Steam & Excursion > A Locomotive To Match The Mountains Of The Western U.S.!

The railroads of the American West faced certain obstacles that other railroads did not have to deal with.  Not only were there great distances to be traversed in the Western U.S. but also obstacles like the Rocky Mountains!<br /><br />One of the steam giants built to tackle such grades and distances was Northern Pacific #5141 shown here with her train at Cyr, Montana in March 1946.  She is part of the NP's famed Z-8 class of 4-6-6-4 Challenger Class locomotives.  She was built by ALCO just 3 years before this photo in March 1943.  Her 106,890 pounds of tractive effort was more than a match for the mountains she was assigned to cross in her service career.

#5141 and the other 19 engines that were part of this Z-8 class of engines were the last steam locomotives ordered by the NP.  They rang out the steam era on the NP in an impressive style.

Martin

 



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/16 03:41 by LoggerHogger.

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Thanks for posting.  Always liked the appearance of the high mounted
pumps.  What's the purpose/function of that rectangular plate/box
below the pumps?  Looks like it has an access door.

The cover plate on the pilot concealed the front coupler.  You can see the coupler standing upright behind the plate.  In use the coupler was swung down and locked into place.  Having the coupler behind the protective plate probably kept it from being fouled with snow or damaged by the occasional trash on the tracks. 

Was this class of NP locomotives one of the classes that had the gigantic firebox to be able to effectively burn North Dakota lignite coal?  My Dad talked about seeing one of the NP articulated locos in Mandan, North Dakota in the late 1930's.  He quipped that the firebox was bigger than some of the hotel rooms that  he stayed in while traveling with a jazz band (he was a jazz musician back then, though he was working on a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering).  He later worked for a time as a mechanical engineer on stationary boiler designs.

No, he's asking about the other rectangle plate directly below the pumps. Not the pilot.

any of these survive today?

dougd Wrote:
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> any of these survive today?

Nope. Nor do any of the NP 4-8-4s.

A side note as I think it was these that Alco, pardon if I am wrong on the manufacture, to show  how big the firebox was hosted a sit down dinner in it. Boyd in Chiloquin

IIRC the 2-8-8-4 "Yellowstone" class had the very large fireboxes and one did indeed host a dinner for publicity.
These Z class engines were both oil and coal burners, but Cle Elum coal from Washington, a higher BTU fuel and thus a smaller firebox.

What a shame that none of these Z-8s are still alive.   A beautiful piece of machinery that worked well for the NP.  Nice photo.

I wonder how many features these engines shared with UPs challengers ?

Warren Buffet could have easily afforded to keep one of these around for special BNSF occasions.   Too late now.

Craig Hanson
Vay, Idaho

Perhaps they might have had a banquet in a Z8 at the plant. J. T. Gaertner mentions in his book, North Bank Road, that a group of NP and SP&S officials had a banquet in the firebox of SP&S Z6 900 when it was delivered to NP's Parkwater roundhouse in Spokane. Just imagine how the SP&S folks felt when their 6 beamouth Z-6s arrived, the first new engines the SP&S had acquired in 24 years.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/16 11:08 by FossBatterson.

railstiesballast Wrote:
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> IIRC the 2-8-8-4 "Yellowstone" class had the very
> large fireboxes and one did indeed host a dinner
> for publicity.
> These Z class engines were both oil and coal
> burners, but Cle Elum coal from Washington, a
> higher BTU fuel and thus a smaller firebox.

Their firebox is still about 25 percent larger than a UP challenger.

Somewhere I read, an NP engineer explained that, the rosebud coal needed so much draft to properly combust that it burned, swirling around in suspension, like an oil fire, rather than laying on the grate like a typical coal fire. They said the NP had to do quite a bit of experimentation to find just the right amount of draft so that it would burn properly but without being sucked out the stack.

Thanks for the corrections.

The "Steam & Excursion" forum on TO would not be nearly what it is without your incredible pictures Martin. Thank you for continuing to share these gems with us.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/16 17:22 by Goalieman.

I'm not sure if I would call them corrections, more like the facts I can round up at this time. Likewise I believe I recall reading in a book somewhere that officials had a banquet in the firebox of a Z6, a Z8, or a Big Boy at Alco and I can't find it at this time. I'll probably find it in one of my books in a few weeks and say AHA!

FossBatterson Wrote:
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> Perhaps they might have had a banquet in a Z8 at the plant. J. T. Gaertner mentions in his book,
> North Bank Road, that a group of NP and SP&S officials had a banquet in the firebox of SP&S Z6
> 900 when it was delivered to NP's Parkwater roundhouse in Spokane.


Foss, About 1½ years ago at http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,3523177,page=1 I wrote about the event that John Gaertner mentions:

Date: 09/16/14 13:25
Re: A Dramatic Demonstration of Size Comparison-Steam!
Author: Jim700

BAB Wrote:
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> One large articulated engine I think that was built by Alco had a fire box large enough they
> held a dinner in it for publicity. Think it was an NP engine and ended up being built by another
> company. Logger Hogger would know the story am sure.

Perhaps you're referring to the Alco-built, NP Z-6 design, 4-6-6-4 SP&S Z-6 #900 which was towed from the factory and set up for service in the NP Parkwater shops in Spokane, Washington prior to its October 22, 1937 maiden voyage westward to Portland, Oregon for official delivery to the SP&S. My father was the fireman departing Spokane and it occurred on his 25th birthday. He told me that a picnic table was disassembled and moved into the firebox for a celebratory meal enjoyed by the appropriate brass. He said that the new loco was taken into every track to check for clearances during his run between Spokane and Pasco and at one time during the trip he counted 26 people in the cab. What a unique coincidence that exactly 65 years later to the day I was running the SP&S 4-8-4 700 from Spokane to Pasco and pulling the whistle cord attached to a whistle that came from one of the SP&S 900s. Sadly that trip was via the ex-NP turkey trail rather than the ex-SP&S fantastic-grade James J. Hill-built line which the Burlington Northern had torn up.