[AT] OT - How a steam locomotive gets built in 1935

Steve W. swilliams268 at frontier.com
Sun Nov 18 17:31:08 PST 2012


Larry Goss wrote:
> Just our of curiosity, folks, does anyone know of an American-made
> locomotive that had four cylinders like the one that was featured in
> that video?  There were two crank throws inboard of the front wheels,
> and two out-board of them.  All the American designs had the
> connecting rod go to the second pair of wheels so all the cylinders
> had to be out-board of the wheels -- except for the Shay's.  Is that
> right?  This only came up today because I'm bringing all the G-gauge
> rolling stock out of storage before the grandkids get here for
> Thanksgiving, and I got curious.
> 
> Larry _______________________________________________ AT mailing list
>  http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
> 

That European engine used a 4 cylinder compound system. The inboard 
cylinders were high pressure while the outers were low pressure.

Many of the US companies built similar engines, Baldwin and Alco being 
two of the big outfits. They used 3/4/6 cylinders and
mounted them in various ways.
The next option was the design Anatole Mallet where the HP cylinders 
were mounted to the rear of the frames and the LP were
outboard and up front. This became the "common" locomotives that most 
people picture. The outboard links were common because it meant you 
didn't need to make expensive drive axles.



-- 
Steve W.



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