Confounding The Whyte Sytem

[Mountain Man]

This is intended as tongue-in-cheek. The Whyte Sytem, of course, is the wheel classification system familiar to all of us, 2-60-, 2-8-8-4 and so
forth.

Some locomotives, however defy classification by the Whyte System, such as the Holman Horror linked alsewhere, and this little gem:

http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/petiet/frexp.htm

 

[Triplex]

I thought you were going to link to this page: http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/belgian/smashsys.htm Personally, I think this one messes up the system just as much: http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/hurricane/hurricane.htm The drive axle isn't even on the locomotive! A slightly less crazy example is http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/argturb/argturb.htm

 

[Mountain Man]

The list was rather long and distinguished! :mrgreen:

However, after I noted the large number of readers but no posters late last night, I decided to quit while I was marginally ahead.

Personally, I would class the Hurricane as a 2-2-8-4...sort of.

What truly amazes me is that so many of these were actually built. It's very much like the early days of flight, when bizarre contraptions appeared everywhere. Empirical designing at it's finest.

 

[N Gauger]

Too Neat!! Yeah - I think you're right - Experimentation in "early years" of development is always great to look back on Same as planes!!

 

[Mountain Man]

Too Neat!! Yeah - I think you're right - Experimentation in "early years" of development is always great to look back on Same as planes!!

I wish I were one of the extremely handy and talented guys that scratch build locos in metal. It would be great to build an entire fantasy railroad that operated some of these, with equally whacky factories, cranes, industrial machines and structures, sort of Harry Potter gone wild.

 

[nachoman]

good stuff!

Kevin

 

[Dave Harris]

I wish I were one of the extremely handy and talented guys that scratch build locos in metal. It would be great to build an entire fantasy railroad that operated some of these, with equally whacky factories, cranes, industrial machines and structures, sort of Harry Potter gone wild.

I wish you were too.
I am one of those guys & I would not even think of it .

 

[Dave Harris]

Probably the biggest drawback to building one of these monstrocities is they are so DAM UGLY --- who wants to labor over anything that only makes the viewer cringe .

 

[60103]

For its time, the Whyte system was extremely elegant and simple. capable of describing the locomotives of the time and most of the ones that followed. With slight extensions it could describe almost all of the successful steam locos that were built, if you allow that it was only intended to note wheel arrangements.

 

[CSXect]

Ugly is in the eye of the operatorsign1 Anyone care to take on one of these as a project???:mrgreen:

 

[Mountain Man]

Probably the biggest drawback to building one of these monstrocities is they are so DAM UGLY --- who wants to labor over anything that only makes the viewer cringe .

I was thinking of them done in the "iron gingerbread" Victorian style. They could, of course, be somewhat 'bashed' to conform to that style.