Locomotive
The Historic Jefferson Railway operates a Crown Metal Products replica of an 1870s 4-4-0. In Whyte notation, the 4-4-0 is known as an "American" class locomotive or, alternately, an "eight-wheeler". The four small wheels under the front of the engine aid steering, while the four large wheels (drivers) apply power to the rail. There are no wheels underneath the locomotive cab. The 4-4-0 was the most prolific and popular wheel arrangement in the United States during its time, leading to the nickname "American Standard", later shortened to "American".
The locomotive carries the number 7, and the name "Robert E. Lee". Both were original to the Six Gun Territory and have been preserved out of respect. Her diamond stack suggests a wood-burner, but the wood on the tender is strictly ornamental, as she has been converted to burn propane. (The use of feminine pronouns when referring to locomotives carried over from ships).
Built in 1964 on special order from Six Gun Territory, the locomotive boiler is welded (as opposed to riveted, like her prototype) and operates at a working pressure of 190 PSI. All functions critical to the operation of the locomotive are steam-driven, including the air compressor and water injectors. Water is injected into the boiler with Penberthy-type live steam injectors, rather than cross-head pumps typical of the 19th century.
Read more about this topic: Jefferson And Cypress Bayou Railway
Famous quotes containing the word locomotive:
“The American people have done much for the locomotive, and the locomotive has done much for them.”
—James A. Garfield (1831–1881)
“Hereditary property sophisticates the mind, and the unfortunate victims to it ... swathed from their birth, seldom exert the locomotive faculty of body or mind; and, thus viewing every thing through one medium, and that a false one, they are unable to discern in what true merit and happiness consist.”
—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)
“I walked on the banks of the tincan banana dock and sat down under the huge shade of a Southern Pacific locomotive to look at the sunset over the box house hills and cry.”
—Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)