Pennsylvania Live Steamers, Inc
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PENNSYLVANIA LIVE STEAMERS, INC. P.O. BOX 26202, COLLEGEVILLE, PA. 19426-0202 April, May 2005 THE PREZ SEZ The focus of our hobby is past technology, so we are, understandably, always looking back. I want us, this issue, to think about an alternate reality. I was inspired to think this way by an article in the September 2004 issue of “Trains Magazine” entitled ‘Big Boy or Big Mistake?’ This article looks at the decision of the motive power manufacturers to focus on ‘Super Power’ in the fading days of steam in spite of the fact that the resulting products were often ill-suited to the needs of their customers. We all know what we like about steam locomotives; let’s consider what their drawbacks were. For starters, they were hard on trackage. The impossibility of dynamically balancing conventional rod type locomotives meant that impulse loading on rails and structures was large and destructive. There were also the effects of a limited fraction of the weight of the engine on the driving wheels in limiting drawbar force. Variation in driver torque during each power stroke didn’t help. We enjoy double-heading steam locomotives, the railroads did not, due to the necessity of providing a crew for each engine. Maintenance costs were high due to all those moving parts immersed in an atmosphere of water vapor, cinders, ballast fragments, etc. Replacement of any significant part meant shopping the entire engine. Even the largest tenders could not hold enough water to take an engine very far, since steam was exhausted with every power stroke. This required closely spaced service facilities (water towers) that had to be maintained and serviced. Long rigid wheelbases dictated track layouts in crowded areas. This was addressed to some extent by articulated locomotives at the cost of increased complexity. Was there a steam locomotive design that addressed these concerns? Not entirely, but to some extent the geared locomotives (Shay, Heisler, etc.) could put all their weight on the driving wheels and could be better balanced than rod types. Multiple cylinder engines (Shay) smoothed out torque variations. Rigid wheel bases were short and they could negotiate short radius curves and tight switches. They couldn’t be MUed then, but they could now be now, if we wished. They were slow, but this is a matter of chosen gear ratios. They had a lot of moving parts rumbling around in the abrasive, corrosive surroundings, but would be easier to enclose than rod engines. The same type of multi-cylinder engine when used in marine service is run condensing. It would not be impossible to do the same with a Shay engine. Maybe the manufacturers and railroads could have pursued another path that would have made steam locomotives more competitive. Of course, if we are going to enclose all the moving parts and get rid of the stack sounds they wouldn’t be as much fun to watch or listen to. Never mind! Bill Love Page 2 The PLS Gazette-April,May2005 Pennsylvania Live Steamers, Inc. President – William J. Love – 9 Red Cloud Circle – Royersford, PA 19468-5701 email;[email protected] Secretary – George F. Lord- 2988 Pennview Ave. – Bromall, PA 19008-1126 – 610-356-5713 Treasurer – Edward L. Abate – 2411 Anthony Av. – Bromall, PA 19008 – 610-356-4237 email: [email protected] Board of Directors – Pat [email protected], Pete Brown- [email protected] Bruce Saylor – [email protected] , George Cooper, Walt Mensch, , Jim Salmons Gazette Editor – Phil Paskos – 508 Boeing Av. – Reading, PA – 19601-1124 – 610-374-0498 email: [email protected] Clubhouse Phone – 610-454-0477 Club Web Site: http://PALiveSteamers.org Dates to Remember Saturday April 16 Membership Meeting – 12:30 P.M. Sunday April 17 Boiler Inspections Sunday April 24 Run Day – Members & Guests Only Rain Date 5/1 Saturday May 14 Board of Directors Meeting – 12:30 P.M. Saturday May 21 Membership Meeting – 12:30 P.M. Sunday May 22 Run Day – Members & Guests Only – No Rain Date Saturday May 28 Spring Meet Sunday May 29 Spring Meet Saturday June 11 Board of Directors Meeting - 12:30 P.M. Sunday June 12 Steam Only Run Day - Members & Guests Only – No Rain Date Saturday June 18 Membership Meeting – 12:30 P.M. Sunday June 26 Public Run Day – No Rain Date For Sale: Atlas Metal Lathe: 10” swing with 48” bed- Quick Change thread cutting- Power Cross feed - Milling Attachment Contact Rev. Robert Logan -117 Allendale Drive Mountoursville ,Pa. 17754-1201 570-368-3041 Asking $500.00 Donations: The following people have made donations to PLS. Bill Brousseau, James J. Stapleton, Newell F. Godschall, John Lukasavage, Richard S. Werner, Chris Becker, Paul R. Hoffman, C. Scott Hollowway, Francis D. Sheridan, David H. Cushwa, Lee G. Nonnemacher, Joseph Rohanna, Rodger H. Hartranft, John S. Book, Wayne Baldwin, John T. (Jack) Richards, Douglas Jenkins, Barry