The Climax Steam Locomotive, Biggest Rival To The Shay

The Climax steam locomotive has its beginning dating back to 1884 when Charles Scott of the Climax Machinery Company unveiled the first of his own geared steam locomotive design. The significant advantage of the Climax over the Shay was that it was not as complicated to maintain and could accommodate a larger boiler, thus allowing it produce a bit more horsepower and adhesion. These features along with a lower price tag made the Climax an enticing choice over the Shay for many logging companies. However, for whatever reason the Climax was just not as successful in terms of sales as the Shay with only around 1,100 built.

Geared steam locomotives function differently in one significant way from their standard rod-driven brethren (the common steam locomotive), they use a vertical or angled geared system as opposed to a standard horizontal driven rod for propulsion. How geared steam locomotives work, according to William E. Warden in his book West Virginia Logging Railroads, is that these cylinders drive a flexible line shaft with universal couplings and slip joints through bevel gears. This flexibility thus allows each truck to negotiate the track independently of the other, which keeps the locomotive on the rails and allowing it to operate over almost any type of track (which was usually nothing more than rails laid directly onto a hillside).

The Climax essentially used the same technology as the Shay but in a different way. According to William E. Warden in his book West Virginia Logging Railroads, the Climax gained adhesion by employing two cylinders, one on each side of the boiler. The cylinders were neither vertical nor horizontal at an angle of approximately 25 degrees and the piston rods were connected to a line shaft centered under the boiler and mid-way between the trucks, which thus powered either two or three trucks.

Like the Shay, the Climax steam locomotive came in a variety of classes. The short table below lists these classes:

· Class A: Two Vertical Cylinders, Two Trucks

· Class B: Two Cylinders Angled at 25 Degrees Permitting An Increase In Length, Two Trucks

· Class C: Two Cylinders Angled at 25 Degrees, Three Trucks

Today, only around 18 Climax steam locomotives survive. Perhaps the best place to catch one still in operation is to visit the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad located in Durbin, West Virginia. Here you can ride behind Climax #3 hauling the Durbin Rocket on seasonal trips (the Climax is a 55-ton model originally owned by the Moore-Keppel Lumber Company of Randolph County in West Virginia). Also, at the famous Cass Scenic Railroad (which was originally the timber operations of the West Virginia Pulp & Paper Company and Mower Lumber Company), home to the largest collection of operating Shays in the country, you can ride behind Climax #9, and it is well worth the trip to ride this historic operation if you have the chance.

For more information on not only the operating Climax steam locomotive at Cass but also their Shays and Heisler please click here to visit their website.

For more information on the Climax steam locomotive consider one (or both) of the books below. Guide to North American Steam Locomotives by author George Drury includes nearly 500 pages of information on virtually all of the steam locomotive wheel arrangements and designs (including streamlined steamers) ever developed. The book is a great resource on steam locomotives and a fine reference tool; you should find it very useful.

Also, consider the book West Virginia Logging Railroads from author William E. Warden. Not only does this book cover in detail all of the most well known logging railroads that operated in the Mountain State it also gives a superb background of the three most recognized geared steamers to ever operate; the Shay, Climax, and Heisler.