WM183
Western Thunderer
Hello all.
A different project has reared its head, and I think it will be a fun one. Once upon a time in western Pennsylvania and southwestern New York there was a cash-strapped mountain railroad named the Pittsburg (sic) Shawmut and Northern, also known as the PS&N or the Shawmut. This railway ran through the rugged country of the Appalachian mountains, connecting coal mines in Pennsylvania with markets in New York, but managed to avoid anything that could remotely be considered a large town. However, they did run very unique equipment; very distinct wooden hopper cars long after most roads switched to steel cars, and a eclectic collection of locomotives that finally gave way to a sort-of standardized stable of 2-8-0s, with which the road ran until its eventual closure in 1947.
While I wait for some bits and pieces for the PRR engine I mentioned above (And the PRR and the Erie - two larger roads I love - did interchange with the Shawmut, so related!) I would like to try the challenge of one of PS&N's engines. However, thus far I have been utterly unable to find more than very basic information about these engines, known as the H3 and H4 class 2-8-0s, and their distinct Vanderbilt tenders. I own what I believe are the only two books ever published on the Shawmut with anything that could remotely be considered "Technical" information and they have some very very basic dimensional information. The site Steamlocomotive.com has some helpful data, and has helped fill in some blanks.
These were very big-boilered, small-wheeled engines, designed for a mountaingoing railroad with less than perfect trackwork. The drivers are a mere 51 inches in diameter, with a fat boiler measuring 79 inches at the first ring and a smokebox 80 inches in diameter, and a rather long tube length of 14'9"; they look like massive engines with tiny, short-wheelbase undergubbins... and I love them. For those interested, the fixed wheelbase is 14'6", and the spacing between the wheels is 4'8", 4'10", and 5' with the leading wheel 9' 6" ahead of the lead driver.
A few details I have yet to conclude are the height of the boiler centerline above the rail and the length of the smokebox. I do have a GA drawing for the Shawmut's massive "Curve Straightener" 2-10-2, but how useful that is is anyone's guess. The frames are very standard bar frames for the time, so I expect the only challenge with these to be actually figuring out the overall length, and the tender is very likely identical to that used by the B&O behind armies of their engines, a rather standard Baldwin product.
A different project has reared its head, and I think it will be a fun one. Once upon a time in western Pennsylvania and southwestern New York there was a cash-strapped mountain railroad named the Pittsburg (sic) Shawmut and Northern, also known as the PS&N or the Shawmut. This railway ran through the rugged country of the Appalachian mountains, connecting coal mines in Pennsylvania with markets in New York, but managed to avoid anything that could remotely be considered a large town. However, they did run very unique equipment; very distinct wooden hopper cars long after most roads switched to steel cars, and a eclectic collection of locomotives that finally gave way to a sort-of standardized stable of 2-8-0s, with which the road ran until its eventual closure in 1947.
While I wait for some bits and pieces for the PRR engine I mentioned above (And the PRR and the Erie - two larger roads I love - did interchange with the Shawmut, so related!) I would like to try the challenge of one of PS&N's engines. However, thus far I have been utterly unable to find more than very basic information about these engines, known as the H3 and H4 class 2-8-0s, and their distinct Vanderbilt tenders. I own what I believe are the only two books ever published on the Shawmut with anything that could remotely be considered "Technical" information and they have some very very basic dimensional information. The site Steamlocomotive.com has some helpful data, and has helped fill in some blanks.
These were very big-boilered, small-wheeled engines, designed for a mountaingoing railroad with less than perfect trackwork. The drivers are a mere 51 inches in diameter, with a fat boiler measuring 79 inches at the first ring and a smokebox 80 inches in diameter, and a rather long tube length of 14'9"; they look like massive engines with tiny, short-wheelbase undergubbins... and I love them. For those interested, the fixed wheelbase is 14'6", and the spacing between the wheels is 4'8", 4'10", and 5' with the leading wheel 9' 6" ahead of the lead driver.
A few details I have yet to conclude are the height of the boiler centerline above the rail and the length of the smokebox. I do have a GA drawing for the Shawmut's massive "Curve Straightener" 2-10-2, but how useful that is is anyone's guess. The frames are very standard bar frames for the time, so I expect the only challenge with these to be actually figuring out the overall length, and the tender is very likely identical to that used by the B&O behind armies of their engines, a rather standard Baldwin product.
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