Interesting comments. It's neat that number 9000 arrived at her final resting place under her own power. Sure would be impressive if she could be fired up again! Witnessing a 4-12-2 in action would certainly be a sight worth seeing.
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I suppose the 3rd cylinder is located in the middle, under the smoke box. Although I have looked, I have never found a drawing or photo of a steam loco from the underside. That's about the only way to see the 3rd cylinder, right?
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A truly unique locomotive. So, four of the 4-12-2 locomotives were built? It doesn't look like a mallet, therefore, what turn radius would be needed for this "Union Pacific" locomotive? Thanks for sharing, Shelley.
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This is the only surviving 4-12-2 locomotive, but it is one of 4 existing locomotives in North America that have 3 cylinders. The cap for the third cylinder can be seen directly in line under the small smokebox door. You can also see part of the third cylinder from the side when looking through a set of driving wheels.
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With regard to Shelley Hunter's comment, in the UK 3 cylinders were adopted for quite a few steam locomotive types - often the higher powered, express trains. A few 4 cylinder models were also built. Valve gear drive for the centre cylinder(s) was complicated, of course. The Bulleid type of passenger locomotives employed a chain drive, running in an oil bath. Complicated, and high maintenance.
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