Erie Triplexes in Sayre

Its recorded in several sources (I was just leafing through "Erie Power" by Stauffer last night) that the three Erie 2-8-8-8-2 Triplexes (the first of which was the "Matt H. Shay") were too large to be shopped at any Erie facilities, and were often worked on by the LV at Sayre.

If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, then why are there NO known photos of Erie 2-8-8-8-2's in and around Sayre??
Perhaps some photos exist, but I have never seen even one..
the collection of the Sayre museum back in the 80's never had one..
strange..seems like they would be very popular photographic subjects!

thoughts?

thanks,
Scot

You mean this bad boy?



Don't know where it was taken or what date though.

John

Steamlocomotive.com reports that the class P1 triplexes ..."The triplexes were used with some success on the Erie Railroad but were not without problems. They were too large for Erie's own shops. Major repairs were performed in the Lehigh Valley shops at Sayre, PA"

It probably would have something to do with photography still being relatively crude at the time (early teens) and these engines simply not existing for very long. Seems to me they were rebuilt to eliminate the trailing cylinder set before they were even 5 years old.

Hi All,

As I remember it, the triplexes had boilers that could not support six cylinders for any reasonable length of time. This limited their range and usage considerably and led to them being shortened etc.

Makes one think that an American Garratt just might have been more successful.

Another problem was as coal and water were consumed the resulting lessning of weight in the tender caused the rear drivers to slip excessivly.

pennsy wrote:As I remember it, the triplexes had boilers that could not support six cylinders for any reasonable length of time.

The triplex' boiler capacity limitation was due in large part to the arrangement of its steam exhaust:

The triplex was built as a "compound" locomotive. High pressure steam was first fed to the center (high pressure) cylinders. Exhaust steam - still under considerable pressure - was then divided equally and routed to the front and rear (low pressure) cylinders for final expansion.

The front cylinders exhausted conventionally thru the smokebox where it induced combustion draft on its way out the stack. The tender cylinders however exhausted directly to atmosphere via a blast pipe located at the rear of the tender. Rear cylinder exhaust steam was thus "wasted" as far as draft production is concerned.

Bottom line is only 1/2 of the exhaust steam was available to induce boiler draft . This caused the boiler suffer from a low maximum firing rate which then severely limited its steam generating ability. Thus the triplex' propensity to quickly "run out of steam" under heavy load.

I recall reading an account by one of the fireman that fired those engines. One time they were going up over Gulf Summit and the stoker quit so he had to fire it by hand. He said it was the only time they ever went over the Summit with a full head of steam!

JhnZ33 wrote:You mean this bad boy?



Don't know where it was taken or what date though.

John

The three story stone building in the background looks suspiciously like the offices of the Pennsylvania Coal Company at Dunmore, Pa. These were also the offices of the Erie & Wyoming Valley, later the Wyoming Division.

If so, the triplexes may not always have been shopped at Sayre.

Ok, this is probably very wishful thinking, but here is a section of a Penn Pilot aerial photo from May 16, 1939, located at the Erie Railroad Dunmore shops. If you look directly in front of the PCC offices you will see what looks like a very large locomotive. Hmmmmmmm..... could it be?

duplexdrive wrote:Ok, this is probably very wishful thinking, but here is a section of a Penn Pilot aerial photo from May 16, 1939, located at the Erie Railroad Dunmore shops. If you look directly in front of the PCC offices you will see what looks like a very large locomotive. Hmmmmmmm..... could it be?

while I agree that does look like a very long locomotive in the aerial photo..
considering the date of the photo, 1939, and the known scrapping dates for the three Erie triplexes, 1929, 1930, and 1933..
well...sorry..

Scot

With regard to rebuilding the triplexes to eliminate the trailing drivers, I have never read of this happening on the Erie but it certainly did on the Virginian. Apparently their's was a disaster.

After the change in the erecting shop and the instalation of the 250 Morgan crane the triplexes could be lifted in Hornell for servicing.


Dick Welles

Hello , my name is Tony and I was reading your post about the Erie Triplex and to give you the correct info of the photo that was posted , let me say that my neighbor who is 92 years old and a retired Erie worker has an original photo of the Triplex sitting in front of the Pa. Coal Co. Office / Erie Office here in Dunmore , Pa. Bill told me the photo was taken in 1920 and belonged to his late father . The Loco needed repairs and repainting , so it was towed from Ararat Mountain near Uniondale to the Dunmore shops across from my house , the roundhouse sat across from my home , I remember it burned down in 1969 / 1970 . I have a load of the bricks from the roundhouse after it burned .

I am First Vice President of the Dunmore Historical Society and have been gathering information on the PCC Gravity as well as the E W V / Erie RR's for more than 45 years . I have a few original maps from 1869 and up and access to many many more from a private collection . If I can be of any help please e-mail me at [email protected].

Glad to be part of the group ,

Tony