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Actually it's all-wheel-drive!

4x4 Train?

Posted August 23 2011 10:29 PM by John Cappa
Filed under: Editorials, John Cappa

I bumped into this train while passing through the Lake Shasta, California, area. Pretty cool all-wheel-drive system.

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I'm not totally sure why it would need this, perhaps it needed the extra traction to push the huge wooden railroad snow plow which was nearby. Or maybe it needed the extra traction to haul heavy loads up the steep grades in the area. Either way it must have needed daily grease gun work and I'm sure it had a ton of parasitic loss.

Reader Comments:

1. It's a Shay or climax locomotive. They were used in narrow-gauge logging operations where it was about moving very large loads of logs up and down steep grades on temporary track. They weren't fast, it was about low-gear crawling. When you see them in action, it's an odd combination of excitement (because there is a ton of mechanical action going on, with the pistons pumping and steam everywhere) and boredom (because at top speed, they basically just crawl along).

nwguy - Posted August 24 2011 06:49 AM

2. Cool. I had no idea. But looking at it now I realize there was no way the thing could go fast without the drivetrain eating itself up.

John Cappa - Posted August 24 2011 10:11 AM

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