Dawnblazer Sucks - A Lighthearted Overly Niche Look at Locomotive Design in Dawntrail

[crowwww]

As someone who is quite familiar with FFVI (but again, not with trains), I think the two things I'd add that aren't necessarily clear in FFXIV are these:
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I was just curious what sort of similar logic could be applied to it, that's all!

And that's pretty much what we see in Sigmascape V1! There's no further need to speculate on the route or purpose; it's clearly meant as an express passenger locomotive; designed for a slightly more stylish trip across the Styx into the afterlife.

I suspect the somewhat unusual 2-4-4-0 / "Mallet" configuration was likely chosen more to sell the otherworldly aspect of it rather than picking something resembling the Orient Express inspiration, but either way it fits as a heavy / fast passenger locomotive.

It's design purpose is fairly straightforward, unlike our poor Dawnblazer!

[Enkidoh]

Glad I was not the only one who thought the Phantom Train's locomotive was supposed to be a Mallet (or at least some other kind of articulated locomotive)!

Getting back to your earlier query about why Dawnblazer's 0-2-4 wheel arrangement did not appear to be that common in real life, if I can further indulge my inner railfan (puts on 'Casey Jones' cap), it was probably just pragmatism - locomotives with a single driving wheel would be rather small by design so having more than a single unpowered axle at the back would be wasteful (more wheels equals greater expense for the builder/owner after all). Given Dawnblazer was meant to be an experimental design, and also how big it's cab was, chucking a four wheel bogie at the back was probably for the best (also, looking at the thing more closely, I wonder if it was meant to be actually some kind of geared locomotive like a Shay or Climax rather than using conventional side rods - at the very least it's motion and cylinders seem to be internal (between the frames), and a single driving axle would be more suited to using gears/universal joints like a car transmission.). Or maybe I'm just overthinking things again!

Also, my comments in my earlier post were in hindsight not entirelly accurate, I was more referring to locomotives with a single driving axle were quite common in general, rather than the 0-2-4 arrangement specifically (which, as you noted, was very rate) - ironically the 0-2-2 arrangment was more common, especially in the early days of steam - Robert Stephenson's famous Rocket being a perfect example of the later arrangement. Single driving wheels soon became something of a niche arrangement, as the prevailing design trend as locomotives got bigger, longer and more powerful, they needed more wheels to compensate, although single driving axles did continue to see some use - the famous 4-2-2 'Single' express locomotives of the British Great Northern Railway for example. But yeah, eventually locomotives went with two driving axles/four driving wheels as minimum for pragmatism's sake.

Meanwhile, in Hydaelyn, Dawnblazer's designers on the other hand... seemed to have missed that memo!

[crowwww]

Thank you for your insights Enkidoh! My rail knowledge begins and ends much, much more close to home, though it's the collective passions of people abroad which help carry enough interest in their collective histories and stories.

Given the Garleans' penchant for warmachina, it wouldn't surprise me if my references to the Kei truck weren't entirely off, at least as far as internal combustion road vehicles go! I'll have to do a run of Tower of Babil in Exploration mode and report back with what comparisons I can make; ever since they were brought up earlier, I've a sinking feeling that Dawnblazer is quite possibly the same model and rig as what's used in the background, just given a solid polish for it's moments in the Shaaloani MSQ and 7.1