| Railway Preservation News https://www.rypn.org/forums/ |
|
| Double Headed South Africa 4-8-4's in May 2007 https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23330 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | Randy Musselman [ Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:04 am ] |
| Post subject: | Double Headed South Africa 4-8-4's in May 2007 |
Hello, Talk about taking your water with you. Wow! However, if you look closer, half of the capacity may be for fuel oil? You can see the first locomotive has an oil tank in its coal bunker. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8326471564278977994&q=25nc+steam&total=4&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1 Also note the auxiliary for the first locomotive is a surplus tender from a Class 25 condenser locomotive (note the long tank). The second locomotive was a former condenser also. This is some serious iron for 3'6" gauge. The Class 25's had roller bearings throughout...including the rods. Cheers! Randy Musselman |
|
| Author: | Frisco1522 [ Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:41 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Double Headed South Africa 4-8-4's in May 2007 |
I've been an admirer of the SA power ever since watching a PBS show featuring the main line some years ago. You have to keep reminding yourself that it's narrow gauge, not the UP main through Nebraska. Thanks for pointing this out, it's great video as are the others on the UTube site with this one. |
|
| Author: | Randy Musselman [ Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:58 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Double Headed South Africa 4-8-4's in May 2007 |
We can't sell them short on performance being over a foot smaller in gauge. When David Wardale supertuned the 3450 from a class 25 to class 26, some impressive performance resulted. I understand she acheived a sustained 4000 drawbar HP. The Red Devil weighed in at 236 metric tons (260 Tons US) incl. tender, fully supplied, for the road. This puts her power density at 15.3 HP/US Ton. Compare this to the New York Central Niagara 4-8-4. They weighed in at 405 Tons US and achived 5000 drawbar HP at 60 MPH. The Niagara power density was 12.3 HP/US Ton. The improvements in the 3450 resulted in approximately a 24% improvement in power density in this basic comparison with American state of the art in the 1940's. Here is a good nose shot of the 3450 during test after her alterations. http://www.sa-transport.co.za/trains/sa_steam/class_26/3450_4_hp.JPG It illustrates some of the front end mods done to her. These included conversion to dual stacks, installation of a feedwater heater (between the stacks not shown), heavy modification to the cylinders including major steam chest changes as well as improved piston rings, etc. Her extreme perfromance did have its limits. I understand she eventually had crosshead failures. Also note her nameplate in rememberance of the master. Here is another full shot of her at the same location. http://www.sa-transport.co.za/trains/sa_steam/class_26/3450_2_hp.JPG She is a bit smaller than she appears. Her running boards were raised as compared to a class 25. I recall David Wardale made this change because he was hitting his head on the lower boards. Per my recent posts, with her color, you can see why she would be easy to spot from a satellite! Cheers! Randy |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|