While browsing the Internet I came across a page on the Manitou & Pikes Peak website saying they had run their steam locomotive #4 again, after a steam leak the week before, and would post photos and video soon. The page can be found here http://www.cograilway.com/Steam_Locomotive4.htm

That was dated October 30th but no year. I am surprised that news of this hadn't hit RyPN.

Does anyone know the status of their steam program?

Roger

I was more surprised they went diesel, like they must have had a special diesel made.
But glad they held on to the steam.

The M&PP has been diesel for years and years. Are you thinking about the Mount Washington Cog Railway?

Cog steam engine #4 has indeed been returned to service, but is only used on special occasions. I don't believe it can make it all the way to the top of Pikes Peak because a water tower that used to be mid-way up the mountain is no longer there.

Is it the only remaining Vauclain compound in the world? It certainly must be the only one that's operational.

There are three more surviving steamers from the Manitou & Pikes Peak on display in Manitou Springs and at the Colorado Railroad Museum, and also Klondike Mines Railroad no. 3, a narrow-gauge 2-8-0 in Dawson City, Yukon Territory. None of them are operational though.

Yet another one, a Chinese KH class 2-8-0 built by Baldwin in 1898 as number 16117; was uncovered during work on some bridge footings, and is now on display in Museum of the Puppet Manchurian Palace, Changchun, Jilin Province, China. All but the Dawson City engine are pictured on my Surviving World Steam Locomotive CD-ROM.

Hugh -

I always thought that all of the Vauclain compounds (and also compounds with a high pressure cylinder on one side and low pressure on the opposite side) had been simpled by the railroads that purchased them (except for the cog railways of course). Then a while back, I was on some website and found some photos of a short line railroad that had purchased Vauclain compounds from the Soo Line and apparently used them that way! If those Vauclain's had given the Soo (and other class 1 railroads) trouble, how the heck did a short line cope with them? I can't remember the railroad now, nor where it was located. I want to say Wisconsin, but that might not be right. The photos I mentioned were taken, as I recall, in the 1930's and the Vauclain's were shown sitting in the background out of service. But they still looked in fairly decent shape and obviously had been used by the railroad after they had been acquired from the Soo!

Just an interesting tidbit, or maybe not.

Les

Very interesting! I can imagine they might work pretty well in relatively low-speed short line service. Maybe they weren't that big of a headache after all, or in low-speed service the compounding showed more of an advantage than in higher speed service.

I sure would like to see what Nigel Day could do with the exhaust system on that Pike's Peak engine given a chance. A restrictive exhaust system supposedly negates most of the advantages of compounding- a good Lempor might make a huge difference on that locomotive.

As I understand it the demise of the compound had more to due with the rise of Superheating, than problems with compounding.

You got about the same efficiency improvements without the complexity.

Plus the "Superpower" Ideas are beginning about the same time.

Did anyone ever build a superheated compound?

-Hudson

This is best looking Vauclain compound built (in my opinion). Of course she is no longer among us.

There were many superheated compounds. Virtually all mallets were superheated. There were a few oddball superheated non-articulated compounds in the U.S. as well- Baldwin demonstration locomotive #60000, a 4-10-2, comes to mind.

Superheated compounds were very popular in France and reached their zenith under the work of Andre Chapelon. One of these was a superheated 3-cylinder compound 4-8-4, the 242A1. L. D. Porta also built an advanced superheated compound in Argentina, a narrow gauge 4-8-0.

Did anybody ever build superheated compounds? Of course--they just had divided drives, as in various C&O 2-6-6-2s, N&W 2-6-6-2s and 2-8-8-2s, 2-8-8-2s and 2-10-10-2s on the Virginian, etc. . . .and that Baldwin 4-10-2 as well, preserved in Philadelphia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_60000

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos. ... LW%2060000

As to "rigid" engines, compounds with superheaters were very common in Europe, mostly in France with a fair number in Germany. The French not only utilized compounding and superheating, but combined all that with poppet valves, often with a modified form of Walschaerts valve gear. At least some of the locomotives used in France in the prewar era even had two reverse levers to individually adjust the high and low pressure valve gears. The French were also relatively heavy into feedwater heaters, which was a bit unusual in Europe. The French pursued such a course due to a relative lack of domestic coal, and its subsequent high cost, although as you can imagine, it came with the cost of high locomotive complexity and maintenance, and a virtual requirement that the engineers have the equivalent of a college degree! Later, in the postwar era, a combination of coal of even lesser quality coal than what was available before, the necessity of getting the system running again after the damage of the war, and the increase in wages, lead to a number of simplifications (i.e., the two reverse gears were pinned together to operate with one reverse lever), while American reconstruction locomotives (the famous 141Rs) showed how effective robust, simple technology with minimal maintenance demands could have an advantage despite the higher fuel cost.

A classic short "impressions" film has plenty of shots of such superheated, compound, poppet-valved engines in operation--Jean Mitry's "Pacific 231," based on Arthur Honneger's symphonic piece of the same name:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKRCJhLU7rs

Another "231" (the French count axles, hence 231, while we count wheels, as in 4-6-2), this time in 2009--same equipment layout, 4 cylinders, compound, poppet valves, superheater, and feedwater heater:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSMv9dki ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6lxkQ5uxUE&NR=1

Back to Pikes Peak--steam footage from the 1990s and later:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AYGhmaC-YQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEvXKJ03 ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVisoinh ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8d9y6le ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc8hQNq7 ... re=related

And back in time, to 1936:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a073vczTVIw

Finally, diesel-era footage featuring snowplow action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26XY1AL- ... re=related

Enjoy!

The Vauclain's died because they had horrible wear on the crosshead. The force was not equal between high and low pressure cylinders, under all conditions, and the crosshead had to absorb all that torque.

I believe that was in 2010, just before the TRAIN convention in Alamosa. I have not heard of any steam operations on Pikes Peak since then.

Eric