Wheeling & Lake Erie 2-6-6-2 Type Locomotives

Class I-2 (Locobase 7895)

Data from W&LE 8 - 1923 & 10 1924 Locomotive Diagram books supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Works numbers were 57043-57052, 57704-57713. This class owns the distinction of having the biggest-diameter HP and LP cylinders of any 2-6-6-2 Locobase has uncovered. Firebox area was relatively grand as well, the basic hearth heating surface and largest-ever grate augmented by 50 sq ft in 5 arch tubes. The design also had tall drivers.

Eugene Huddleston (Trains, March 1991) tells us that the I-2s were an older design than the USRA Light Mallets that the railroad received just 2 years later (Locobase 7896). Locobase suspects they were good enough for two decades, although likely to run out of steam on main-line freight runs trying to supply those big HP cylinders, but when the much more upt-to-date K-1 2-8-4s (Locobase 64) came on the property in the 1930s, the W & LE shed these compounds quickly. By the end of the 1930s, they had all been scrapped.

Class I-3 (Locobase 7896)

Data from W&LE 8 - 1923 & 10 1924 Locomotive Diagram books supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Works numbers were 52178, 52268, 52287-52290, 52313, 52330, 52350, 52424. Compared to the Brooks-built 2-6-6-2s delivered 2 years earlier, these had smaller cylinders and drivers , but larger boilers and more firebox heating surface using longer boiler tubes. They were in fact USRA Light articulateds, one of that enterprise's less-successful designs that on the W & LE served mine runs out of Pine Valley, Ohio. According to Eugene Huddleston (Trains, March 1991, p 37), "No one on the Wheeling ever said the USRA Mallets were a bad design; it was just that a use for them could not be found commensurate with their specifications."

Six were scrapped in the early 1940s. The last 4 remained in service until the 1950s, essentially unchanged.

Specifications
ClassI-2I-3
Locobase ID78957896
RailroadWheeling & Lake ErieWheeling & Lake Erie
Whyte2-6-6-22-6-6-2
Road Numbers8401-84208001-8010
GaugeStdStd
BuilderAlco-BrooksBaldwin
Year19171919
Valve GearBakerBaker
Locomotive Length and Weight
Driver Wheelbase11'10.60'
Engine Wheelbase50.25'49.75'
Ratio of driving wheelbase to overall engine wheebase 0.22 0.21
Overall Wheelbase (engine & tender)80.04'85.04'
Axle Loading (Maximum Weight per Axle)61000 lbs
Weight on Drivers362500 lbs360000 lbs
Engine Weight435000 lbs452000 lbs
Tender Light Weight192300 lbs192000 lbs
Total Engine and Tender Weight627300 lbs644000 lbs
Tender Water Capacity9000 gals10000 gals
Tender Fuel Capacity (oil/coal)23 tons18.5 tons
Minimum weight per yard of rail on which locomotive could run100.69 lb rail100 lb rail
Geometry Relating to Tractive Effort
Driver Diameter63"57"
Boiler Pressure210 psi225 psi
Cylinders (dia x stroke)25.5" x 32"23" x 32"
Low Pressure Cylinders (dia x stroke)39" x 32"35" x 32"
Tractive Effort82599 lbs79336 lbs
Factor of Adhesion (Weight on Drivers/Tractive Effort) 4.39 4.54
Heating Ability
Firebox Area360 sq. ft416 sq. ft
Grate Area99 sq. ft76.30 sq. ft
Evaporative Heating Surface46705443
Superheating Surface11201260
Combined Heating Surface57906703
Evaporative Heating Surface/Cylinder Volume246.89353.72
Computations Relating to Power Output (More Information)
Robert LeMassena's Power Computation2079017167.50
Same as above plus superheater percentage24811.5520394.57
Same as above but substitute firebox area for grate area90223.83111194.51
Power L18248.0511315.00
Power MT300.97415.75

Credits

Introduction and specifications provided by Steve Llanso of Sweat House Media.