Hobo Jungle

[Tramp]

Did you notice that I aligned the valve gear from each section? 3rd Rail doesn't do that. It's great seeing them move together. I even painted the tender valves red, along with all the others.

[P&R Pete]

Are they supposed to be aligned?
I'd wonder, with a locomotive that massive, if you wouldn't want all four sets of running gear offset by a quarter-turn, (and thus each side by a half-turn) so there would always be one that is applying power.

I'd try to look up a prototype picture, but I'm at work, and I don't... uh-oh, here comes the boss... see you la

[2railjon]

LOL, Pete!! Hit the "boss button"!!

Tramp, I never really noticed in-sync valve gear untill you pointed it out. Is it permenent or will it go out of sync?
Here's a prototype shot:

[2railjon]

Out of sync here.

[P&R Pete]

I was thinking it SHOULD be offset, and out of "sync".

[Tramp]

Jon, the ones on my model are intentionally slightly out of sync as on the prototype, and they stay that way. The second shot is of a worn out version. Actually, I've seen them both ways, but I like them better visually when they're in sync or 180 degrees apposed.

[2railjon]

In this shot of a 3rd Rail C&O version, the detailing of the flex pipes are incredible!
And although the white stripe the around the walkways is pretty prototypical, I prefer it blacked out. It detracts from the engines massive appearence.

[rogruth]

As I understand it, the front and rear engines were usually out of sync to ease rail hammer and rail wear. They also would be prone to slipping if in sync. I mcant find my reference right now, but some were built with thinner tires on one engine to avoid these problems.

[2railjon]

906 Virginian. Excellent sceen saver!!

[Tramp]

Jon, keep this up and I'm not selling it!

It's not that hard to change the valve sync if you want. Of course you must take the thing all apart. This is one HEAVY engine. It's truely a beast.

[2railjon]

Noooooo!! I'm all for the valve in sync. But if I gather I'm reading this passage properly it seems that keeping them in sync would be practically impossible due to slippage:

Attention should be given to the slipping of the driving wheels in a Mallet locomotive. If the wheels of the forward group slip frequently, while those of the rear group do not, it is an indication that steam is leaking past the high-pressure valves, and these should be examined for blows. If the valves are in good condition, and the wheels of only one group slip, the unbalanced pressures resulting will tend to stop such slipping. Any continuous slipping can occur only in both groups of wheels simultaneously, and should be corrected by throttling the steam and using sand.

Taken from:
http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/blwmal00.Html

[rogruth]

Tramp, My reference , of course, is to the 4feet 8 & 1/2 inch models. It does look great lined in sync.

[Tramp]

Maybe they were built that way? The above photo where the drivers are in sync looks like a shop photo.

[Frank in Steam]

Looks like a builder's photo. The pin up photos were almost always posed with the drivers down. Kinda like waist in, chest out, head back w/ slight tilt and come hither smile.

[2railjon]

Who woulda' thought..........