Don't want to hijack the thread, but as a follower of the Great Weedy, I feel compelled to chime in...

The document that I believe originated the Climax story is an old roster and it simply says "climax engine", not "boiler". I find it hard to believe that the Great Western would have put a steam locomotive boiler into the 1000 (originally number the 1002). Instead, I find it much more likely that they used a gas engine built by the Climax Engineering Co., which was acquired by the Waukesha Co. in the 1950s. See http://www.wehs.net/connection-2-climax.html.

Also, the 1000 received a new front truck from the St. Louis Car Company in the first rebuild, so the front truck has no McKeen relation other than the fact that it ran under a McKeen-ish locomotive.

Ryan Heath
Minneapolis, MN

Mention of Climax Engineering Co. appears in Jay Reed's Critters, Dinkys & Centercabs as a supplier of gas engines to various small gas locomotives. He says, "Their primary business was gas engines for power shovels and cranes." He lists a number of locomotive models produced by Plymouth, Whitcomb and Mid-west that used Climax gas engines.

Use of a Climax distillate engine makes the most sense, since there is (apparently) no photographic documentation to go by. (Of course it could have been a gas engine, I'm just making an assumption based on the time period that it would be a distillate engine.)

You didn't exactly high jack this thread, it's been a small side conversation before. By the way, this explains a lot, and I mean that, I was very very confused as to how they got a Diesel engine in there. Now if only you could explain the Unit Steam engine they put in the Santa Fe M-103 after she left the SF.





Yes, the Ramona Sentinel, Union Tribune are both doing articles on story (along with a possible airing on San Diego TV news,) as well as Trains Magazine (Possibly in the magazine, not sure) and Railfan and Railroad Magazine. We will also try to publish something in a few Anchorage Newspapers to see if any missing parts are still out there. We are also in contact with a producer who is looking for an interesting story for the History, Net Geo, or Discovery Channels.

Also, she was tarped and around Oregon the tarp really started to fall apart. I don't think that would have been as great of advertising. I think the news articles will make up for that.

Here are a few pictures from the arrival and unloading in Ramona.

If you want to see where all the McKeen power trucks went, get hold of the cheesy picture book, "Train Wrecks" from around 1970. At the back is a picture of an exploded Union Pacific 2-8-2 in a reclamation yard, and next to the wrecked engine frame is a gondola full of McKeen engines.

There is an ex-Chris Craft Plymouth engine in private ownership in Michigan with a 6-cylinder "Climax Trustworthy Engine." Still runs, noisily.

Aarne Frobom
Distillate City, Michigan

I have that book already, Robery C. Reed. it's a S.P. locomotive #4402 in Richvale, California, on Christmas Day, 1931. I have also seen the second M-4 on the U.P. in Omaha with the original motor truck stuck in a gondola and the new truck installed, kinda of interesting to see the whole scene.

Yes, this may be possible or not, and it may look more likely to you, but it still does not prove the climax engine was a gas engine.

Mike

my guess is that the Climax engine was similar to the one pictured here.

That's odd, I haven't been getting email notifications for all of the replies here.

Anyways, how many horsepower is that engine? It's only a 3 cylinder, and it seems too small.

Are you sure it's only 3 cylinders? Those "cylinders" look like 2-cylinder assemblies to me.

Its a six cylinder with the cylinders cast in pairs. At one time Climax Engineering offered a whole range of engines for industrial use. Including a massive six cylinder (6"x7") [R6U?]rated at 142 hp. @ 1,200 rpm. similar to what was just pictured.

Far more plausible than a Climax steam engine retro fit.

Ran into a similar state of confusion on another operation the root of the confusion were - the corporate records that listed "diesel engineer" yet none of the locomotives (Plymouths) were diesel powered. As it turns out "Diesel Engineer" was referring to the gentlemen operating the Fairbanks-Morse diesel powered conveyors.

Oh, you're right, I didn't notice that. Now, those cylinders are pretty small (in my mind) since the McKeen Cylinders were 10" x 12" stroke-bore. The McKeen Engine created 200HP at 350RPM. That was not considered enough by most railroads and thus they usually re-powered them with a larger engine supplied by EMC. Would a larger Climax would have been used in place of the McKeen Engine or did these have higher foot pounds for the same horsepower?

When the Great Western re-powered their car, they turned it into a gas electric, no? No longer constrained by the mechanical transmission, that would have allowed for these higher speed engines, and the drive would have bee considerably more efficient.