Roger Wrote:
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> "There are very subtle differences between her and
> a Shay and I think that the design engineers in
> Portland accomplished what they wanted on a number
> of things."
>
> Might you be willing to share some of the subtle
> differences and the accomplishments of the
> Portland engineers? Nothing elaborate, of course,
> but just some bare essentials? Thanks!


Well, to me the most noticible difference between a Shay and a Willamette is that
the 3 valves and cylinders on a Willamette all face outward, while on a 3 cylinder Shay,
the front two cylinders face forward and the number 1 or rear cylinder faces back. This
means nothing as far as performance, but Willamette geared locomotives all used Walschaert
valve motion while 99% of the Shays used Stevenson. Some folks will argue that Stevenson
motion offered a constant lead (I think I have that correct), but the fact is that the
Walschaert was far better as it was a single eccentic as opposed to Stevenson which had
two and the much greater weight that went along with it. My argument is this...show me just
one 4-8-4 with Stevenson motion, I believe that they all used either Walschaert or Baker,
another modern motion.
The Willamette also had the springs on their trucks slightly inclined inward toward the
bolster, the idea here was to cut down on the locomotive swaying too much on rough track.
To me, the Deuce rode really well and maybe just a little better than a lot of Shays that
I have been on. This feature was supposed to have been on all of the 33 Willamette locos,
but when I showed my son Mike this on the ex-Anaconda Copper engine displayed in Missoula,
I was surprised to see that her front truck did not have this...perhaps it was not yet
developed and on the very early ones.
Willamette also used a girder frame on all of its locos. Very strong indeed, but also
sometimes a little too rigid for some operators that had really sharp curvature.
I guess I just like the fact that Willamette went to Walschaert motion, something that
Lima didn't bother to do. They were pretty complacent with the Shay design for years,
perhaps because the had the lions share of the geared locomotive market.
Willamette also kept the number 1 or rear cylinder out of the cab and believe me, this
feature made a lot of engineman breathe a lot easier. I had a late friend whose father
worked for Willamette and this was appreciated to nearly all who he demonstrated the
machines to. That rear cylinder was more frequenly the one that had the cylinder head
come off when somebody got careless and worked water...it all went to the far end of the
header and most of it ended up in the rear cylinder, oftentimes with damaging and
scary results.
Willamette had an opportunity for a number of years to study the Shay when they worked
on them and then went and made some improvements when they decided to go into the
locomotive business.