Under the Whyte notation for the classification of

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, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled

driving wheel On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled ...

s on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type was first used by the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whic ...

, and initially named the Northern Pacific, but railfans and railroad employees have shortened the name since its introduction. It is most-commonly known as a Northern.

Overview

Development

Union Pacific 844, Painted Rocks, NV, 2009 (crop)

The wheel arrangement was a progression from the Mountain type and, like the Berkshire and Hudson types, an example of the "Super Power" concept in steam locomotive design that made use of the larger

firebox Firebox may refer to: *Firebox (steam engine), the area where the fuel is burned in a steam engine *Firebox (architecture), the part of a fireplace where fuel is combusted *Firebox Records, a Finnish 8101705801record label * Firebox.com, an electro ...

that could be supported by a four-wheel trailing truck, which allowed greater production of steam. The four-wheel leading truck gave stability at speed and the eight driving wheels gave greater adhesion. The type evolved in the United States soon after the Lima Locomotive Works introduced the concept of "Lima Super Power" in 1925, making heavy

2-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and two trailing wheel ...

and

2-8-4 Under the Whyte notation, a 2-8-4 is a steam locomotive that has two unpowered leading wheels, followed by eight coupled and powered driving wheels, and four trailing wheels. This locomotive type is most often referred to as a Berkshire, though ...

locomotives. The prototype was built by

American Locomotive Company 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 ...

(ALCO) for the Northern Pacific Railway (NP) in 1926, with a very large firebox with a grate, designed to burn low quality

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

coal. The four-wheel trailing truck weighed about more than two-wheel trucks of the time and could carry an additional of engine weight; the difference of was available for increased boiler capacity.Alfred W. Bruce. (1952). ''The Steam Locomotive in America: Its Development in the Twentieth Century''. New York. pp. 296, 299, 308–309. Timken 1111

The type arrived when nearly all the important steam locomotive design improvements had already been proven, including

Superheater A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There ar ...

s, mechanical stokers, outside

valve gear The valve gear of a steam engine is the mechanism that operates the inlet and exhaust valves to admit steam into the cylinder and allow exhaust steam to escape, respectively, at the correct points in the cycle. It can also serve as a reversing g ...

and the Delta trailing truck. One-piece, cast steel bed-frames with integrally cast cylinders gave the strength and rigidity to use

Roller bearings In mechanical engineering, a rolling-element bearing, also known as a rolling bearing, is a bearing (mechanical), bearing which carries a load by placing rolling elements (such as balls or rollers) between two concentric, Groove (engineering), g ...

. In 1930, the

Timken Company The Timken Company is a global manufacturer of bearings and power transmission products. Timken operates from 42 countries. Company history In 1898, Henry Timken obtained a patent for an improved tapered roller bearing, and in 1899 incorporat ...

used the

Timken 1111 Timken 1111, also called the Timken Four Aces, was a 4-8-4 steam locomotive built in 1930 by American Locomotive Company (Alco) as a demonstration unit for new roller bearings produced by the Timken Roller Bearing Company. It was the first locomot ...

, a built by ALCO with roller bearings on all axles, to demonstrate the value of their sealed roller bearings. The Timken 1111 was subsequently sold to the NP, where it became NP No. 2626, their sole Class A-1 locomotive. The stability of the wheel arrangement meant that driving wheels up to diameter could be used for high speed passenger and fast freight operation. Lateral control devices allowed these locomotives to traverse relatively sharp curves despite their drivers. The increased boiler size possible with this type, together with the high axle loads permitted on mainlines in North America, resulted in the design of some massive locomotives, some of which weighed as much as 450 tons, including the tender. The was suitable for both express passenger and fast freight service, though it was not suited to heavy

drag freight A drag freight is a long, slow, high-tonnage railroad train, often carrying commodities such as coal or ore. Compared to "fast freight" trains, drag freight trains have a very low power-to-weight ratio, making them somewhat unpredictable on steep ...

trains. Although locomotives of the wheel arrangement were used in a number of countries, those that were developed outside North America included various design features which set them apart from North American practice. Scaled down examples of the type were exported by two American builders, ALCO and

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

, for lines in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Most were two-cylinder locomotives, but five classes of three-cylinder s were built: * The simplex 06 class by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. * The simplex H class by the

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. * The compound 242A1 class of the Société nationale des chemins de fer français (

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

) in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. * The simplex 477 class tank engines by CKD for Czechoslovak State Railways; 60 4-8-4T locomotives were built between 1951 and 1955, the last new steam engines built in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. * An experimental high-pressure compound locomotive of the

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

(NYC).

The Northern name

Since the was first used by the

, the type was named "Northern". Most North American railroads used this name, but some adopted different names. * "Heavy Mountain" or "New Mountain" on the

Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

(ATSF). Original blueprints of class 3751 designate the 4-8-4 as a "Mountain" or "Heavy Mountain". The index to the blueprints reference the 3751 class as "Mountain, 4-Wheel Trailer". Early correspondence of the ATSF refer to this type as "New Mountains". The Santa Fe never adopted the "Northern" designation. * "Big Apple" on the

Central of Georgia Railway The Central of Georgia Railway started as the Central Rail Road and Canal Company in 1833. As a way to better attract investment capital, the railroad changed its name to Central Rail Road and Banking Company of Georgia. This railroad was cons ...

