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SP 4-8-8-2 CAB FORWARD
Mallets were primarily used on the Southern Pacific railroads in the early 1900's. However, this presented a problem when traversing the tunnels and mountains of the Sierra Nevada. The smoke was so great in thickness, that is became hard even to breath. To overcome this, the design of the 4-8-8-2 was modified with the cab forward of the engine, rather than in the rear. As smoke was exhausted, it remained behind the cab, alleviating the smoke in the engineers face. All of the engines had 24" x 32" cylinders and 63" drivers, with an approximate weight of 531,700 pounds, able to produce 124,300 pounds of tractive force. The SP was used in grades as much as 2.5 per cent. An engineer could even walk from the front of the cab to the tender without getting off the train. Preceding information extracted from: Westcott, Lynn H. (1960). Steam Locomotives, 166-171. Kalmbach Publishing Co: WI