Updated: 5 Aug 2004 CONTENTS. The Baldwin Quadraplex. The Beyer Peacock Quadraplex.

None of the locomotives on this page were ever built. They are, however, all believed to have been be serious projects rather than flights of fantasy. One quadruplex was built, however, a Belgian loco with two Franco-Crosti boilers. See here.

THE BALDWIN QUADRAPLEX.
In 1915 Baldwin built three Triplex locomotives for the Erie Railroad, and another for the Virginian Railroad in 1916. See The Triplex for details. Initial results were apparently promising, for Baldwin laid plans to build an even more monstrous loco- a Quadraplex, or four engines in one. George Henderson was the designer. Apparently the Santa Fe Railroad was seriously interested for a while.

Above: The only known contemporary drawing of the Baldwin 2-8-8-8-8-2 Quadraplex. Taken from a book published in Santiago, Chile, in 1918.

A machine of this length could not be built with a rigid boiler, so note the bellows connection in the middle. This notion was not specific to the Quadruplex- see Flexible Mallets for another example. In engineering terms, this sort of technique is called "Asking For Trouble".
Note that the designer recognised that forward vision wouldn't be too good if you had to squint along the length of such a boiler, so the loco was a cabforward. The driver was to communicate with the fireman at the back by means of a voicepipe.
The Baldwin Locomotive Company seriously intended to build this monster, but after it became clear that the Triplexes were failures there were (perhaps fortunately) no customers.

Above: An artist's impression of the 2-8-8-8-8-2 Baldwin Quadraplex; note that it has acquired a third chimney, half-way along the boiler, to handle the exhaust from the second set of cylinders. The design was envisioned by George Henderson of the Baldwin Company in 1913.
From the USA journal Trains, date unknown.

Henderson also proposed what he called a Quintuplex:

Above: An artist's impression of the 2-8-8-8-8-8-2 Baldwin Quintuplex proposal.
From Trains, date unknown.

Left: Artist's impression of the final development of these proposals: a 2-10-10-10-10-10-2 Baldwin Quintuplex in action! From Trains, date unknown.

OK, back to sanity. (Relatively speaking)

---

THE BEYER PEACOCK QUADRUPLEX.
Of all the deviations from convention, the Beyer-Garratt articulated loco was one of the most successful. In 1927 Beyer Peacock & Co produced this design for a 2-6-6-2 + 2-6-6-2 doubly-articulated quadraplex, which would have produced a starting tractive effort of more than 200,000 lbs.
It could be called a Mallett-Garrett, as each engine section has its front half pivoted at the rear and sliding at the front in the Mallett manner. This looks like a much more practical machine than the Baldwin above. It has been suggested that it was offered tongue-in-cheek, but it is hardly likely that Beyer Peacock would have gone to the trouble and expense of getting a patent unless they meant business.

Above: Side elevation of the Garrett quadraplex.

Above: Every home should have one; a rare image of the Garrett quadraplex. Convincing as it looks, this is just a contemporary drawing. Note smaller water tanks compared with the drawing above.

Gauge:	4' 8.5"
Grate area:	160 sq ft
Tractive force at 90% boiler pressure:	215,200 lbs
Weight:	400 tons

Unfortunately there were no takers and none were built. Pity! I'd buy one.

---