I love steam locos and of course the J is the top of the food chain (do we all agree?) . I found this recognition from the American society of Mechanical Engineers which has a ton of very impressive statistics on the performance of this wonderful machine.
I had not seen this ASME recognition but it is quite interesting if you get some quiet time to look this over. It is amazing to think about a dinosaur in the days of the diesels (mid 1950s) but it is the pinnacle of the steam dinosaurs! Sad thought…did not help it survive.
Here is a remarkable quote from the document…. “Eleven of the “Js” operated a total of over 5 million miles with only two roller-bearing failures.” How is that possible before the Toyota Production system and lean six sigma?
