N&W was one of the last of the great US roads to dieselize, although UP would run steam longer after dieselization (UP tried just about everything possible as motive power in the 1950's, but was primarily diesel early on).
The J's weren't freight locomotive's, they were fast passenger locomotives (The large drivers are typical for passenger units, most freight locomotives had smaller-drivers which were slower, but offered more traction). N&W's great freight locomotives were the Y Class Mallets, which were 2-8-8-2's with 16 drive wheels(the J's were 4-8-4's). There were 14 J's, but only 8 of them were streamlined (the 5 prewar J's and the 3 built in 1950, the other 6 built during WW2 lacked streamlining as an austerity measure). -Adam Bob Sullivan wrote: > Interesting. That makes the N&W Mechanical Department the > manufacturer. 'See, we don't need any of those stinking diesel > locomotives! We can be just as pretty with steam.' > > More seriously, I think the coal service of the N&W operated steam for > longer than most railroads. Moving the heavy coal drags was a chore > that suited the steam power's performance characteristics. With the 4 > main drive axels on that locomotive, she had to be in freight service. > > Regards, Bob S/ > > On 11/6/07, Bill Owens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Hey Bob, >> >> In this case, the manufacturer was the railroad. The N&W built a lot of >> their own engines and all of their coal hoppers, all in the Roanoke shops. >> At one time they had 4 of these J series engines, but only 611 is left >> >> Bill >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bob >> Sullivan >> Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 5:52 PM >> To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> Subject: Re: More stream power >> >> Prettied up with a streamlined exterior. In the '50's, the locomotive >> manufacturers were trying to hold onto their customer base. Not as >> much muscle visible here. >> Regards, Bob S. >> >> On 11/6/07, Bill Owens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=200851&nseq=10 >>> >>> Not my photo, but a classic steam locomotive built at the Norfolk and >>> Western shops in Roanoke, VA. It was built in 1950 and was arguably the >>> most efficient steam engine ever built. >>> >>> Bill >>> >>> >>> -- >>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> [email protected] >>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. >> >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. >> > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
