Hi Everybody--
Ran across this interesting info regarding one of our Live Steam hobbyists on the San Francisco peninsula who takes the art of LIVE STEAM to a new level ............
THE BALDWIN QUADRAPLEX
In 1915 Baldwin built three Triplex locomotives for the Erie Railroad, and another for the Virginian Railroad in 1916. Initial results were apparently promising, for Baldwin laid plans to build an even more monstrous loco- a Quadraplex, or four engines in one. George Henderson was the designer. Apparently the Santa Fe Railroad was seriously interested for a while.
A machine of this length could not be built with a rigid boiler, so note the bellows connection in the middle. This notion was not specific to the Quadruplex- see Flexible Mallets for another example. In engineering terms, this sort of technique is called "Asking For Trouble". The bellows were found to be troublesome as the cinders would collect betwen the fins and cause binding. A later design used a ball joint connection.
Note that the designer recognized that forward vision wouldn't be too good if you had to squint along the length of such a boiler, so the loco was a cabforward. The driver was to communicate with the fireman at the back by means of a voicepipe.
The Baldwin Locomotive Company seriously intended to build this monster, but after it became clear that the Triplexes were failures there were (perhaps fortunately) no customers.
Enjoy the couple of photos. I have others.
Ken Shattock (KRK)
Secretary
North American Region
IBLS
