International Coal Company 2-6-4 Locomotives in Canada

Class Sir Donald (Locobase 16303)

Data from "A Mogul Forney Locomotive - Rhode Island Locomotive Works," Railway Review (8 January 1892) pp. 877. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 6 May 2020 email correcting the engine's wheelbase.) Works number was 2573 in April 1891.

The Review reported that this "unusually powerful Forney" deserved attention because of its weight distribution, which aimed at putting the most weight on the adhesion axles as possible. Noting that most Forneys used just two driving axles, the RR commented that a need to provide more water and coal led to high percentage of weight placed on the rear truck. Some of the Forneys had three-axle bogies under the bunkers that bore between 50,000 and 100,000 lb (22,680-45,360 kg) of the engine's weight.

The Sir Donald offered a striking contrast: "In this engine only 28,000 lbs. is carried on this track, all of the weight thus removed belng placed upon the drivers. It will readily be seen from our illustration that the use of the third pair ofdriving wheels and their position under the fire-box near its back end practically insures a light weight upon the rear truck."

The report also salutes the Ocean Stater' finish: "The general appearance of the engine is excellent and creates a very favorable impression."

Locobase wonders if the lightly loaded rear truck could be subject to derailing when its crew ran the Sir Donald back end first. The IPC's roster shows that the Sir Donald later abandoned its rear truck and operated as a 2-6-0T.

The RR report did not give any heating surface areas.

The ICC later became the Sydney & Louisburg.