Arrow - Detour Routes

[NW Mailing List]

Thanks for the reply, Harry.  Given that the C&O, N&W and Virginian were all similar very similar in the type of heavy traffic and locomotives they used, I suspect bridges weren’t the limiting factor.   Since the Virginian ran fatter locomotives than the N&W (the AE’s) and Ys could detour anywhere on their line, I figured width must have been the limiting factor - the C&O must have been a bit too tight?  

Matt Goodman
Columbus, Ohio

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On Aug 15, 2022, at 12:05 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:



Matt Goodman
Columbus, Ohio

I don't know that this is the reason that C&O couldn't accept Class Y locomotives, but railroads complied with Cooper Ratings.  This was a measure of the maximum weight a bridge could handle, which among other things, was based on the spacing of piling.  EXAMPLE:  The loading piers for PRR's Cape Charles-Little Creek ferry could accept one car weighing 263,000 lbs., but not two coupled together. Cooper Ratings on N&W's Abingdon Branch (50-some timber trestles) limited gross weight of a car to 220,000 lbs.   As I recall, for locomotives, the rating was based on a 2-8-2, but I'm not familiar driver spacing OR diameter.                                                                                                                                                                      Harry Bundy 

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