Illustrated Catalogue of Locomotives Part 4

1867, one hundred and twenty-seven "

1868, one hundred and twenty-four "

1869, two hundred and thirty-five "

1870, two hundred and eighty "

1871, three hundred and thirty-one "

In July, 1866, the engine "Consolidation" was built for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, on the plan and specification furnished by Mr.

Alexander Mitch.e.l.l, Master Mechanic of the Mahanoy Division of that railroad. This engine was intended for working the Mahanoy plane, which rises at the rate of one hundred and thirty-three feet per mile.

The "Consolidation" had cylinders twenty by twenty-four, four pairs of drivers connected, forty-eight inches in diameter, and a Bissell pony-truck in front, equalized with the front drivers. The weight of the engine, in working order, was ninety thousand pounds, of which all but about ten thousand pounds was on the drivers. This engine has const.i.tuted the first of a cla.s.s to which it has given its name, and over thirty "Consolidation" engines have since been constructed.

A cla.s.s of engines known as "Moguls," with three pairs of drivers connected and a swing pony-truck in front equalized with the front drivers, took its rise in the practice of this establishment from the "E. A. Douglas," built for the Thomas Iron Company in 1867. These engines are fully ill.u.s.trated in the Catalogue. Several sizes of "Moguls" have been built, but princ.i.p.ally with cylinders sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen inches in diameter, respectively, and twenty-two or twenty-four inches stroke, and with drivers from forty-four to fifty-seven inches in diameter. This plan of engine has rapidly grown in favor for freight service on heavy grades or where maximum loads are to be moved, and has been adopted by several leading lines. Utilizing, as it does, nearly the entire weight of the engine for adhesion, the main and back pairs of drivers being equalized together, as also the front drivers and the pony-wheels, and the construction of the engine with swing-truck and one pair of drivers without f.l.a.n.g.es allowing it to pa.s.s short curves without difficulty, the "Mogul" is generally accepted as a type of engine especially adapted to the economical working of heavy freight traffic.

In 1867, on a number of eight-wheeled four-coupled engines, for the Pennsylvania Railroad, the four-wheeled swing-bolster-truck was first applied, and thereafter nearly all the engines built in the establishment with a two- or four-wheeled truck in front have been so constructed. The two-wheeled or "pony" truck has been built both on the Bissell plan, with double inclined slides, and with the ordinary swing-bolster, and in both cases with the radius-bar pivoting from a point about four feet back from the centre of the truck. The four-wheeled truck has been made with swing-bolster exclusively and without the radius-bar. Of the engines above referred to as the first on which the swing-bolster-truck was applied, four were for express pa.s.senger service, with drivers sixty-seven inches in diameter, and cylinders seventeen by twenty-four. One of them, placed on the road September 9, 1867, was in constant service until May 14, 1871, without ever being off its wheels for repairs, making a total mileage of one hundred and fifty-three thousand two hundred and eighty miles. All of these engines have their driving-wheels spread eight and one-half feet between centres, thus increasing the adhesive weight, and with the use of the swing-truck they have been found to work readily on the shortest curves on the road.

Steel flues were put in three ten-wheeled freight engines, numbers 211, 338, and 368, completed for the Pennsylvania Railroad in August, 1868, and up to the present time have been in constant use without requiring renewal. Flues of the same material have also been used in a number of engines for South American railroads. Experience with tubes of this metal, however, has not yet been sufficiently extended to show whether they give any advantages commensurate with their increased cost over iron.

Steel boilers have been built, to a considerable extent, for the Pennsylvania, Lehigh Valley, Central of New Jersey, and some other railroad companies, since 1868, and with good results thus far. Where this metal is used for boilers, the plates may be somewhat thinner than if of iron, but at the same time, as shown by careful tests, giving a greater tensile strength. The thoroughly h.o.m.ogeneous character of the steel boiler-plate made in this country recommends it strongly for the purpose.

In 1854, four engines for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the "Tiger," "Leopard," "Hornet," and "Wasp," were built with straight boilers and two domes each, and in 1866 this method of construction was revived. Since that date, the practice of the establishment has included both the wagon-top boiler with single dome, and the straight boiler with two domes. When the straight boiler is used, the waist is made about two inches larger in diameter than that of the wagon-top form. About equal s.p.a.ce for water and steam is thus given in either case, and, as the number of flues is the same in both forms, more room for the circulation of water between the flues is afforded in the straight boiler, on account of its larger diameter, than in the wagon-top shape. The preference of many railroad officers for the straight boiler is based on the consideration of the greater strength which this form confessedly gives. The top and side lines being of equal length, the expansion is uniform throughout, and hence there is less liability to leak on the sides, at the junction of the waist and fire-box. The throttle-valve is placed in the forward dome, from which point drier steam can be drawn than from over the crown-sheet, where the most violent ebullitions in a boiler occur. For these reasons, as well as on account of its greater symmetry, the straight boiler with two domes is largely accepted as preferable to the wagon-top form.