Shapin, Richard W. Sawyer, Stephen Leatherman, and Anonymous. Special Thank you to all! Spring Meet The Spring Meet is scheduled for Saturday May 28 and Sunday May 29. Setup will begin on Friday May 27. We will be needing Kitchen help for all three days. Baked goods donations are always welcomed. Please note that because of less than acceptable ticket sales, PLS will not be providing a Saturday night dinner, this year. Memberships If you have not renewed your membership, this will be the last Gazette you will receive. If you have, you will find a new membership list enclosed as well as your 2005 membership card. We value your membership, and if you have not renewed, please do so now. Election Results The results of the March 19 Elections is as follows: President; Bill Love, Secretary; George Lord, Treasurer; Ed Abate, Board of Directors: Bruce Saylor, George Cooper, Walt Mensch, and Jim Salmons will join Pat Murphy and Pete Brown. The PLS Gazette –April,May- 2005 Page 3 50000 by Bob Thomas We have become accustomed to commodities that are produced in huge numbers. For example, automobiles are manufactured by the tens of millions every year. Even more staggering, a modern computer microprocessor typically contains five million transistor gates, and don’t even try to imagine that number multiplied by the annual worldwide production of computers! In view of those mind- boggling figures, what was the big deal in 1918 when the Baldwin Locomotive Works celebrated completion of its fifty-thousandth steam locomotive? First, consider the physical enormity of the locomotive, a 2-8-8-2 articulated Mallet – not exactly in the size category of a computer chip or even a Chevrolet. Then there was the state of scientific and manufacturing technology in 1918 compared to the present. Nevertheless, that historic locomotive was representative of the phenomenal development of American industrial proficiency at the beginning of the century. Mathias Baldwin founded his company in 1831 near 8th and Market Streets in Philadelphia, but business improved so rapidly the firm quickly moved to larger facilities at Broad and Hamilton. Expansion continued, and in 1873 the Norris Locomotive Works, located nearby at 17th and Hamilton, was acquired, enabling the company to produce 500 locomotives that year, the largest of them being 2-8- 0 Consolidations. The enlarged company continued to prosper to the extent that in 1906, when BLW was turning out 2000 locomotives a year, the legendary Eddystone Plant was established on 184 acres near Chester, Pa. By the time the subject locomotive was built, the plant had been enlarged to 506 acres, of which 76 acres were under roof! It encompassed twenty-six miles(!) of standard gauge track, supplemented by a narrow gauge railway, linking riverside docks, pattern, foundry, blacksmith, boiler, wheel, drafting and tender shops and two gigantic erecting buildings. Growth of the company was so rapid that as many locomotives were produced in the thirteen years prior to 1918 as had been made in the entire previous seventy-three year history of the business. As an aside, PLS at one time boasted several members who were employees or former employees of Baldwin’s, including the Chief Draftsman (the man actually responsible for final design) during the era when the DRG&W heavy narrow gauge locomotives were manufactured; several of his locomotives are still in revenue service on the Silverton Railroad. Returning to the fifty-thousandth locomotive, it was one of a group of twelve built for the Southern Railway System, their Number 4009. Not surprisingly it incorporated Southern valve gear, characterized by a fixed horizontal curved expansion link and absence of a combination lever and union link, whose lap and lead functions were elegantly generated within the basic gear mechanism. The Southern had extensive coal traffic over a 69-mile route on their Appalachia Division. That route was burdened with grades of up to 3.4 percent over short distances, and successive curves of ten degrees or more. Motive power chosen for that arduous service was an articulated Mallet with compound cylinders of 39” and 25” bore by 30” stroke. Although ordinary compound operation fed exhaust from the H.P. cylinder through a receiver to the 39” L.P. behemoths, a steam-operated “simpling” valve enabled the engineer to temporarily increase tractive effort by directing steam from the boiler to all four cylinders for starting or when the locomotive was on the verge of stalling. Articulating the two engines, each with 56” drivers, reduced the rigid wheelbase to just over fifteen feet, enabling negotiation of sharp curves. Each frame was a vanadium steel casting. The frames were connected by a radius bar attached to the front frame with a horizontal pin, and to the rear frame with a vertical pin supplemented by a case hardened ball joint to compensate for track undulations.