The

Chicago and North Western Railway The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...

's Class E-4 comprised nine coal-burning

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...

4-6-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels and four trailing wheels. In France where the type was first used, it is known as t ...

"Hudson"

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s built in

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

Alco The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

. They were built to haul the road's famous ''"

400 __NOTOC__ Year 400 ( CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year 11 ...

"'' express passenger trains, but before they were even delivered the railroad's management decided that streamlined steam was the wrong direction and instead placed orders with

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

Electro-Motive Division Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its sub ...

for new

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s. The displaced E-4s instead worked other trains until they were withdrawn from service between 1953 and 1961. All were scrapped, with none surviving to be preserved. The nine E-4s were almost identical in specification and purpose to the

Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States fr ...

's six class F7 locomotives, and they were built by the same builder at the same time, yet they were different in almost every detail of design.

Other CNW steam locomotives

* Chicago and North Western D Class 4-4-2 – A major workhorse of the C&NW, some were used on the ''

Minnesota 400 The ''Minnesota 400'' was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway on its southern Minnesota line between Mankato, Minnesota and Wyeville, Wisconsin. It began running in 1936. In 1950 it was extended to run ...

''. * Chicago and North Western E Class

4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomotiv ...

– Some converted to "ES" class with similar casing to the E-4. The ES engines succeeded Class D locomotives on the ''

''. * Chicago and North Western E-2 Class 4-6-2 – Twelve locomotives, four of which were converted to "E-2-a" class and were the original locomotives for the Twin Cities to Chicago ''400'' before being replaced by

EMD E3 The EMC E3 is a , A1A-A1A passenger train locomotive that was manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation of La Grange, Illinois. The EMC demonstrator #822 was released from La Grange for test on September 12, 1938. The cab version, or E3A, w ...

diesel units. The remaining eight were converted to "E-2-b" locomotives.

References

*
The Photos of the Chicago and Northwestern E-4 4-6-4's
* http://steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=USA&wheel=4-6-4&railroad=cnw {{Chicago and North Western Railway steam locomotives 4-6-4 locomotives E-4 class ALCO locomotives Steam locomotives of the United States Streamlined steam locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1937 Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Passenger locomotives