Virginian 2-8-8-8-2 Triplex w/Proto-Sound 3.0 - 3-Rail - RailKing(R) Imperial -- Virginian #700 (black, graphite)

The Triplex was an engine of superlatives: more drivers than anything before or since, too big for the shops of its owner,_ the Erie Railroad, powerful enough to pull a train nearly five miles long. Nearly a century ago, in the days before multiple-unit control allowed one throttle to control several locomotives, the Triplex was the ultimate attempt to put as much power as possible in the hands of a single engineer. In the end, it proved a noble, flamboyant, but less-than-successful experiment. Baldwin Locomotive Works built three Triplexes between 1914 and 1916 for pusher service on the Erie Railroad's daunting Susquehanna Hill (also known as Gulf Summit) near Deposit, N.Y. The cylinders of the Triplex's middle engine were powered by high pressure steam direct from the boiler, while the front and rear engines used low pressure steam exhausted from the middle cylinders. Each triplex replaced three ordinary helper engines, and the new locomotives worked well enough to