Quite right. The roads with the money had the engineering resources to design their own locomotives and, as potentially big customers, the power to force the builders away from their own standard designs. The 4-8-4 was inherently a very expensive locomotive, so those built were mostly for the big railroads and had the "look" of their owners. However, you will find that the medium-sized roads -- the Central of Georgia, for example -- owned locomotives that had more of an off-the-shelf look, usually because they modified existing plans. It was much cheaper to buy a locomotive that did not require expensive custom tooling.
The War Production Board's edict prohibiting the construction of new designs made for some interesting exchanges of design on the larger railroads -- the PRR J1 from the C&O T-1 being one of the best-known examples. (Interestingly, the PRR was allowed to achieve a "family" look even though the locomotive dimensions were pure C&O.) The WPB also acted as a clearing house for lease of spare locomotives, shifting surplus power from one road to another not unlike what happens today with Diesel leasing. For the most part, the exchanges were of medium-sized locomotives -- no railroad wanted to give up its newest power -- but some articulated designs and 4-8-2s migrated to power-hungry roads the WPB designated as priority routes. One wonders if, had steam design continued after the war, these exchanges of plans and of locomotives may have resulted in some standardization of design akin to the USRA's influence a generation earlier. regards ... pqr ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Engle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'Roy Hoffman'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 12, 2005 6:15 AM Subject: RE: [S-Scale Modeling] Re: Fw: LV 4-8-4 > FWIW, I will be surprised at any non-ATSF engine that can be rebuilt form > the ATSF one without major work that would make it better to start from > scratch. While there are similarities and "families" (including USRA > groups), it is more realistic to say that nearly every group of steam > locos > built for a major railroad was customized to that road's spec's. This > could > be kicked around for the rest of the year, but remember, follow your own > prototype info, and decide for yourself how to achieve it. > > At this time, I would be more concerned about availability of "standard" > parts that can be used on our individual engines we want to assemble from > them. Sources such as Mr. Rouse, dba SSLS, come into play here, and we > need > to keep up to date on their efforts. > > DJE > > > > > > > > > To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL; to reply to the sender, use REPLY. > For those of you on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list > (remember to edit the SUBJECT of your message). > > Change message settings, use our CALENDAR or LINKS, view shared files or > photos, view the list archives, GO TO > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL; to reply to the sender, use REPLY. For those of you on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list (remember to edit the SUBJECT of your message). Change message settings, use our CALENDAR or LINKS, view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
