Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES. 207 SUNDAY MOBNING AT AN AMERICAN RAILWAY WORKS. AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES. It is rather difficult to understand fully why American locomotive practice should be so different from that of any other country, apart from the question of size, which is mainly a matter of dimensional limitations. We can appreciate that where a locomotive can be made a foot or two wider and about three feet higher than is possible here with- out exceeding the loading gauge — on the Continent the permissible dimensions are but little larger than those of this country—and where engines have to deal with trains some- times twice as heavy as we have to handle, there is good reason for the construction of monster locomotives beside which our own and Continental engines appear somewhat small. This does not, however, explain altogether why methods of construction and details of design should also present radical differences. Why should we adhere to the deep plate type of frame, and in America the bar frame be universal and the plate-framed locomotive be regarded as a curiosity ? It is one of those distinctions which can bo accounted for only by the fact that development has proceeded on different lines, in order to meet different requirements and circumstances. Of late years, however, American, British, and Continental practices have been coming closer together, because certain special features introduced long ago in America are now needed on this side also of the Atlantic. But our tunnels and bridges are constructed, and they limit the size of our locomotives, so we shall never use here any to rival in point of size some of the mammoths which are illustrated on the following pages. The greatest credit is due to American designers for their success in solving the many problems of transport which they have had to face. We show our wisdom in following where we get a good lead, and in adopting features which have proved to be advan- tageous. If in the past we have been some- what too conservative, it can at least be claimed for British (and European) locomotives that they have an unbeaten record for dura- bility and reliability, the result of first-class workmanship. We are perhaps too reluctant to scrap old stock ; the American does not hesitate to replace a good engine by one that is better. Until quite lately nearly all American loco- motives used the ordinary link-motion valve gear. Now that the size of engines has been greatly increased, and with it the weight of valve gear and the importance of economising space between the frames, a leaf has been taken out of the Continental book, and the Walschaert outside gear is being introduced extensively. After these preliminary remarks we will proceed to represent a few examples of Amer- ican—in which Canadian may be included— practice, omitting for the present “ articu- lated ” locomotives, to which type belong the largest engines yet constructed.