ADM,

I got an e-mail offering "Bigger, Stronger Climaxes" but when I sent my money in all they sent is some little blue pills. Not sure if I'm supposed to put them in the water tank or what. ;-)

All joking aside, from what we've seen at Mt Rainier, the Climax was apparently the economy model of the geared locomotives. They're a favorite of mine, and many of the crew, but they do have more than their share of problems. The motion of the engine makes it bang and bounce going down the track.

At least with our engine, there's a certain speed range (8 to 12) where the engine hops up and down like mad. Since the cylinders are on an angle, there is a vector of force going vertically. You're probably been on a steam loco and felt the force of the pistons causing minor surges during the power stroke, usually under heavy load.

This is the same thing, but it goes vertically. At certain speed, it seems to get in harmonics with the springs and really starts hopping up and down. We call it "hump speed", which is not, as most people suspect, a dirty joke related to Climax, but rather because it feels like it's going over a series of humps. We try to keep it under 8 mph whenever possible, and if we need to go faster, get through the 8 to 12 zone as quickly as we can.

#10 was also wrecked at one time, and the counterweights were modified at some point, I don't recall for certain, but I think it may have been related. They did some work on them a few years ago that helped, but as you probably know, there's no way to counterbalance a steam loco for all speeds and throttle settings. You simply try and reach a good compromise point.

They definitely seem to be a lot cruder and more "hand crafted" than the Heislers, and the Shay locomotive is the most polished of all. Of course our Shay is a Pacific Coast Shay, so they'd eveolved a lot by then.

Bob:

Don't forget your "new" Willamette. I hope the bearing issues have been resolved. I was up there on her "debut" and she looks great.

Scott

I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth and quiet the Climax at Puffing Billy was compared to the American Climaxes I have had the privilege of riding on. I don't know what the Ozzies did, but I'd recommend it. It burned wood, and blew smoke rings when the air pump stroked.

dave

When an engine is in as bad a shape as many of the remaining locomotives are a complete disassembly is almost a must. Speaking from experience it is much easier taking the engine apart than it is to reassemble. The more "original" you want the engine the longer and more costly the project is. This brings up a problem that you can find with all too many restorations. They never get done. It is sad that there so many musems, individuals etc.that have one or more engines torn apart that will never even be reassembled for a static display let alone run again. I need to get off my soap box. Here is another example of an engine as far apart as you can get it.

http://www.haveenginewilltravel.com/res ... estoration

We are trying to keep the engine as original as possible, but unfortunately, as I am sure you saw from the photos when we started, we could not save the cab or coal tender. The boiler could also not be saved. A couple support braces from the cab were salvaged however.
If we werent lucky enough to acquire the boiler I highly doubt this engine would have ever had the chance to run again. The following is from the Cass roster.

"The Climax boiler acquired at a cost of $15,000 was a real find – especially in light of British Columbia’s strict construction standards and, except for hydro test (certification), never having been operated above 125-pound pressure. This boiler for a 70-ton Climax was manufactured for the timbering enterprise Blodell, Stuart and Welch, but was never conveyed as the result of BS&W going out of business. It was eventually sold by the boiler manufacturer to a produce grower and used as a hot house steam source. After being discovered by a railfan, it was donated to the Ladysmith Historical Society, Ladysmith, B.C. – whose directors parlayed the value for pertinent museum projects."

I am amazed at what has been accomplished so far.

As I'm only 28 miles from Corry, and I had the pleasure of providing Walt Casler photos and stuff for his books for many years - I'm a bit of a fan. Not a mechanic, mind you, but still a fan. Like most geared steam, tends to have it's own cheerleaders. I think with Climax it helps to NOT have to keep them running to like them.

Remember that Climax effectively went out of business in 1928, so that's where the evolution stopped. They just decided to quit, didn't go bankrupt, sold the parts off and just quit. They got about as far as piston valves and Walscherslats valve gear on the last Class C's and that was it. And as the reciprocating parts got bigger, they started to ride rougher and rougher.

The logging railroads around here tended to have all three types; my fathers company had 42-ton Shay and 47-ton Heisler, the 'neighbors' had Climax. He started in '28, and the newest locomotive was the 1917 Heisler. Like the Climax, it had its quirks - in the case of the Heisler, my father could vividly describe, with a dance somewhat like a hula-the motion in the cab that was described as an 'off-balance washing machine' of his Heisler under load, at certain speeds. I've had the pleasure of cab-riding Cass' 6 and that motion was well communicated to me!

Southern New York Class B is preserved in the Corry, PA museum, in the "Walt Casler" room. There's also a relatively new book out there on Climax - "The Climax Locomotive" by Thompson and Hauf with a lot of Walt's previously unpublished material in it that is just great and I highly recommend it. Like the Ben Kline book on Heislers, it seems to have developed a real collector market for such a new book. The most interesting thing I 'never knew' about them was that the shop floor basically component-built them - there wasn't really an erection-floor drawing like Lima or Heisler. So while there is a lot of similarity in components, trucks, frames, etc., it does actually seem like every one is an individual, and despite all of Walt's research, the entire SN model and history for all of them is still annoyingly incomplete. CN's were somewhat assigned randomly to the shop floor by just grabbing the next plate handy out of the top of a bin, according to Walt - who worked there.

The other thing I love about Climax is the default factory numbering. If you didn't specifically tell them your locomotive number, the CN was it. So you have little one-horse loggers with four-digit random locomotive numbers, yeah, that one is the Climax!

The fact that any of them anywhere are still running is a miracle. I've ridden in the cab on the D&G Class B and the harmonics of the drive system are certainly in there to be felt. There's only one surviving wood-frame Class A in Seattle - and they built A's right up to the bitter end in 1928 - the ultimate disposable, cheap, logging-rough locomotive that had every intention of sucking the crew right into the gears in the cab.