That article was a poorly written with little reality of Western Railroading. In my opinion it was a lousy piece of "Journalism" and showed a lack of understanding of many operations. For RR where the ruling grades easily surpass 2% a six drivered locomotive does not develop enough tractive effort to do the job. For GCR, the only steam locomotive with enough tractive effort and horsepower at speed to meet the needs of a GCR 14 car train is the equivalent of an N&W A or UP challenger. Otherwise you need a diesel helper no matter what 4-8-4 you look at today.

In the past railroads developed their own solutions to their problems. This article tried to do a one size fits all solution to something that each RR needs to decide what their situation is best meet by.

Robby