I don't know if this question is rooted in the fact that MTH's email is pushing their
Erie 0-8-8-0 Camelback, but I had many of these same questions above when looking at that, and then I was thinking, in addition, the engineer could get an orbital launch if the boiler on one blew up as did that big C&0 articulated at Hinton, W. Va. (but that had a fatality, at least one, also), so blowing ANY up is not recommended. How often was "breaking a side rod" an occurrence? That happened on one of my dad's locos during WWII, and a poor welding repair was blamed.
The MTH description mentions the "Starrucca Viaduct", which I've heard of for years. Where is that, and is it still standing?
The Starrucca Viaduct is in Northeastern Penna. only several miles from the New York border (Southeast of Binghamton, New York). This structure was built for the Erie Railroad in 1848 and was considered a daring feat of Stone Vault engineering. Basic dimensions are 1040' long and 100' high. ......If you pull up the Library of Congress and type in "HABS/HAER" (that's Historical structures) or type in "Starrucca Viaduct", you'll get into a site where you can pull up civil engineering drawings of the Viaduct which is pretty neat. I'm sure this info is correct......The viaduct is still there. That's when the U.S. built good stuff!
congressg
