For Eddie Delozier Eddie I'm certainly no expert on PRR locomotives Here is the best photo I've found of PRR 6200 ===== http://mccons.net/pictures/pictures/g-rated/trains/locos/steam/prr-6200.jpg ===== Near the bottom of the boiler in between the front of the trailing truck and the rear driver looks to me like it may be an (air operated ?) bell. eNjoy [ 10 May 2002, 10:20: Message edited by: dbn160 ]
Did the 6200 condense and re-use its steam? That sure looks like a condenser on top of the pilot, although it doesn't look big enough to condense all that energy.
Hank, Most of my books and research on the S-2 explains the turbine usage and little about the other devices on the engine. The steam, after driving the turbine, was forced up and out the stack. 6900 hp forward (right side turbine) and 1500 hp reverse (left side turbine). ..Eddie
Thanks Eddie. I guess the "box" on top of the pilot has what look like cooling vents for something else ... compressors maybe ... I didn't realize that 6200 could generate that much horsepower. Why did the Pennsy drop her so quickly? Was her performance that bad? Or was it that diesels were beginning to out-perform everything that ran on steam? [ 11 May 2002, 02:16: Message edited by: Hank Coolidge ]
Is that thing for real!?!?!? It looks like something out of an early Si-Fi movie. It is a very interesting photo. Are there any photos that look more realistic?
Nick, that's what that baby looked like. Pretty awesome, actually. My heart and sentiments lie with the bitter Pennsy competitor, the New York Central, but you have to admire Pennsy for their innovative locomotive design. To give you an idea of our "generation gap," When Hank and Eddie and I were growing up, that turbine 6-8-6 was one of THE most coveted Lionel O gauge products available, and too expensive for most of us to own back then.
Ok Boys, here is another photo of this marvelous Steam Locomotive and it is a honey http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/~smithbf/BFSpages/PRR/prr6200.jpg
Well, just returned from Altoona, Pa. Train activity there is low. Caught some pics of Amtrak pulling into station, the over nighter to Chicago. It had 7 head-end cars and 10 trailing trailers and 5 passenger cars. Didn't get to the curve.....rain delay! Strange you mention the Lionel S-2 turbine! I have one that holds a top shelf postion. It's my Christmas special around the tree. Got another PRR book while on trip that has some great shots and more info on the S-2. Seems that big box on front is a 'feedwater heater'. No mention of bell !? Yeh, it's future was short due to several things. Expensive to operate, required too much steam to get it moving, and also the beginning of the Diesel. But it out performed a 6000 HP Diesel over 40 MPH. Thought I take a classic PRR shot of: Shark, K4,M1-a,S-2,T-1 (best of PRR) ..Eddie
Ed’s model of the S2 is outstanding. I became curious of the history of the engine and this is what I found about it reading several RR book that I picked up on the Pensy. When the railroad began a program to look for replacements for its aging fleet of steam locomotives, it began several developmental programs, the Q1 4-6-4-4, Q2 4-4-6-4, S1 6-4-4-6, S2 6-8-6. and T1 4-4-4-4. Out of all this developmental work, only the Q2s and T1s achieve any production number, 26 and 52 units respectfully. The results of all the development and expense was very dismal, since, most of the engines spent more time in the shop than out on the rails. Diesels consistently turned in more road mileage than steam during this period sealing the fate of steam on the Pennsylvania RR. The 6200 began as a class R2 4-8-4 in 1940. It was closer to a 4-4-4-4 duplex except that a single gear drive was located between both sets of drivers rather than each set having its own. 68” drivers were used. As the design evolved the twin set of drivers was discarded and replaced by a four coupled set. A conventional Belpaire firetube boiler was used to simplify the design. The S2 only had 310 lb. boiler pressure even though turbines work best at higher pressures. The firebox has 120 sq.ft. of grate area. The board of directors approved the expenditure of $375,000 for a prototype on April 4,1941. Baldwin would build the locomotive and Westinghouse the turbine unit. Permission was obtained from the war production board to build it but the design was modified to accommodate various restrictions placed upon it. The most significant was the use of high carbon steel plates for the boiler shell because the nickel steel was required for the war effort. This would be the undoing of the engine. The use of high carbon steel increased the engines weight and led the use of six wheel lead and trailing trucks to support it. Two Westinghouse steam turbines, a 6,900 hp. unit for forward motion and a smaller turbine for reverse movement supplied power to a gearbox located between the second and third drivers. It used reduction gears to transfer power from the turbine to the drivers. The engine weighed 589,920 lbs. and had a rated tractive effort of 70,500 lbs. The 6200 entered service on October 1,1944 and ended up at the Fort Wayne division where it spent its career. The S2 suffered from continual mechanical problems and failed to achieve high monthly mileages. The engine was out of service 54% of the time between it was built and June 1, 1945. By October 18, 1945 it had run only 32,000 miles; mostly between Crestline, Oh. and Chicago, Il. When it worked it was outstanding, but that was not very often. Mechanical glitches kept it on the sidelines. Oddly enough it did not involve the turbine unit and the railroad was upbeat about the engine. The War production boards restriction of the use of nickel steel became the undoing of the engine. A Belpaire type of firebox was chosen to simplify the design, but the firebox leaked. The engine had extensive problems with broken staybolts resulting a large amount of shop time. The poor water circulation and sudden pressure drops when the throttle was opened caused the carbon steel firebox sheets to warp and the staybolts to break. In an effort to get better mileage out of the locomotive plans were made for a new watertube boiler and/or a higher boiler pressure in the summer of 1947. But the project was cancelled. The S2 was stored at Crestline in the summer of 1949 and retired on January 18,1952 and scrapped in June 1952 at Conway, Pennsylvania. Happy rails
If I recall correctly, one of my Pennsy Power books says that one of the problems with the S2 was its size .. it spent most of its time on the Ft.Wayne division because it had problems with the curves furthe east. Also there were only a few turntables that it would fit on.
