steamers, which were better? UP's or N&W's? OR ???????

[NW Mailing List]

The engines were primarily designed for the area they were in. For such 
large fireboxes they probably had huge amounts of that coal available 
perhaps very cheaply as it might not be useful anywhere else.

Its like the UP Turbines, they made them because they used a quality of 
oil that was pretty cheap at the time.

For the other engines again they were designed for the place they were 
at. UP needed high stepping articulateds to get across the long streches 
of territory fast, N&W needed heavy duty slow grinding powerful engines 
to get over the rough mountain terrain.
The list goes on and on about specific design for specific uses.

I can't point out if a big boy was better than a Y6b, but if you traded 
them for the other both would fail miserably. UP did buy some N&W Y's 
but eventually scrapped them.

-Lynn-

On 8/11/2015 12:49 PM, nw-mailing-list-request at nwhs.org wrote:
> Subject:
> steamers, which were better? UP's or N&W's? OR ???????
> From:
> NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> Date:
> 8/11/2015 7:21 AM
>
> To:
> nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
>
>
> This topic will ALWAYS come up and there are always facts and figures 
> and tests to often-times prove this one or that one was better at 
> doing this or that. The Big Boy 4000 vs. what at the N&W? N&W J vs. UP 
> FEF-3 800 series. Of course the Allegheny and its Virginian similarity 
> will typically dominate the occasion as will those who really know, 
> the DM&IR Yellowstones. They were all great and especially in their 
> native environment.
>
> But an unheralded one might really be one for which there are sadly no 
> surviving examples: I think it was the GN or NP Yellowstones. Why, you 
> ask -- check out the size of their firebox! It was humongous and for a 
> reason; those babies used lignite for fuel in there and in case you 
> didn't known, the heat qualities of lignite and dirt are not terribly 
> far apart. Okay, there is an exaggeration there but lignite has 
> terrible heat exchange properties, hence the reason for the large 
> firebox. Some have suggested that if you ever put some really good 
> stuff in there from eastern coal mines, it would have given the Big 
> Boy, Allegheny and any other comers a good run for their money. But 
> alas we shall never know, will we?
>
> Ed King, care to chime in on this one? You are quite well-read on this 
> little topic.
>
> Bob Cohen

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