Because of the way the driver set was articulated and the rear truck pivoted they had a tendency to hunt when entering or exiting curves at any appreciable speed. Single Fairlies also had this problem but it wasn't as bad on the Double Fairlies. If handled in a reasonable manner at low speed few locomotives could match the pulling power on curves. Excellent video, enjoyed it much.
Great clip. Very enjoyable indeed. I'd not realised the Mason locos used Walschaerts gear so early on. Oddly, in the UK, a very early use was on a closely related Single Fairlie, originally built by Avonside for an exhibition, it was sold to the Swindon, Marlborough & Andover Rly as their No.4 .... but they clearly couldn't set the gear up properly (an old photo clearly presents an atypical appearance), as it was reportedly unreliable in use and expensive to maintain, the loco being scrapped in 1892.
Very handsome locomotives indeed, technically they seem very similar to the single Fairlie design. I know there is one single Fairlie 0-4-4 in use on the Ffestiniog Railway in the UK, which is a replica built in 1999, and another single Fairlie 0-6-4 is under construction at the Welsh Highland Railway which connects to the line to Ffestiniog. Both are 2ft gauge. The Mason bogie at the Henry Ford museum is the oldest Fairlie still in operation today, and the Mason works did build at least one double Fairlie as well.
Have a look at Fairlie's patent for a hill climbing railcar. Someone described it as "an exercise in packing as much trouble into one vehicle as possible". It's an 0-6-6-0, but the two sets of wheels are different diameters (might also have been a compound with bigger wheels for the low pressure cylinders) It's double deck with luggage on top of the boiler and passengers on top of the bunker. I think there might have been open seats on the roof too. Fortunately it never got built, but some truly weird things did.
hmm that is very interesting, I didn't know they were using articulation that early they are very interesting and the hollow and leaded spokes seems very forward thinking, and the more guilded age of machines and buildings that these were part of
Fun fact, there are some Forney type locomotives that operate in the state of Maine in the USA. There are 2 foot gauge locomotives, however, but I figured since you discussed the Forney type that you would be interested in knowing. Here is a link to a video showing one of them. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FVHfCH76jvU.htmlsi=hVR4jygpXweFbXyS
@TheRailroadCrossing-SteamPower your welcome! Perhaps you can do a video on the Maine 2 footers sometime. Here is a general video on the 2 footers. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dHd5c5nc_UI.htmlsi=skauZKlAyGYtVbCo
