Nostalgia & History > Suburban Tank Engine Operations

I have been doing some research on the Boston & Albany's 2-6-6T and 4-6-6T suburban tank engines, and consequently the Canadian National and Central of New Jersey 4-6-4T's. Looking over the information supplied, I wanted to know how these engines were able to make the runs they did on such small amounts of coal and water.

For example, the B&A's 4-6-6T's were only capable of carrying 6 tons of coal and 5000 gallons of water plus what was in the boiler. One route that they regularly ran was between Boston and Framingham, a distance of about 24 miles. It was also rumored that they may have worked as far as Milford, an additional 12 miles. Considering that these engines had a firebox of 102 1/8" by 85 3/4" with a grate area of 60.8 square feet, how were they able to make a one way run without using up all of their resources?

Some reference pictures of the B&A engines can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/bostonalbanyrailroad/home/0-6-0/0-8-0/2-8-0/2-8-2/2-8-4/4-4-0/4-6-0/tank

Doesn't seem like an unreasonable expectation, to me.

Running SOO 2719 on the North Shore Scenic Railroad with a 5 car train (52.75 sq ft grate area, 12,000 gal tender) we'd
run a round trip on the 28 mile route (plus switching at both ends) and even the engineer with the poorest water record
could make the round trip with 2,000 gallons to spare.

The 17 1/2 tons of coal in the tender would last two or three trips.

BTW, water in the boiler should not be used in your calculations, since you finish the day with the same amount of water
in the boiler as you started with.

-John



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/17 00:23 by LarryDoyle.

The CNR engines ran approx 20 miles out and then back. Trains were short and therefore light.

KG

All these routes are pretty flat, too. Correct?

The Jersey Central operation for their tank engines was Communipaw in Jersey City to Dunellen NJ, where the local commuter trains were turn back. I recall a Don Wood photo essay in Trains about the run, showing a coal dump and water spout in / near Dunellen.

I don't have a track chart but 20-25 miles seems about right.

I remember a Don Wood article in Trains in the mid/late 50's featuring a ride to Dunellen pulled by a camelback. Perhaps he did a different story on Tank engines.