Pearsall,Texas

The International Great Northern Railroad in Pearsall, Texas, undated. In 1882, when the town was platted, it was named after the IGN Railroad's vice-president, Thomas W. Pearsall. Thanks to Traces of Texas Photo

How are Steam Locomotives Classed By Vol 1

Steam locomotives are classed by their wheel configurations. On steam locomotives the wheels that are driven by the steam engine are appropriately called drivers. Locomotives may have also have sets of non-powered pilot wheels before and/or after the drivers.

Steam locomotives are classified using a system called "Whyte Notation". In Whyte notation 2-8-4 means that the locomotive has two pilot wheels in front of eight driving wheels, followed by four more pilot wheels. Note that this is very different than the AAR Wheel Arrangement Notation used in classifying diesel and electric locomotives.

Wheel arrangements not listed were mostly less common types and their class names were usually alphanumeric codes which could vary from railroad to railroad. That is, if they were even used by more than one railroad.

On the Union Pacific, among other railroads, 4-8-4 locomotives were the "Northern" class. Railroads in the southern states wouldn't call a locomotive on their roster a "Northern". This resulted in many names for 4-8-4 locomotives. 4-8-4 class names are found in their own section.

Single Axle Lead Pilot Truck Classes

• 2-2-2 (8ft Drivers): Great Western
• 2-2-2 (7ft Drivers): Star or Firefly
• 2-4-0: Hawthorn or Victoria
• 2-4-2: Columbia
• 2-6-0: Mogul
• 2-6-2: Prairie
• 2-8-0: Consolidation
• 2-8-2: Mikado or Calument (MacArthur after Pearl Harbor)
• 2-8-4: Berkshire (Kanawha on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad)
• 2-10-0: Decapod
• 2-10-2: Santa Fe
• 2-12-0: Centiped

Great Western Prairie #5541

5541 was built in 1928 at Swindon Works as part of lot number 251. Her original boiler number was 5546. Between June and August of 1930 she was allotted to Swindon shed; however by September 1931 she had moved to Bristol (Bath Road) where she stayed until the middle of 1938.

 

 

Between December 1935 and March 1936, she underwent general repairs at Caerphilly Works, where she received a new boiler (number 5526). At this time she had covered 237,985 miles. During the summer of 1938, 5541 moved to Machynlleth where she spent most of the rest of her working life.

#5541 U.K.

UP Challenger

 The Challengers were nearly 122 feet long and weighed more than one million pounds. Articulated like their big brother, the Big Boy, the Challengers had a 4-6-6-4 wheel arrangement. They operated over most of the Union Pacific system, primarily in freight service, but a few were assigned to passenger trains operating through mountain territory to California and Oregon.

Up Challenger #3985

Union Pacific BigBoy

Big Boy is the popular name of the American Locomotive Company 4000-class 4-8-8-4 articulated, coal-fired, steamlocomotives manufactured between 1941 and 1944 and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad until 1959. The Big Boy fleet totaled twenty five locomotives that were used primarily in the Wyoming Division to haul freight over the Wasatch rangebetween Green River, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah. The Big Boy locomotives were the only locomotives to use a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, consisting of a four-wheel leading truck for stability entering curves, two sets of eight driving wheels and a four-wheel trailing truck to support the large firebox.

What is Highballin?

High ball is an old time reference to a signal used to tell train crews it was ok to leave and the track was clear ahead.There was a pole with a ball and when the ball was raised to the top it was called a high ball and the train would leave.We still use the term but the pole and ball are now part of railroad history.Now it's used to tell a train everything is ok and go on at full speed ahead. 

Highballin'