Mason Bogie locomotives (also known as Mason Fairlie locomotives) are a type of articulated tank locomotive suited for sharp curves and uneven track, once commonly used on narrow-gauge railways in the United States. The design is a development of the Single Fairlie locomotive.
The American licensee of the Fairlie Patent steam locomotive was the firm of William Mason, located in Taunton, Massachusetts. Mason's first Fairlie locomotive was the Janus, an 0-6-6-0 T Double Fairlie built in 1871. [1]
Janus was not commercially successful and was not repeated, so Mason experimented with a different design. In 1869, a Single Fairlie locomotive 0-4-4 T had been designed and constructed by Alexander McDonnell for the Great Southern and Western Railway in Ireland. [2] This had a single boiler with one articulated, powered truck beneath it and a second, unpowered truck beneath the cab and bunker. Mason developed a set of standard plans based on this design with modified steam delivery systems. [1] His first locomotive was the Onward, a 3 ft (914 mm) gauge 0-4-4T completed 1 July 1872. Onward would enter service on the American Fork Railroad shortly afterwards before being moved to the Eureka and Palisade Railroad in 1873. [3]
Onward was a largely successful engine, but certain design elements proved troublesome. Bolts worked loose, center castings were too light, and the steam pipes and gaskets were insufficient. [1] [3] Mason redesigned the faulty castings and designed a new delivery system, in which the pivot point for the leading truck became a hollow ball joint through which the live steam for the cylinders passed. [4] [5] Mason also developed a sliding seal for the exhaust from the moving cylinder saddle into the smoke box. [6] Although better, Mason's improvements took up much-needed space between the driving wheels, forcing Mason to use an outside valve gear (generally the Walschaerts valve gear). Additionally, the reversing shaft had to be mounted on top of the boiler, with a long lifting link dropping down to the radius rod, a feature unique to Mason Bogies due to the rotating truck and tight clearances. [1]
Another problem with the early Bogies was poor tracking. Despite the drivers being articulated, excessive flange wear on the leading driver set required the use of a pilot truck. [1] Nonetheless, these engines were in high demand, and even Onward was brought back under UP from Nevada to the Utah and Northern Railway despite the protests from Nevada Central, which owned the locomotive. [3]
148 Bogies were produced by the Mason Machine Works between 1872 and 1890, of which 96 were narrow gauge units, the rest being standard gauge. [7] [8] This was about half the firm's total output of locomotives during this period. Major buyers included the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad, a suburban carrier which owned 32, the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad, a Colorado common-carrier railroad which owned 23, the New York and Manhattan Beach Railroad which owned 17, and the Wheeling and Lake Erie which was the largest standard gauge customer with 16 locomotives.
The best-known Mason Bogies were those of the Denver, South Park and Pacific, which were the largest built for narrow gauge. [8] Most of the smaller Bogies were used on the Utah & Northern where they were found in 1884 as "large and powerful." [9] Copies of the DSP&P's biggest engines were built for the Denver, Utah & Pacific, which sold them to the Burlington and Northwestern Railway, a CB&Q subsidiary in Iowa. [10] The DSP&P engines were hard-used in Utah and all gone by 1894 except for one, which survived through a chain of owners until 1942. [11]
The Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad almost exclusively used Mason Bogies and continued to order bogie types after Mason ceased locomotive production in 1890. [1] Copies were built first by the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company, then by Manchester Locomotive Works and finally by the American Locomotive Company. These were taken out of service when electrification was complete in 1928, except for two engines which were retained for snowfighting and work trains.
Snowfighting was found a considerable strength for Mason Bogies. F. G. Brownell of the Burlington & Lamoille found that their Mansfield could free itself from snowdrifts "higher than the cab" with minimal issue. [1]
Only one Mason Bogie, Torch Lake, survives, at Greenfield Village (part of The Henry Ford) in Dearborn, Michigan, a standard gauge 0-6-4 . It was built in 1873 and still hauls passengers during the summer months.
Superficially similar to the Mason Bogie is another design, the Forney locomotive. Like the Mason Bogie, the Forney has powered axles under the boiler and a trailing truck under the rear bunker and tank behind the cab. However, the Forney's driving wheels are fixed in the frame, rather than articulated. They were reasonably popular, particularly on elevated railroads.
A bogie is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally attached or be quickly detachable. It may include a suspension component within it, or be solid and in turn be suspended ; it may be mounted on a swivel, as traditionally on a railway carriage or locomotive, additionally jointed and sprung, or held in place by other means.
