The cab and tender of a 2-8-8-4 beast - Lake County, Minnesota - 11-09-13
An articulated Mallet engine.
First what is a mallet engine. It is one with 2 boilers for more power, moving steam from one boiler to the other to get more use of the steam before it escapes as exhaust. If you want to get more technical, Google or Wiki it.
And now articulated. This engine was so long, it sort of had to be split. Both boilers were carried on one frame mounted on the the rear set of drive wheels. But the fron set of drive wheels were not on this frame, they were more or less free floating. So watching one of these engines operate, the front boiler would not begin turning in a curve until the second set of wheels hit the curve. this meant the top of the fron front of the locomotive was still heading straight, while the bottom of the front was making a curve, This made the locomotive stick way outside the right of way of the tracks. Similar to what happens to those accordion buses.
The cab and tender of a 2-8-8-4 beast - Lake County, Minnesota - 11-09-13
An articulated Mallet engine.
First what is a mallet engine. It is one with 2 boilers for more power, moving steam from one boiler to the other to get more use of the steam before it escapes as exhaust. If you want to get more technical, Google or Wiki it.
And now articulated. This engine was so long, it sort of had to be split. Both boilers were carried on one frame mounted on the the rear set of drive wheels. But the fron set of drive wheels were not on this frame, they were more or less free floating. So watching one of these engines operate, the front boiler would not begin turning in a curve until the second set of wheels hit the curve. this meant the top of the fron front of the locomotive was still heading straight, while the bottom of the front was making a curve, This made the locomotive stick way outside the right of way of the tracks. Similar to what happens to those accordion buses.