locomotives were indeed Popular Names that were given by various sources.  They are usually listed along with the Whyte System classification.  It is most usually described like this from http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/belgian/smashsys.htm

"The table below gives only the most important Whyte arrangents, with the names that have become associated with them."

or this from http://www.nashvillentrak.org/Whyte.html

"The new system is called the WHYTE System, named after Frederick Methvan Whyte a Dutch New York Central mechanical engineer who designed it. This system identifies the locomotive by the arrangement of its wheels, later most but not all wheel arrangements were named, usually by the ones who first devised or bought that particular type".

So I guess I wasn't too far off with my original post...