I just bought a very old book called When Railroads Were New; it's written by someone named Charles Frederick Carter, and was published in New York, by Henry Holt & Co., in 1909 . The book is illustrated, and one of the illustrations shows a comparison of the size the Best Friend of Charleston with "the largest [locomotive] ever built" in America.
That "Largest Locomotive" is an 0-8-8-0 Camelback (!); the caption says it is a compound engine weighing 410,000 lbs. The tender is not in the picture; the cab is numbered 2600 but there is no road name on it. It's a bizarre looking beast-- the front pair of cylinders look to be about five feet forward of the smokebox, and the lead pair of drivers are forward of the smokebox as well. It appears to have Walschaerts valve gear. Judging by the size of the cylinders, the rear pair are the high pressure half of the compound, the forward pair the low pressure. The firebox is enormous-- the same width as the tender-- and the engine is clearly deckless and fired from the tender gangway.
So.... anybody out there know what this thing is? I don't unfortunately have the technology here at home to scan the picture in and post it, otherwise I'd put the photo in here as well.
That "Largest Locomotive" is an 0-8-8-0 Camelback (!); the caption says it is a compound engine weighing 410,000 lbs. The tender is not in the picture; the cab is numbered 2600 but there is no road name on it. It's a bizarre looking beast-- the front pair of cylinders look to be about five feet forward of the smokebox, and the lead pair of drivers are forward of the smokebox as well. It appears to have Walschaerts valve gear. Judging by the size of the cylinders, the rear pair are the high pressure half of the compound, the forward pair the low pressure. The firebox is enormous-- the same width as the tender-- and the engine is clearly deckless and fired from the tender gangway.
So.... anybody out there know what this thing is? I don't unfortunately have the technology here at home to scan the picture in and post it, otherwise I'd put the photo in here as well.