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Allegheny's Recent Activity

  1. Allegheny replied to the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    I'm just considering that there might be a scenario where a steam locomotive with two firemen might be the most economic scenario. If you wanted to run high speed schedules, you could build a suitably powerful 4-8-4 - or something like that,...

    Jul 11, 2026 at 6:43 PM

  2. Allegheny replied to the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    Depends on the circumstances. Picking up a second fireman at Bromsgrove or Tebay would be far cheaper than a banker, if that solution works with the locomotive.

    Jul 11, 2026 at 4:10 PM

  3. Allegheny replied to the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    For some the rationale for moving away from steam is at a very much lower power level. Apart from heritage applications, of course.

    Jul 11, 2026 at 11:26 AM

  4. Allegheny replied to the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    Two firemen?

    Jul 11, 2026 at 11:22 AM

  5. Allegheny replied to the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    Industrial and marine steam engines were almost universally compounds (or strictly speaking triple expansion engines), although of course they generally had condensers. The SS Titanic and her sisters had triple expansion engines driving the outer...

    Jul 7, 2026 at 9:19 AM

  6. Allegheny replied to the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    I remember reading somewhere that the articulated compounds were limited in size because the LP cylinders just became too large, and there were problems in just getting the volume of exhaust steam out of the cylinders.

    Jul 7, 2026 at 9:08 AM

  7. Allegheny liked MarkinDurham's post in the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    Well, the Midland compounds seemed to do OK, but yes, the UK loading gauge was/is pretty restrictive. I do wonder how Fowler's proposed compound Pacific would have turned out - hopefully with decent axleboxes, but that's another discussion... Mark

    Jul 7, 2026 at 9:04 AM

  8. Allegheny liked RAB3L's post in the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    It's not always as simple as that. The French didn't have suitable supplies of steam coal, so imported huge quantities from South Wales. They even had their own ships for such. The GWR, on the other hand, had Welsh steam coal on their doorstep...

    Jul 7, 2026 at 9:03 AM
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