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Monster Mallet Review Issue
This month, we are blessed with a pair of Mallet compound articulated steam locomotives for review, one in HO and the other in Large Scale’s 1:29 A-scale. Most articulated steam locomotives in North America were of the Mallet type, meaning the rear engine is fixed with the cylinders forward and the front engine pivots on a hinge between the engines, and its cylinders are also in front. When Anatole Mallet originally patented the idea in the late 1880s, he didn’t specify compound steam use, but the idea seemed to go right along with the Mallet. In fact, many people assume the term Mallet means a swinging front engine and dual use of steam. By Mallet’s patent definition, compound steam was not part of his design. That means that most of the articulateds in North America were Mallets.
A six-pack of 0-6-6-0 machines were constructed by Canadian Pacific for itself in 1909 and 1911 with the front engine’s cylinders facing the rear, an idea often called a “Meyer” type, though the Meyers usually had both engines swinging.
As a result, these half dozen were rare examples of Meyer-Mallet types and were not especially successful. They were rebuilt in 1916 and 1917 to 2-10-0 Decapods which were more consistent with the road’s motive philosophy.

North America was home to around 4,000 total articulated steam locomotives ranging from 0-4-4-0 loggers up to the mighty 4-8-8-4 “Big Boy” type and the 2-6-6-6 “Allegheny” type. The number one owner of articulated steamers was the Norfolk & Western. Many of N&W’s big Mallets went off to work for other railroads, especially during World War II. They were good locomotives, well designed and maintained.

The Top Ten articulated loco operators rostered over half of the total machines. In order, they are: N&W – 465, C&O – 381, SP – 282, B&O – 250, UP – 209, GN – 162, NP – 111, D&RGW – 103, ATSF – 93, and NYC – 91.
Under the heading of “Fun With Photoshop” is this classic image of an N&W company photographer preparing to take a photo of … an Aristo-Craft Mallet wearing a Pennsy Keystone!
All of them — except NYC — operated in heavy mountains; the Central used its articulateds mostly for humpyard service. Interestingly, the top three own over a fourth of all roster slots. (I refer to roster slots because some locos actually worked on more than one railroad or were rebuilt such that they appeared in more than one place.)

B&O kicked off the whole articulated business in 1904 with “Old Maude,” an 0-6-6-0 from Alco, but perhaps the most prolific type of all was the Y-3 and Y-3a built first for the USRA who sent 50 to N&W, 26 for B&O, 20 for the Virginian, and 10 for Clinchfield. After WWI, more copies were ordered by N&W along with some for D&RGW and NP. Roanoke kept building more of its own for use on the N&W. Later, during the next big war, UP, Santa Fe, and Pennsy wound up buying used Mallets from N&W. They were slow, lumbering pullers, but reliable and prodigious.

Obviously, I’m a fan of Big Steam, and I’m very excited to see two versions of the USRA 2-8-8-2, one in HO by Life-Like and the other in Large 1:29 Scale by Aristo-Craft. Both will actually operate on relatively small curves for their respective gauges. Both are wonderful products from quality model makers. Of course, the Aristo version is more expensive; it is, after all, three time taller, three times wider, and three times longer. It is around sixteen times heavier. While it has a very nice smoke generator and superb lighting, it lacks the sound and DCC decoder of its smaller sister. At full slip, it draws a little over ten times as much amperage.

Both are grand models to operate, and each illustrates the magic of articulated steam within its scale. I used to spend my workday hanging out with fourth graders; now I hang out with these fine models. Who said getting old is all bad?
— John Sipple
To respond to this month's Editorial, send comments to: Editorial@modelrailroadnews.com