Did you know that the manufacturing plants for the Shay, Heisler, and Climax locomotives were within about 200 miles of each other? These locations were Shay at Lima, OH, Heisler at Erie, PA, and Climax at Corry, PA.
Climaxes were used too in Australia and NZ, some of them are preserved. They were also used in logging and the lines were known as Bush Tramways. Several are preserved in both countries, of which a few are operational or under restoration to operational condition.
@@TheRailroadCrossing-SteamPower Thanks, it isn't exactly from my country as I live in the Netherlands, but I have seen a couple while on holiday in NZ.
I love the photo of the train running on logs instead of rails. Some logging lines in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan used this system. The great thing was that when the branch was torn up the "rails" could be cut up for lumber. I got to ride the Climax at Mt. Rainier Scenic years ago and it has a very strange waddling gait due to the cylinders driving the jackshaft. The engineer said some guests riding in the cab got motion sickness from it but it didn't bother me. Excellent video, enjoyed it much!
Great video. Just a few suggestions that might make things clearer.....At 3:15-3:30 you discuss the earlier Climax Class A with a vertical boiler but the photos shown during that discussion are not the Class A, they are the later conventional horizontal boiler. If you dig around a bit on the internet, there are a few decent historic photos of the very early, true. Class A Climax locomotives which do have a vertical boiler. These are very basic locomotives that look like they are built on a platform or small flatcar with the vertical boiler at the one end and a round water tank located at the other end, and the piston unit located in the center of this platform flatcar. Some of these Class A Climaxes had a boxcar like enclosure added to enclose the boiler and piston assembly, probably for operation in in-climate weather.
Ah, from an almost third-generation railroader, those cylinders are inclined, not vertical. The Shay had vertical cylinders. Shay vs Heisler and Climax? Logging railroad mechanics liked Shays better because all the 'works' were easily accessible. But, the Heisler and Climax locos could go around tight curves in either direction without problems, whereas the Shay's driveshaft couplings took objection to tight right-hand curves. 1st Little Known Fact: A lot of dockside and wharf areas in cities used Shays, Climaxes and Heislers to move freight cars in and out of warehouses and/or city streets. Most of those areas had light rails and very tight curves, and geared engines had no problems with that. The reason why this fact is little known is easy - night operation. No railroad wanted some stranger with a flash unit wandering around and affecting their night operations...! 2nd fact: the Dockside that Varney made so popular in the model railroad world was very unpopular in the real world. The two 'Docksiders' - yes, just two - had an axle loading of 25 tons, which exceeded by a large margin most main line locomotives. That weight broke a LOT of rails...and rails in city street and dockside areas are NOT easily replaced. Thus the use of easy-on-the-rails geared engines.
I agree about the Shay's popularity among those who used them. i really like them as a fan over the other two. The Shay's had an axel load of 25 tons? Were they using 3 or four truck loco's?
Ah, no...sorry for the misunderstanding. It was the 0-4-0 'Dockside' saddletanker that had a 25-ton axle loading...and broke rails like dry spaghetti...
Yes,there were geared engines made in England[Sentinel],Germany[O&K],and probably others,however data is lacking,and these are ones that I'm sure of!! Thank you 😇 😊!
A.G. Price of New Zealand manufactured some locomotives derived from the Climax type A. These had the vertical marine style engine approximately in the center of the frame, but a horizontal boiler. These looked like a flat car with a boiler and a hut slapped on it.
You're asking me like I wrote it.. Period writing, or Writing Etiquette. In fact in grade school we were taught to end a letter in that way if you were trying to earn someone's business. Im thinking they do not teach those things anymore.
