Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 166, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1917 — ENGINE IS UNIQUE [ARTICLE]

ENGINE IS UNIQUE

Drivers Under Tender as Well as Under Cab and Boiler. HAS SIXTEEN DRIVING WHEELS First Machines of This Type, Used on Steep Grades in North Carolina, Made by Using Discarded Locomotives. The latest thing in locomotives has drivers under the tender as well as under the cab and boiler. This disposition makes it possible to equip a single engine with no less than 16 driving wheels. The set of eight, under the tender, has its own pair of' cyllnders. In fact, the first machines of this type, used on the steep grades of the Southern railroad In North Carolina, were made by mounting tendertanks on the machinery of discarded locomotives. Says a writer in Railway and Locomotive Engineering: Relieved Congestion. “Between Asheville, N. C., and Hayne, S. C., there lies a stretch of trrfck 69 miles long on the Southern railroad, of which Mr. J. Hainen is general superintendent of motive power and equipment. . . . This sin-gle-track line had been much congested until Mr. Hainen worked out a design of engine which has a much greater tractive power than the type of engine formerly employed. The plan is briefly the mounting of tender-tanks upon the machinery of discarded locomotives. There is a 4 per cent grade three miles long on this division, and the new engines built by the Southern have to encounter this grade as part of the day’s work. Used Scrapped Engines. “The first of the new type of duplex engines was put upon the road about a year ago, and it proved to be so satisfactory that seven such locomotives have been turned out of the company’s shops at Spencer, N. C. The number of trains has. been reduced, though the total tonnage is considerably greater, and the speed of the train’s run has been increased. To effect this satisfactory result It was not necessary to buy new cylinders, wheels or runninggear. The parts used were taken from scrapped Mogul and Consolidation engines, so that the expense Involved was reduced to its lowest terms. “The scrapped engines furnished the frames, cylinders, wheels, axles, side-rods and valve-motion complete. By the use of specially designed carriers, the tanks of -Mikado tenders were mounted where the boiler of the engines had formerly been. With 7,500 gallons of water and 12 tons of coal the auxiliary engine carries a weight of 176,000 pounds as a maximum, the mlnimupi being about 100,000 pounds.” This duplex engine has a drawing power of 64,000 pounds, as against 46,000 for the single engine formerly ftfed. Steam is carried to the cylinders under the tender by flexible piping. The main or forward engine runs on superheated steam and the rear on either saturated or superheated steam. ~ -