It is pretty much agreed that the New York Central's ''Super Hudson'' locomotives were a rousing success. The question I have wondered is, if that is so why didn't they just enlarge it proportionately to a 4-8-4 and not have to design a new locomotive (the Niagara )?
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It is pretty much agreed that the New York Central's ''Super Hudson'' locomotives were a rousing success. The question I have wondered is, if that is so why didn't they just enlarge it proportionately to a 4-8-4 and not have to design a new locomotive (the Niagara )?
You don't think that "enlarging it proportionally" isn't designing a new 4-8-4?
The Niagara was the result of an effort to design a Mohawk with greater capacity/power. That investigation led to the conclusion that a four wheel trailing truck would be required for the furnace weight and volume. At the end of the day, the Niagara was much larger than the latest Mohawk. The L-4B weighed 401,000 lb. The Niagaras weighed 471,000 lb. The replacement of their original riveted boilers with welded boilers of carbon steel probably increased the weight another 8,000+ lb. They had the largest diameter boiler that NYC could use with 79" drivers and stay within the clearance diagram. So it seems that the only carryover from the Hudson was the use of 79" diameter drivers.
Hudson5432 beat me to it with some of the info there. I always thought the Niagara had some of the Hudson upgrades built into it.
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