Postby sarge » Thu Jul 23, 2015 9:17 pm
Woody:
These locos were built in standard, 5-foot, and 5' 6" gauge. It was one of the beauties of the design; it was easily adapted to multiple gauges during construction.
The buffer beams were a good example of the adaptability. The coupling unbolted completely and a Buckeye/Janney/AAR coupling with the required draughtgear bolted in place. The buffers unbolted too, so a clear conversion with only big wrenches by hand outdoors.
Everything wasn't quite as perfect as hoped. When they used them in Britain they had to redress the flanges to cope with RCH flangeways; close but not identical to AAR. Worse was the engine brake. No-one in the USA had a good handle on what was needed for loose-coupled goods trains so the loco brake was pretty much like what you would get in the USA. Fine for moving the loco and they all had Westinghouse brakes fitted. When they were used in the UK the engine brake was pretty weak compared to UK ones, so they had to take the weak braking power into account when used on non-airbrake trains.
Still in all, a marvelous piece of American loco history often forgotten by Americans. More have been restored in the UK than in the USA and all re-imported before restoration to boot!
Regarding African steam railways, the majority of the railways built under the Empire were 42" gauge and there was an intention of linking them from "Cape to Cairo". Didn;t quite work out but actually got dam close in spite of the interruptions by WWI, WWII, and the British financial collapse after WWII broke the exchequer. I believe the German and French colonies had metre gauge and in some cases standard; the North African railway was standard and operated with WD and USATC equipment (famously Alco RSD-1s from the USATC) after "Torch".
