DM&IR 2-8-8-4 Yellowstone Locomotive Blueprint Plan

DM&IR 2-8-8-4 M4 "Yellowstone"

The largest advancement in the history of the United States...the Steam Locomotive

"The time will come when people will travel in stages moved by steam engines from one city to another, almost as fast as birds can fly, 15 or 20 miles an hour.... A carriage will start from Washington in the morning; the passengers will breakfast at Baltimore, dine at Philadelphia, and sup in New York the same day.... Engines will drive boats 10 or 12 miles an hour, and there will be hundreds of steamers running on the Mississippi..."

--Oliver Evans, 1800


The steam-driven "Iron Horse” played a major role in the development of our country. Early uses of railways gave little hint that a revolution was underway in America. From a dinky little railroad of 23 miles in 1830, an industry was born that grew to become the largest employer of men and women in the U.S. for nearly a century. By 1890, the length of track had grown to over 129,000 miles long.

Not only did the rail open new areas for settlement by providing an easy way for settlers to get there, but they also made many new crops profitable. Most importantly, settlers became an economic necessity for the rails.

By the summer of 1868, 4,000 workers had built the transcontinental railroad over the Sierras and into the interior plains. The building of the transcontinental railroad was motivated in part to bind the Union together during the strife of the American Civil War. In 1869, the transcontinental railroad was deemed completed in the United States with the driving of a golden spike. The way to the West was open!

The 1880's and 1890's were year of consolidation in the American railroads. They were the years that the rails became the backbone of American Commerce. You could now ship anything anywhere in the United States is a matter of days…no longer was a producer limited to selling products in his city or even in his region, but the United States had become one national market.

The Golden Age of American Railroading began around the turn of the century and lasted with the interruption of World War I when the rails were nationalized until the Great Depression. It was the era when grandeur rode the rails. It was the years that the great name trains attained their glamour. The steam locomotive was in its prime and was king. Whether they were new stars of the silent screen, a family on the way to visit grandma, or a carload of coal…America was on the move, and the steam engine was pulling it.

During WWII, the industry handled 90 percent of all government freight and practically all, 97 percent, of military troop movements. Contributing almost $3 million a day in income taxes to help finance the war effort, railroads were moving twice the freight and four times the passenger load of their pre-war levels.

More than 40,000 steam engines were built between 1829 and 1949, and most of the major railroad companies retired their steam engines by the mid 1960's.

Maybe you can remember seeing some of these huge machines billowing out large plumes of smoke, pulling long strings of loaded railcars and hearing their competing whistles far off in the distance signaling their presence on a cold winters-night. Today, only steam engines in museums and those used for special tours are left for the future generations to see.

…Their day is past, memories fade but steam locomotives and early railroads remain forever fascinating. Now you can pick up and hold a piece of real American history, a unique and beautiful drawing of the steam locomotive.

The 2-8-8-4 "Yellowstones"

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-8-8-4 is a locomotive with two leading wheels, two sets of eight driving wheels, and a four-wheel trailing truck. The equivalent UIC classification is (1'D)D2'. Such a long locomotive must be an articulated locomotive, and all the examples produced were of the Mallet type, having a hinged joint between the first and second groups of driving wheels, and having the superstructure of the locomotive rigidly attached to the rearmost set, with the foremost set and leading truck allowed to swing sideways on curves.

The type was generally named the Yellowstone, a name given it by the first owner, the Northern Pacific Railway, whose lines run near Yellowstone National Park. Seventy-two Yellowstone type locomotives were built for four different American railroads.

The 2-8-8-4 turned out to be the common choice of arrangement for the very largest steam locomotives when the speeds required were only moderate. All classes of Yellowstone had fairly small drivers of 63 to 64 inches (1.60 to 1.63 m). Several classes of Yellowstone, especially the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range's locomotives, are among the largest steam locomotives of all time, the exact placing being dependent on what criteria are being used to select.

The Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway was an iron ore hauling railroad in Minnesota. Iron ore is a heavy commodity and the DM&IR operated long trains of ore cars, requiring as much power as the railroad could get their hands on. The design of these locomotives was based upon a series of 10 powerful 2-8-8-2s that Baldwin had built previously for the Western Pacific Railroad. The need for a larger, coal burning firebox to meet DM&IR requirements led to the use of a 4 wheel trailing truck, giving them the "Yellowstone" wheel arrangement.

Eight locomotives (class M-3) were built by Baldwin in 1941. The Yellowstones met or exceeded the DM&IR specifications so ten more were ordered (class M-4). The second batch was completed late in 1943 after the Missabe's seasonal downturn in ore traffic, so some of the new M-4s were leased to and delivered directly to the Denver & Rio Grande Western.

Three of the eighteen built still survive and are on display; Number 227 in Duluth, Minnesota, Number 225 in Proctor, Minnesota, and Number 229 in Two Harbors, Minnesota.

 

Source: Wikipedia

Product Info

We are very proud to present our collection of steam engine blueprints online! This is not a copy of an antique worn blueprint with tears and fold lines, but an accurate and clear print of the original 2-8-8-4 M4 design by Baldwin. Along with dimensions, we have also included specifications and pertinent historical information on the blueprint, sticking to the original style and feeling an antique print brings.

These are not third or fourth generation copies; they are printed directly from a clean vellum onto real blueprint paper. The original design has been retouched to produce the most accurate and crystal clear print possible, with no defects or artifacts. Sized at 24”x36”, the print will fit into a standard poster size frame. The border size allows for frame matting without cutting into the design if desired as well. Highly detailed and professionally retouched, this is a great gift for any railroadiana collector or modeler.

You will not find anything like these anywhere else. Others have tried to sell copies of blueprints. Ours are the only ones that have been retouched by professional artists. Many hours of work have gone into each and every one of our prints, and then a fresh vellum (original) is made. These are professional, accurate and absolutely beautiful pieces of art. The images shown do not give justice to the rich prussian blue or the unbelievably high detail on these prints.

This is only one of many blueprint art prints we are bringing online. Railroadiana fans, make sure to keep an eye out for more...Thanks for looking!

Payment & Shipping

All items will be carefully rolled and shipped in a heavy duty tube through USPS for free. Payment via PayPal and credit card through PayPal is accepted. Your print(s) will be shipped as soon as payment is received. Fast payment = fast shipping!