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N&W Y6b 2-8-8-2
Features:
- Beautifully Detailed, Accurately Modeled Locomotive and Tender Body
- Authentic Design, Paint and Color Schemes
- Authentic Sounds with Articulated Chuff (Sound Equipped Units Only) and Prototypical Operation
- Many Separately Applied Details Including Brass Bell / Rails
- Detailed Backhead
- Operating Cab-roof Vents
- Constant Intensity Directional Lighting
- Firebox Glow
- Factory Installed painted Fireman and Engineer Figures
- Heavy Weight Pulling Power with Metal Wheel Tire (no traction tires)
- Locomotive Composition: Die Cast Metal
- Tender Composition: Die Cast Metal
- Locomotive Length: 9.8"
- Tender Length: 6.6"
- Total Coupler-to-Coupler Length: 16.2"
- Motor type: 5-Pole Can with Skewed Armature & Dual Fly Wheels
- Couplers: (1)
Kadee Compatible, (1) Kadee #58
- Compatible Tracks: Code 70, 83, 100 Rail
- Recommended Minimum Radius: 18"
"DCC & Sound Upgradeable" Units denoted as DCC & Sound Upgradeable are units that are not sound equipped and function only in DC. Modelers may choose to purchase an optional Sound & DCC upgrade kit, specifically tailored to the prototype which will add DCC and sound functionality. Upgrade kit works only for PCM models with PCM motherboards.
Y6b Sound Notes:
The
PCM Y6b sounds were created using the best available sound recordings of the Y6b
as a reference. These included recordings from the late Mobile
Fidelity's Brad Miller and the Sounds of Steam Series. Since no Y6b is
still running, we carefully listened to and digitally analyzed these
actual recordings. However, since these recordings don't provide the level of
isolation required, they could not be used directly in creating the sounds for
the model.
Here
is just one example of how these original recordings are used to provide
prototypical sounds in our models. The sound of a whistle can change
dramatically dependent on several factors including, steam temperature, steam
pressure, atmospheric pressure, surrounding terrain, distance the listener is
from the whistle, and the engineers ability to play the whistle. We have
to take all this into consideration when choosing the prototypical whistle sound
for our models. An N&W Hooter whistle used on the Y6s, Y5s, and Class
As was digitally recorded at a whistle blow 280 psi steam manifold by our
recording engineers using 24 bit digital recorders. When we listened to the
original recordings of the Y6B whistle, we noticed a very slight change in the
pitch from our new recordings. This can be caused from any of the previous
reasons or that a Y6B operated at 300psi and the whistle was blown with
superheated steam. In any case, we painstakingly matched the base
frequencies and harmonics of our new recordings to the originals.
Similar steps are taken to match the sounds of air pumps, bells,
injectors, and exhausts to provide the most prototypical sounds available today
in a model.
There
has been much discussion regarding the Y6B and its ability to switch between
simple and compound modes. We spoke with many steam operation experts
including Jack Wheelihan to get some answers on how best to configure our
model's operation. Mr. Wheelihan
fires for the UP steam program on #844 and #3985, the Southern Pacific Daylight
#4449, and is the General Manager at Railway Equipment Associates Company.
Mr. Wheelihan explained that when in simple mode, the Y6B had a tractive effort
of 152,206 lbs and in compound mode it was 126,838 lbs. He says that,
contrary to a popular conception, the Y6B most often started in compound mode
because the added steam for simple mode required filling the large front cylinders
with tremendous amount of high-pressure steam and that would reduce the
operating efficiency of the locomotive. This compound mode operation
resulted in the steam being exhausted at four times per driver
revolution as the high pressure from the rear cylinders was moved to the front
cylinders before being sent through the stack. However, when the added
tractive effort was required, the engine could use high-pressure steam in all
four cylinders resulting in eight exhausts per revolution of the drivers.
This simple mode operation usually lasted only for the first few miles
per hour of the locomotive and then the locomotive was switched back to compound
mode.
We
have made this option available in the enhanced sound mode. By pressing F5, the
simple mode startup is faithfully reproduced with steam cocks open and the
locomotive giving all she has to move the train. This continues until the
locomotive exceeds speed step 2.
Finally,
there have been discussions as to why our Y6B model appears to get softer in
volume at higher speeds instead of louder.
As we rode in the cabs of steam engines accelerating and then roaring
down the tracks, we recorded the engine's exhaust.
We immediately noticed that as the chuffs got closer together, the
distinctive "chuff chuff chuff" sound was replaced by a quieter wooshing
sound as valves opened and closed too quickly for distinct chuffs to be heard.
This makes our model sound very different form our competitors at high
speeds. We believe that it is a
more prototypical sound.
The Y6b was known as the "workhorse of the N&W." Starting with locomotive number 2120 in 1936, the Y6 class would become the final refinement of the 2-8-8-2 design. The model Y6b would be the epitome of the compound Mallet (Malley) development. With the completion of locomotive number 2200 in 1952, this Y6b would become the last mainline US manufactured steam locomotive produced.
The N&W shops in Roanoke, Virginia gave all "Y" Class engine and tender axles roller bearings and they used the same outside frame lead truck as the Class "A." The trailing truck also was equipped with roller bearings which were fit into an outside frame design. With these improvements the Y6's cost considerably more than their earlier brethren, but just as the maintenance records show these locomotives had a time "available for assignment" rating far superior to any of their predecessors.
The Y6b had a starting "tractive effort" in simple configuration of 152,206 pounds while in the compound mode the "tractive effort" of 126,838 was achieved. These locomotives delivered 5,500 horsepower, a substantial bit of power indeed. The Y6b locomotive engine weight was 582,900 pounds with 522,850 pounds directly on the drivers.
The maximum horsepower was achieved at 25 miles per hour and they were known to reach 50 miles per hour on level portions of track. Good on the road or in the yard, they were very well suited for a wide range of work. They were the mainstay on the Shenandoah, Pocahontas, and Radford divisions for freight operations.
Auxiliary water tenders (Broadway Limited Imports stk#'s 087 and 088) were often seen feeding these locomotives as they labored through the Blue Ridge Mountains.
When the N&W ceased their mainline steam operations in the summer of 1959, 50 of the Y6's were still running out serviceable miles in the coalfields waiting for the final order of diesels to replace them. The last of the Class Y's were retired in the summer of 1960.
**Specifications on this page subject to change.
