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 Post subject: Re: 0-8-0 vs. 0-6-0
PostPosted: Sun May 15, 2022 10:54 am 

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm
Posts: 6400
GTW Dude wrote:
mldeets wrote:
One question from a hazy memory about the engines from Northwestern Steel & Wire - How many of the 0-8-0's are truly that wheel arrangement? Weren't at least some of them shorn of a lead truck to fit around the mill's square curves? Being born in Rock Falls & growing up just across the river from the mill one heard lots of things but I did enjoy steam whistles at almost any hour. According to a family friend who was a machinist at the mill they needed to allow far more slop in the rod brasses just to get the 0-8-0's around those corners...........mld



As much as I wish one had been a former GTW 2-8-0, they were all built as 0-8-0’s. I don’t know who said it but I recall somebody saying something along the lines of “They were the only steam locomotives you could hear the side rods clanking before you even got a sight of one.” I had always thought this was due to the minimal maintenance done to the locomotives, not because of turn radiuses in the yard.


Although the ex-GTW engines at Sterling were all built as 0-8-0's, it got me to recall reading some comments in Richard Leonard's "Steam Locomotive Archives" website about a photo of GTW 0-8-2 # 3523 (later # 3522) that DID have its pilot wheels removed. In the comments, these converts were reportedly praised for their "good riding qualities". It ALSO got me to recall other such converts including 0-8-2's on the Illinois Central, 0-8-0's on the Baltimore & Ohio and the only surviving Kansas City Southern steamer; 0-8-0 # 1023 that started out as a Consolidation. Finally, there were those 2-10-2 designed Union Railroad engines that had to be delivered as 0-10-2's in order to fit on the Union's turntables. Those engines ran in road service without a pilot truck, and did the same in later years when they were re-sold to the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range.

Les


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 Post subject: Re: 0-8-0 vs. 0-6-0
PostPosted: Sun May 15, 2022 5:31 pm 

Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:36 pm
Posts: 217
Les Beckman wrote:
GTW Dude wrote:
mldeets wrote:
One question from a hazy memory about the engines from Northwestern Steel & Wire - How many of the 0-8-0's are truly that wheel arrangement? Weren't at least some of them shorn of a lead truck to fit around the mill's square curves? Being born in Rock Falls & growing up just across the river from the mill one heard lots of things but I did enjoy steam whistles at almost any hour. According to a family friend who was a machinist at the mill they needed to allow far more slop in the rod brasses just to get the 0-8-0's around those corners...........mld



As much as I wish one had been a former GTW 2-8-0, they were all built as 0-8-0’s. I don’t know who said it but I recall somebody saying something along the lines of “They were the only steam locomotives you could hear the side rods clanking before you even got a sight of one.” I had always thought this was due to the minimal maintenance done to the locomotives, not because of turn radiuses in the yard.


Although the ex-GTW engines at Sterling were all built as 0-8-0's, it got me to recall reading some comments in Richard Leonard's "Steam Locomotive Archives" website about a photo of GTW 0-8-2 # 3523 (later # 3522) that DID have its pilot wheels removed. In the comments, these converts were reportedly praised for their "good riding qualities". It ALSO got me to recall other such converts including 0-8-2's on the Illinois Central, 0-8-0's on the Baltimore & Ohio and the only surviving Kansas City Southern steamer; 0-8-0 # 1023 that started out as a Consolidation. Finally, there were those 2-10-2 designed Union Railroad engines that had to be delivered as 0-10-2's in order to fit on the Union's turntables. Those engines ran in road service without a pilot truck, and did the same in later years when they were re-sold to the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range.

Les


There was also the pair of CStPM&O 2-10-2s that the C&NW ended up using in hump yard service at Proviso. The lead trucks kept derailing so they converted them to 0-10-2s


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 Post subject: Re: 0-8-0 vs. 0-6-0
PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2022 5:08 am 

Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:48 pm
Posts: 126
Location: Watchung, NJ
Good morning folks,

Many decades ago, I remember reading an article in Railfan and Railroad Magazine about the 0-8-0s at Northwestern Wire in Sterling. I re-read that magazine so many times that it literally fell apart. To a young lad with an interest in steam, that operation became a mythical place I wanted to visit sometime in the future... Alas, that time never came.

I was always disappointed that none of the former NWS 0-8-0's ever steamed again after their retirement. Shortly thereafter, the last bastion of steam freight, the Crab Orchard and Egyptian under went the transition to diesel-electric power. It was a sad day indeed when those last two steam holdouts fell silent.

In the discussions so far, I noticed that no one seems to be talking about the large number of preserved and operational 0-8-0s in Europe, nor the preserved (German?) 0-8-0 at the Hesston Museum in LaPorte. I know a lot of those locomotives are of the narrow gauge variety, but they still are 0-8-0s.

It would strike me that if the European 0-8-0s were as hard on the track as some here would suggest, they would have fallen out of favor on the other side of the pond for the same reasons. I'm curious as to why the European 0-8-0's seemed to have faired a bit better than their North American counterparts.

On a related note, does anyone know if the German 0-8-0 at Hesston in LaPorte is currently operational?

As for my childhood wishes, I have been following a steam locomotive restoration that might lead to a new operation that could capture the spirit of both the NWS and CO&E operations. While the locomotive is an 0-6-0, I can't wait to see SMS #9 switching revenue cars at the Pureland Industrial Park here in NJ. It will not be a "daily" operation, but it will be fascinating to see the #9 performing the same tasks that those two long-lost operations used to do on a regular basis many decades ago.

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Eric S. Strohmeyer
CNJ Rail Corporation


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 Post subject: Re: 0-8-0 vs. 0-6-0
PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2022 6:45 am 

Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2015 1:28 am
Posts: 640
Location: Ipswich, UK
The London & North Western Railway here in the UK had quite a large fleet of 0-8-0 tender locos - which I believe numbered over 500 examples.
One of them is preserved, though not currently steamable, and is seen here on the Great Central Railway back in 2007....
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 Post subject: Re: 0-8-0 vs. 0-6-0
PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2022 3:44 pm 

Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:06 am
Posts: 329
I'd like to thank folks for posting the corrections per the NWSW engines. It shows local knowledge is not always completely accurate. From my own perspective though, why would I question a neighbor who worked at "The Mill". I'm glad proper information can be put forth......PD


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