Which is better known - Big Boys or Alleghenies?

[Anonymous]

Why is it that, in all the books I read and the pictures I see, the Big Boys get a lot more coverage than the Alleghenies?
According to the statistics I have found, the 2-6-6-6' s were more powerful than the 4-8-8-4's: 7500 horsepower compared to 7000.
And, according to the statistics I have found, there were 68 2-6-6-6's built, and only 25 4-8-8-4's.
People don't ignore Lima when they talk about Southern Pacific's Daylights. Howcome Lima gets the short end when people talk about the big articulateds?

[Overmod]

It's the charm factor.

The Alleghenies came along late, and were not notably successful in how they performed (although admittedly C&O misused them in service). That's aside from their being much (perhaps MUCH) heavier than ordered, which restricted where they could run.

Meanwhile, UP ran their big articulateds up until late in the age of steam. Then preserved lots of them (vs. only one Allegheny). This all helps create the image of a 'famous' locomotive. Everyone remembers Big Boy, just like most everyone thinks J when they hear "Hudson".

Also meanwhile, there wasn't much practical use for six-coupled articulateds with high-speed boilers. UP, for example, covered this quite nicely with Challengers, and N&W with the class A 2-6-6-4. There was simply no time for Lima to get sufficient numbers of six-wheel-trailer locomotives out the door before the diesels took over -- they never got to build Townsend's 4-8-6 prototype, a far more useful high-speed locomotive than any simple articulated would likely be. Would have been interesting to see "super-power II" brought to full development (although I strongly suspect diesels would still have prevailed over it within a decade or two).

[Anonymous]

Big Boys were only rated at 6000 hp at 38 mph, not the 7000 hp you stated.

2 Alleghenies are preserved--One at the B&O Museum and the other at Henry Ford Museum.

[Anonymous]

My Husband just bought a K-Line O scale Allagheny at a local train show. Initially he wanted a Challenger or Big Boy, but the price was easier on the wallet for the Allagheny.

I was raised on trains as a little girl, but had never heard of the Allagheny until just recently. Big Boy and Challenger seem to be better known.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Better known??? Has to be the Big Boy!!! Check out the September issue of Trains Magazine. I didn't see an Allegheny on the cover, it was buried inside.[swg]