A geared steam locomotive is a type of steam locomotive which uses gearing, usually reduction gearing, in the drivetrain, as opposed to the common directly driven design.
A Mallet locomotive is a type of compound articulated steam locomotive, invented by the Swiss engineer Anatole Mallet (1837–1919).
A Fairlie locomotive is a type of articulated steam locomotive that has the driving wheels on bogies. The locomotive may be double-ended or single ended.
An articulated locomotive is a steam locomotive with one or more engine units that can move independently of the main frame. Articulation allows the operation of locomotives that would otherwise be too large to negotiate a railroad's curves, whether mainlines or special lines with extreme curvature such as logging, industrial, or mountain railways.
In the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotive wheel arrangement, an 0-4-4-0 is a locomotive with no leading wheels, two sets of four driving wheels, and no trailing wheels. The arrangement is chosen to give the articulation of a locomotive with only the short rigid wheelbase of an 0-4-0, but with its weight spread across eight wheels, and with all the weight carried on the driving wheels; effectively a flexible 0-8-0. Articulated examples were constructed as Mallet, Meyer, BMAG and Double Fairlie locomotives and also as geared locomotives such as Shay, Heisler, and Climax types. A similar configuration was used on some Garratt locomotives, but it is referred to as 0-4-0+0-4-0. In the electric and diesel eras, the Bo-Bo is comparable and closest to the Meyer arrangement of two swivelling bogies.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, 2-4-4 is a steam locomotive with two unpowered leading wheels followed by four powered driving wheels and four unpowered trailing wheels. This configuration was only used for tank locomotives; no tender locomotives with this wheel arrangement were made.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-2-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, two powered driving wheels on one axle, and four trailing wheels on two axles.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, a 2-6-6-2 is a locomotive with one pair of unpowered leading wheels, followed by two sets of three pairs of powered driving wheels and one pair of trailing wheels. The wheel arrangement was principally used on Mallet-type articulated locomotives, although some tank locomotive examples were also built. A Garratt locomotive or Golwé locomotive with the same wheel arrangement is designated 2-6-0+0-6-2 since both engine units are pivoting.
A Meyer locomotive is a type of articulated locomotive that has two separate bogies, upon which the boiler and firebox swivel. The design was never as popular as the Garratt or Mallet locomotives. It can be best regarded as 19th Century competition for the early compound Mallet and also the Fairlie articulated designs. Most single cab modern trains are of a similar design such as power cars, freight diesel locomotives, and some passenger locomotives.
The term cab forward locomotive refers to various rail and road vehicle designs that place the driver's compartment substantially farther towards the front than is common practice.
In the Whyte notation for describing steam locomotive wheel arrangement, a 2-8-6 is a locomotive with a two-wheel leading truck, eight driving wheels, and a six-wheel trailing truck. All 2-8-6 locomotives constructed have been Mason Bogie tank locomotives.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, a 4-6-2+2-6-4 is a Garratt or Union Garratt articulated locomotive using a pair of 4-6-2 engine units back to back, with the boiler and cab suspended between them. The 4-6-2 wheel arrangement of each engine unit has four leading wheels on two axles, usually in a leading bogie, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle, usually in a trailing truck.
The Forney locomotive is a type of tank locomotive patented by Matthias N. Forney between 1861 and 1864 and used predominantly in the US.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, a 2-8-2+2-8-2 is an articulated locomotive using a pair of 2-8-2 power units back to back, with the boiler and cab suspended between them. The 2-8-2 wheel arrangement has a single pair of leading wheels in a leading truck, followed by four coupled pairs of driving wheels and a pair of trailing wheels in a trailing truck. Since the 2-8-2 type was known as Mikado, the corresponding Garratt and Modified Fairlie types were usually known as Double Mikado.
Moel Tryfan was a narrow gauge steam locomotive built for use on the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways (NWNGRs) in 1874/5. The locomotive was an 0-6-4T single Fairlie locomotive built by the Vulcan Foundry near Manchester. It spent its entire working life on the NWNGRs and its successors the Welsh Highland Railway (WHR) and the Ffestiniog Railway (FfR).
The South African Railways Class FC 2-6-2+2-6-2 of 1925 was an articulated steam locomotive.
The South African Railways Class GA 2-6-0+0-6-2 of 1921 was an articulated steam locomotive.
The Cape Government Railways Fairlie 0-6-0+0-6-0 of 1876 was a South African steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Cape of Good Hope.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-6 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and six trailing wheels on three axles. All locomotives with this wheel arrangement were tank locomotives; no 0-6-6 tender locomotives were recorded.