Something for Pennsy fans, a French locomotive

[bl4882]

You learn something every day. I had no idea that the Pennsylvania RR had an imported French locomotive of Atlantic wheel arrangement. There's a good picture of it on the Classic Trains Web site here http://ctr.trains.com/en/Online Extras/Photo of the Day.aspx

Bernie

 

[kws4000]

You learn something every day. I had no idea that the Pennsylvania RR had an imported French locomotive of Atlantic wheel arrangement. There's a good picture of it on the Classic Trains Web site here http://ctr.trains.com/en/Online Extras/Photo of the Day.aspx

Bernie

Hey thanks! I knew about this loco for a while, but never could find a picture of it or even knew the road num.

 

[deadpoolmx55]

LOL "too light for for its assigned duties" that made me laugh

 

[Enzo1]

LOL "too light for for its assigned duties" that made me laugh

Why?
If I am not mistaken, this means that A: It didnt have enough braking power for what it was assigned to do, and B: It was not powerful enough in terms of Tractive effort...

 

[deadpoolmx55]

because i thought it was funny. that is why

 

[wilh]

Here's what a mid 50's Trains Magazine article had to say about this loco:
"In 1904, the Pennsylvania came down with the prevalent compound fever and ordered a de Glehn System Atlantic form the Societe Alascienne de Constructions Mecaniques, Belfort, France. Similar to Paris & Orleans 4-4-2's, No. 2512 was assembled in Altoona and fitted with a pilot and tender water scoop. Displayed on the Louisiana Purchase Exposition test plant in St. Louis, the experiment also ran road trials. Ultimately she proved too light, was scrapped in 1912."

 

[wva-usa]

Locomotive #2512 (the "De Glehn" locomotive) was the first Pennsylvania RR locomotive equipped with Walschaerts valve gear, which would in later years become "standard equipment" on a good many PRR steam locomotives.

The locomotive and most other European locomotive of that era were indeed "too light" to haul passenger trains of the length then commonly in service in the U.S. The PRR was very aware of the locomotive's potential limitations but felt that "the value of the lessons to be learned from it fully justify the expense of the experiment".

The June 1904 edition of Railway and Locomotive Engineer featured an article about the Pennsy's De Glehn locomotive (that include a photo) that can be read at Google Books.

 

[bl4882]

Thanks everyone for the contributions.

@wva-usa: Interesting article in that it states that few modifications were made other than the ADDITIONS of whistle, bell, etc. Are we to understand that French locomotives didn't have those? That seems strange.

Bernie

 

[wva-usa]

Thanks everyone for the contributions.

@wva-usa: Interesting article in that it states that few modifications were made other than the ADDITIONS of whistle, bell, etc. Are we to understand that French locomotives didn't have those? That seems strange.

Bernie

Some say that bells weren't very common on European steam locomotives. How accurate that is, is the question. Someone more familiar with the locomotives of France could answer the question better than I could. I never really studied the steam locomotives of other continents in great detail. Not that there's anything wrong with them, or that I hate about them. Its just that the American locomotives were always my main area of interest.

If the loco came equipped with a whistle, I would guess that the Pennsy substituted an American whistle for the original whistle to give it an American sound. The European locomotives whistles sounded very different from the tone of their American counterparts. But for that matter, the sound of the European locos' chuffs were usually very different as well.

Here's something I thought I'd mention in this thread...

In 1934, the B&O rebuilt one of their 4-4-2 locos into a 4-4-4 which the road named "Lady Baltimore". The loco had a sort of "foreign" look to it, as did the "Lord Baltimore" (pic below) that the B&O built during the same era. Neither loco proved to be very successful. There's an article online about these two locos at: http://www.railarchive.net/gmogallery/photo510.htm

 

[Euphod]

Groundskeeper Willie would no doubt remark that the French people are "cheese-eating surrender monkeys". That's despicable.

 

[wva-usa]

Groundskeeper Willie would no doubt remark that the French people are "cheese-eating surrender monkeys". That's despicable.

Some experts have claimed that the French steam locomotives were the best designed in the world. A Trains magazine article published in 1966, The Case for the French Steam Locomotive, addressed that contention. You can read the article online via the CSRail.org site.

 

[bl4882]

Thanks wva-usa for your contribution to this thread. I'm going to follow your link shortly, but just wanted to say that USA pix of Columbia wheel arrangement locos are rare. Can you tell us where it came from?

Bernie

 

[wva-usa]

Thanks wva-usa for your contribution to this thread. I'm going to follow your link shortly, but just wanted to say that USA pix of Columbia wheel arrangement locos are rare. Can you tell us where it came from?

Bernie

The 4-4-4 photo is from the YesteryearDepot site -- http://www.yesteryeardepot.com/baltohi.htm I found it by searching for "b&o 4-4-4 lady baltimore" at Google images. I believe the lone 4-4-4 was classified as Class J-1 on the B&O. The YesterdayDepot page calls the loco "Abraham Lincoln" but I don't think that name was ever actually used for the B&O 4-4-4.

One interesting thing about that photo: That is an air horn mounted next to the loco's smokestack. There's another photo (which loads really slow) of the B&O 4-4-4 here -- http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo1cs.jpg -- that shows the same loco but I don't see the horn. At least not in the same location. It may have been mounted out of sight though, somewhere on the other side of the loco. But you can see a whistle that's mounted near the loco's sandbox.

Use of air horns on steam locomotives during the late steam era wasn't all that uncommon. The Pennsylvania RR used both a horn and a whistle on some of their late steam locos, such as the T-1 4-4-4-4 locos.