Class 50 (Locobase 3568)

This pocket rocket was built for a mountain narrow-gauge that operated in Western Colorado and Utah. 50 (BLW 59261) was built in June 1926; 51 (BLW 60470) emerged almost 2 years later in May 1928.

The long water tanks extended from the cab to the middle of the front engine unit. Steam was led forward under the boiler jacket in a dry pipe to the superheater as usual, but returned for the rear cylinders in two heavily lagged external pipes that branched around the stack and dropped down to the cylinders behind the water tanks on each side.

The leading truck was equalized with the front unit's drivers and could swing 6 3/4" to each side. The rear, bissell truck was equalized with the rear driving set.

These Mallet Prairie Tanks could handle twice the train load on the 5% grade that ruled, wrangling 240 tons up such a slope. On the 1.1% grade between Watson and Dragon, 51 was rated at 1,150 tons.At the other extreme, the 7.5% grade between Atehea and Baxter Pass brought the tonnage rating down to 145 tons.

http://home.bresnan.net/~bpratt15/a_longer_history.htm, accessed 9 Jan 2006 and recommended as an excellent site covering the Uintah Railroad past and present, notes that as delivered the 50 had one steam dome in the middle of the boiler. After an engineer negotiating the five miles of 7 1/2% adverse grade realized the water glass was showing empty, a second steam dome was emplaced near the cab.

Wiener (1930) gave the details. http://web3.foxinternet.net/sarek/mallets notes that the Uintah sold off both locomotives in 1940 to Sumpter Valley in Oregon, where they operated until 1947 as 250 & 251. Still yoked in their joint destiny, the two engines then went to the International Railways of Central America in Escuintla, Guatemala. 251 retired first in 1962 and 250 followed in 1964.