The problem was the usual one, Shermann Hill and its modest but annoying slopes. The solution proposed by Erwin Wilson in 1946 and tested almost immediately, was elegant and traditional: the Fairlie system, i.e. coupling two locomotives for the cab and treating them as one, with only one pair of agents. It remained to solve the problem of water and fuel supply. Two Big Boys were converted to fuel oil and joined for the cab after having slightly raised one of the two to allow the tightest possible coupling compatible with the radius of curvature to be faced. Three tenders of the Centipede type were fixed by means of a system of elastic pipes. In order to allow the change of direction, a bayonet duct was installed at the ends of the two units, which could be hooked and unhooked automatically. Turning platforms were no longer necessary. It was enough to pressurize the machines, unhook the tender and move the engine in front of the tender unit. The 16,000 HP that the unit developed were available and in this way those annoying double tractions that tickled the amateur photographers, but that created so many problems for the staff, were eliminated. The service began in the spring of 1946, and on the maiden voyage Wilson took part in the cabin. The Fairliexxl hauled the 250 wagons of the convoy without batting an eyelid at an average speed of about 50 miles per hour.... Unheard of. It worked! But you know the demon of pride is always lurking. A decision had to be made on the name of the car. For a few days Brian Graffith, the usual employee, the one who with chalk, paint, pencil, laser pen had already so often disturbed the sleep of the UP marketing solons, was on maternity leave, that is, yes, well, not him, his wife was giving birth to their twelfth child and could not settle the dilemma quietly. A dispute arose between UP's marketing department and Wilson. As a good technician he wanted the machine to be called Fairliexxl, in honor of the inventor of the coupled machine configuration, while the marketing solons were thinking of a prosaic, but certainly effective, Doubleboy... Wilson got so angry that he took a sledgehammer to the automatic coupling system and destroyed the projects that nobody bothered to rebuild. Thus was lost one of the most interesting experiments in the history of steam in the USA. Of course Wilson immediately moved on to the competition. *** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***



Fairliexxl
Fairliexxl
Country	USA
Year	1946
Class	Superheated steam 8 cylinder single esp.	4-8-8-4-4-8-8-4


The problem was the usual one, Shermann Hill and its modest but annoying slopes. The solution proposed by Erwin Wilson in 1946 and tested almost immediately, was elegant and traditional: the Fairlie system, i.e. coupling two locomotives for the cab and treating them as one, with only one pair of agents. It remained to solve the problem of water and fuel supply. Two Big Boys were converted to fuel oil and joined for the cab after having slightly raised one of the two to allow the tightest possible coupling compatible with the radius of curvature to be faced. Three tenders of the Centipede type were fixed by means of a system of elastic pipes. In order to allow the change of direction, a bayonet duct was installed at the ends of the two units, which could be hooked and unhooked automatically. Turning platforms were no longer necessary. It was enough to pressurize the machines, unhook the tender and move the engine in front of the tender unit. The 16,000 HP that the unit developed were available and in this way those annoying double tractions that tickled the amateur photographers, but that created so many problems for the staff, were eliminated. The service began in the spring of 1946, and on the maiden voyage Wilson took part in the cabin. The Fairliexxl hauled the 250 wagons of the convoy without batting an eyelid at an average speed of about 50 miles per hour.... Unheard of. It worked! But you know the demon of pride is always lurking. A decision had to be made on the name of the car. For a few days Brian Graffith, the usual employee, the one who with chalk, paint, pencil, laser pen had already so often disturbed the sleep of the UP marketing solons, was on maternity leave, that is, yes, well, not him, his wife was giving birth to their twelfth child and could not settle the dilemma quietly. A dispute arose between UP's marketing department and Wilson. As a good technician he wanted the machine to be called Fairliexxl, in honor of the inventor of the coupled machine configuration, while the marketing solons were thinking of a prosaic, but certainly effective, Doubleboy... Wilson got so angry that he took a sledgehammer to the automatic coupling system and destroyed the projects that nobody bothered to rebuild. Thus was lost one of the most interesting experiments in the history of steam in the USA. Of course Wilson immediately moved on to the competition. * Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) *