As a comparison, the Madame Queen (#5000), although big, was smaller than the 2-10-4's in the other two later classes on the AT&SF. Her engine weight was "only" 251 tons whereas the 5001 class of oil burners was 266-1/2 tons and the 5011 class tipped in at almost 275 tons. The 5000 also ran on 69" drivers whereas the later classes both had 74". Appearance-wise, the 5000 had an Elesco feedwater heater whereas the later had Worthington units. Some other comparisons with engines mentioned; the Pennsy's J1 and J1a's weighed nearly 289 tons and the KCS's 900 series 2-10-4's tipped the scales at 254-1/2 tons for their oil burners, a bit more for those that burned coal.

Les

Make that two of them.....

Ok, now the shameless plug is done, there are some good reasons for BNSF to use the Madame Queen:

1. She, unlike 3751, has access to rail with a bit less traffic than the Transcon...ease to get out for excursions and special events;

2. Proximity to Fort Worth. She could be there in a couple of days and most of Texas should easily be within her operating range;

3. Proximity to important cities like Houston, New Orleans. Metropolitan areas which could be used to run excursions from.

True, the 5000's never ran east of Slaton, but so what? There are places to turn the locomotive in every major city (and a few minor ones).

BNSF has a large, beautiful business car fleet.

What a grand way to showcase the past, present, and future of motive power.

Time will tell whether she feels a fire on her ashpan again...and perhaps join 2926 on Raton Pass one more time....

Once is not enough.

To be honest, I would love for it to be more than that. I've heard many stories about Raton Pass from the steam era...five engine freights, three engined Chiefs....my great uncle broke in firing that mountain, and he had quite a few stories to tell about it...

I always wondered why Raton Pass seemed to take second fiddle to Sherman Hill. No offense to 844 lovers, but a 2900 could leap Sherman Hill while an 800 is still figuring out how to get out of the yard....

Madame Queen - Is that the one described in "Trains" magazine with the "puppy valves"?

Oh no...that Madame Queen was a Missouri Pacific 4-6-2 #6000.

It is on the same line, and is a bit steeper. Glorietta pass is a crusher to get over. Fun times coming.

Regards,
Kevin

Maybe to ride him out of town on a rail, because your pit only uses genuine Japanese machines. How comfortable are the large railroads with Caterpillar locomotives? [My employer does like its General Electric 44 Tonner with Caterpillar Diesels, but when we want parts, we don't dare tell the dealer what they're for.]

Current production SD70ACe and SD70M-2 locos have a 16 cylinder EMD 710G-T2 engine". Progress Rail has done a handful of CAT repowers using EMD SD units as cores.

The upcoming EMD passenger loco demo will feature a CAT engine.

DPK

Hello,

With the PR aquisition of EMD, I would expect CAT to promote the use of the C175 series engine in the locomotives. They invested an enormous amount of money in adding the C175 manufacturing and assembly capability in Lafayette. I don't get the sense the C175 has near the sales of their legendary 3500 series engines.

It would be interesting to see if they develop a C175-20 (20cyl) for rail ( as used in their mining truck.)

Take the C175-20 powered demo out with the Madame for promo.....the customers may be impressed.

CAT flerted with rail some years ago with the 3600 diesels in a few MK locomotives....as I understand did not do well. No matter, the gasified 3600's are selling quite well up here in the Marcellus gas patch in pipeline compression service.

Regards,

Randy

I think this is a great project. I have read some negative comments on this project. Such as where are you goning to run and etc.. Well I believe the restoration is a great project to undertake. I am sure that BNSF will allow the Queen to run on their tracks. I will be watching their web site for progress.

Traincrew

Well, don't speak for BNSF quite yet, but you certainly can be hopeful. We have to remember first and foremost, the reason the big roads can allow our babies to run is they have the bucks to absorb many costs. They are in the business of moving freight, a lot of freight these days! Still, I am hopeful that there will exist enough heart to operate the restored locomotives of some of the absorbed railroads. 2926 should find an open door, as should "Madame Queen", provided the railfan community doesn't come with expectations aforethought.

Are you sure enough to raise and spend two million dollars (give or take a few hundred thousand), and face the wrath of your donors if BNSF doesn't?