Exactly. Let's put the superheater nonsense to bed once and for all. As for the light, as I said in my first post in this thread, "Sure, lets see her without it for a change."

Steve

Higher-res pic of Milwaukee 4-8-4 without Mars Light.

I asked earlier but didn't see an answer: Is the red light actually a Mars light or even a Gyralite (something with a moving beam) or just a red headlight?

Steve

I seen a video of her being pulled backwards on the mainline and the red light was gyrating/oscillating... If I can find it again, I'll edit this post and add the link here.

EDIT: Thanks to Blake Howell, Who found found the video: click here.

Yes, it is a mars light
Mark D.

Thanks for the photo. Just for the record however, number 228 is a member of the Milwaukee Road's S-2 class, whereas number 261 is an S-3. Also, the photo shows the 228 with the small headlight number boards and not the "jumbo" numbers that were retrofitted to Milwaukee steam power later in the game. Perhaps the S-3's ran without the mounted red mars light, but did they also at the same time, have the jumbo headlight numbers? If the 261 is run without the red light, is the removal of the jumbo numbers then also called for? I don't know the answer to these questions, I just throw them out there. Surely, Steve can run the 261 anyway he wants to. It is his locomotive after all.

Les

I want to thank PRR for posting the S-2 photo as well. Man, isn't she a beautiful brute? Don't you wish one of those were around to keep the 261 and 267 company? (Of course, what else do we wish we still had?)

On the subject of off-center bells: The late David P. Morgan, at least I think it was Morgan, commented in a 1947 edition of Trains that we had an idea of what a 4-8-4 would look like on the B&O. His evidence was the big, brutish WM Potomac series built by Baldwin in that year, with a high-mounted headlight and off-center bell:

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/wm1412s.jpg

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/wm1403s.jpg

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/wm/wm-s1408aps.jpg

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/wm1408sa.jpg

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/wm1407s.jpg

How much do you wish one of these big girls was still around? I tell you, the Western Maryland fans around where I live miss these engines terribly. . .

You probably mean the 261 and 265, not 267.
S3 267 was scrapped. 265 still exists.

Mark D.