Early in 1870, the success of the various narrow-gauge railway enterprises in Europe aroused a lively interest in the subject, and numerous similar lines were projected on this side of the Atlantic.

Several cla.s.ses of engines for working railroads of this character were designed and built, and are ill.u.s.trated in full in Division VII of the Catalogue.

The history of the Baldwin Locomotive Works has thus been traced from its inception to the present time. Over twenty-six hundred locomotives have been built in the establishment since the completion of the "Old Ironsides," in 1832. Its capacity is now equal to the production of over four hundred locomotives annually, and it has attained the rank of the largest locomotive works in the world. It owes this position not only to the character of the work it has turned out, but largely also to the peculiar facilities for manufacture which it possesses.

Situated close to the great iron and coal region of the country, the princ.i.p.al materials required for its work are readily available. It numbers among its managers and workmen men who have had the training of a lifetime in the various specialties of locomotive-manufacture, and whose experience has embraced the successive stages of American locomotive progress. Its location, in the largest manufacturing city of the country, is an advantage of no ordinary importance. In 1870, Philadelphia, with a total population of nearly seven hundred thousand souls, gave employment in its manufactures to over one hundred and twenty thousand persons. In other words, more than one-sixth of its population is concerned in production. The extent of territory covered by the city, embracing one hundred and twenty-seven square miles, with unsurpa.s.sed facilities for ready intercommunication by street railways, renders possible separate comfortable homes for the working population, and thus tends to elevate their condition and increase their efficiency. Such and so vast a cla.s.s of skilled mechanics is therefore available from which to recruit the forces of the establishment when necessary. Under their command are special tools, which have been created from time to time with reference to every detail of locomotive-manufacture; and an organized system of production, perfected by long years of experience, governs the operation of all.

With such a record for the past, and such facilities at its command for the future, the Baldwin Locomotive Works submits the following Catalogue of the princ.i.p.al cla.s.ses of locomotives embraced in its present practice.

CIRCULAR.

In the following pages we present and ill.u.s.trate a system of STANDARD LOCOMOTIVES, in which, it is believed, will be found designs suited to all the requirements of ordinary service.

These patterns admit of modifications, to suit the preferences of railroad managers, and where machines of peculiar construction for special service are required, we are prepared to make and submit designs, or to build to specifications furnished.

All the locomotives of the system herewith presented are adapted to the consumption of wood, c.o.ke, or bituminous or anthracite coal as fuel.

All work is accurately fitted to gauges, which are made from a system of standards kept exclusively for the purpose. Like parts will, therefore, fit accurately in all locomotives of the same cla.s.s.

This system of manufacture, together with the large number of locomotives at all times in progress, and embracing the princ.i.p.al cla.s.ses, insures unusual and especial facilities for filling at once, or with the least possible delay, orders for duplicate parts.

Full specifications of locomotives will be furnished on application.

M. BAIRD & CO.

EXPLANATION OF TERMS.

The several cla.s.ses of locomotives manufactured by the Baldwin Locomotive Works have their respective distinguishing names, which are derived and applied as follows:

All locomotives having one pair of driving-wheels are designated as B engines.

Those having two pairs of drivers, as C engines.

Those having three pairs of drivers, as D engines.

Those having four pairs of drivers, as E engines.

One or more figures united with one of these letters, B, C, D, or E, and preceding it, indicates the dimensions of cylinders, boiler, and other parts, and also the general plan of the locomotive: thus, 27-1/2 C designates the cla.s.s of eight-wheeled locomotives (ill.u.s.trated on pages 56 and 60) with two pairs of drivers and a four-wheeled truck, and with cylinders sixteen inches in diameter and twenty-two or twenty-four inches stroke. 34 E designates another cla.s.s (ill.u.s.trated on page 80), with four pairs of drivers and a pony truck, and with cylinders twenty inches in diameter and twenty-four inches stroke.

In like manner all the other cla.s.ses are designated by a combination of certain letters and figures.

All corresponding important parts of locomotives of the same cla.s.s are made interchangeable and exact duplicates.

The following table gives a summary of the princ.i.p.al cla.s.ses of locomotives of our manufacture:

PREFATORY.

The dimensions given in the following Catalogue are for locomotives of four feet eight and a half inches gauge, unless otherwise stated.

The _loads_ given under each cla.s.s are invariably in gross tons of twenty-two hundred and forty pounds, and include both cars and lading.

All the locomotives described in this Catalogue are sold with the guarantee that they will haul, on a straight track in good condition, the loads stated. Their actual performance under favorable circ.u.mstances may be relied upon largely to exceed the figures given in the guarantee.

The feed-water for all locomotives specified is supplied by two pumps, or one pump and one injector. One or more injectors can also be supplied in addition to the two pumps, if desired.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Locomotive.]

DIVISION I.

ROAD LOCOMOTIVES FOR Pa.s.sENGER OR FREIGHT SERVICE.

CLa.s.s 15 C.

General Design Ill.u.s.trated by Print on Page 52.

CYLINDERS.