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6-2-0

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Railway transport

   A drawing of a C&A 6-2-0, circa 1847.
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   A drawing of a C&A 6-2-0, circa 1847.

   In the Whyte notation, a 6-2-0 is a railroad steam locomotive that has
   an unpowered three-axle leading truck followed by a single powered
   driving axle. This wheel arrangement is often referred to as a
   Crampton, though that term can refer to some 4-2-0 locomotives as well.

   The equivalent UIC classification is 3'A.

History

   The 6-2-0 was one of the earlier wheel arrangements that was
   experimented with in the United States after having proven itself on
   early English railways.

   On a trip to England, Robert L. Stevens, president of the Camden and
   Amboy (C&A) railroad, saw demonstrations of 6-2-0s on the railways
   there. When he returned in 1847, Stevens asked his master mechanic
   Isaac Dripps to build him a 6-2-0 for use on the C&A. The
   specifications for the first 6-2-0 included a 38" diameter boiler that
   would burn anthracite coal and 96" diameter driving wheels.

   Designing the locomotive type to burn coal, which was still fairly
   expensive and difficult to come by, was unusual for the time. The great
   majority of locomotives of the 1830s and 1840s were built to burn wood,
   which was very plentiful, cheap and exceptionally easy to obtain along
   the railroad rights of way. Besides being more expensive, coal required
   a larger firebox in which to burn. Dripps rose to the challenge and
   created an operable design.

   The first locomotive based on these specifications, named John Stevens,
   was completed in 1849. Dripps wasn't too sure that the locomotive would
   prove effective on American railroads, and his reservations turned out
   to be correct. The locomotive's tractive effort was not sufficient for
   long term or heavy work. With only one driving axle and three unpowered
   leading axles, too much of the locomotive's weight was spread over the
   unpowered lead truck. Almost a century passed before a six-wheel
   leading truck was used again, on the PRR S1 and S2.

   The C&A's management, on the other hand, thought it performed admirably
   enough to order several more of them and place them in passenger
   service. The 6-2-0s were in use as late as 1865.
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