The adoption of the wide firebox for burning soft coal by the Baltimore
& Ohio is interesting from the fact that this road has had a
long
and extensive experience with large grate areas for hard coal. This
design is particularly noteworthy beacuase of the combination of wide
grates and compound cylinders with the "Atlantic" type of wheel
configuration. Reports indicate that the expectations are being
realized.With a total weight of not quite 150,000lbs, the total heating
surface is 2.663 square feet, which is almost the same as that as the
10-wheel locomotives of the Great Northern Railway built in 1898, which
weigh 166,000lbs. The Baltimore
&
Ohio engine has more heating
surface for its weight than any design of this type of which we have
record, and this indicates a successful effort to save weight elsewhere
in order to increase the boiler capacity. The engines were built in the
Baldwin
Locomotive Works at
Philadelphia, PA.
