>>1790388Steam turbines don't generate hammer blow as the don't convert reciprocal into rotary motion. They rotate from the start. It's the piston thrusts and the oscillations they create that causes the damage to the track.
>>1790391Agreed.
It amazes me that one of the big 3 builders didn't hire Chapelon as a consultant, he did tour their works after all.
US steam design operated on the bigger = better, when they should have changed tack to getting more out of existing designs. All of them could be vastly improved with lower back pressure, higher steaming rates/steam flow, more efficient combustion and reducing waste heat through better insulation.
6 cylinders on any locomotive is a lot. A centre cylinder was considered a pain to access for maintenance. This prevented 3 cylinder designs ever becoming common in the US. A centre cylinder on the rear engine of a mallet would be even worse- you'd have to remove the front engine to get in there for anything more than very basic tasks.
Funny you mention Belpaires, Lima was working on a double-Belpaire concept that would have increased firebox and tube surface area.
I got pic related and good info from this forum thread:
>http://rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36360 