(CG). * "Confederation" on the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

(CN), named because they were purchased in 1927, the 60th anniversary of Canada's confederation in 1867. The "Confederation" 4-8-4s were later renamed by the CN to the generic "Northern" name in later years. * "Dixie" on the

Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company that operated in the U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, chartered in Nashville on December 11, 1845, ...

(NC&StL). * "Golden State" on the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

(SP), temporarily renamed "General Service" during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and also referred to as "GS" by Western Pacific for those GSs which were diverted to the WP from SP's order by the

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Sup ...

. * "Greenbrier" on the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...

(C&O). * "J" on the

Norfolk and Western Railway The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

(N&W). * "FEF" (Four-Eight-Four) on the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

(UP). * "Niagara" on the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

(NYC). * "Niágara" on the (N de M) and in

. * "Pocono" on the

Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...

(Lackawanna). * "Potomac" on the Western Maryland Railway (WM). * "Wyoming" on the

Lehigh Valley Railroad The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Pennsylvania. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846 for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, w ...

(LV). The

Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. The track is now the RF&P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system; the original corporation is no longer a railroad compan ...

(RFP) gave each of its three classes a separate name, the "General" of 1937, the "Governor" of 1938 and the "Statesman" of 1944.

Demise

The big-wheeled was at home on heavy passenger trains and quite capable of speeds over , but freight was the primary revenue source of the railroads; in that service the Northern had limitations. The adhesive weight on a was limited to about 60% of the engine's weight, not including the dead weight of the tender. Henry Bowen, the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

(CPR) from 1928 to 1949, tested the first two CPR K-1a Northerns introduced by his predecessor, then he designed a Selkirk type using the same boiler. The resulting T-1a

Selkirk locomotive The Selkirk locomotives were 36 steam locomotives of the 2-10-4 wheel arrangement built for Canadian Pacific Railway by Montreal Locomotive Works, Montreal in Quebec, Canada. History The first of these large engines, which had a 2-10-4 wheel arra ...

had the same number of axles as the Northern, but the driving wheels were reduced from in diameter, while the additional pair of driving wheels increased the tractive effort by 27%. In a later variant, Bowen added a booster to the trailing truck, enabling the Selkirk to exert nearly 50% more tractive effort than the similar-sized K-1a Northern. When it was demonstrated that a three-unit EMD F3 diesel-electric consist that weighed slightly less than the total engine and tender mass of a CPR K-1a Northern could produce nearly three times its tractive effort, high-powered steam locomotives were retired as quickly as finance allowed.

Usage

Australia

A total of twenty-three locomotives operated in Australia, built to three distinct designs. In 1929, the ten gauge

South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the statutory corporation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Austr ...

500 class Mountain types of 1926 were equipped with steam boosters in the form of small auxiliary steam engines to increase their power. This necessitated the replacement of their two-wheel trailing trucks with four-wheel

bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...

s. The booster contributed an additional to the tractive effort and permitted an increase in the locomotive's load across the

Mount Lofty Ranges The Mount Lofty Ranges are a range of mountains in the Australian state of South Australia which for a small part of its length borders the east of Adelaide. The part of the range in the vicinity of Adelaide is called the Adelaide Hills and ...

to 540 tons. In their new configuration, they were reclassified to 500B class.National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide - 500B-class 4-8-4 steam locomotive No.504 "TOM BARR-SMITH"
- retrieved 1 November 2006 520 class loco-South Australia-1984

In 1943, the first of twelve streamlined South Australian Railways 520 class locomotives were delivered from the Islington Workshops in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. Although they were large locomotives, they were designed to run on lightly constructed track, with the engine's weight being spread over eight axles. Their -diameter coupled wheels were specially balanced for running.National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide - 520-class 4-8-4 steam locomotive No.523 "Essington Lewis"
- retrieved 1 November 2006 H220-Newport

The H class three-cylinder of the

, built in 1941, was designed for heavy passenger work on the line between

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and Adelaide. Nicknamed ''Heavy Harry'', it was the largest steam locomotive built in Australia and, after the NSWGR D57 4-8-2 and the South Australian Railways 500/500B class, was the third-most-powerful non-articulated locomotive. It was one of the five Australian classes of three-cylinder locomotives. Construction of three locomotives commenced at the Newport Workshops in 1939 and three sets of frames were manufactured. Although work was halted due to the outbreak of the

, a shortage of motive power caused by increased wartime traffic resulted in authorisation being given for the completion of class leader H220. The locomotive went into service on 7 February 1941, but remained the sole member of the class because the other two partly-built locomotives were never completed. Since the necessary upgrades to the Adelaide line was deferred, H220 operated only on the line between Melbourne and

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Brazil

To meet the acute locomotive shortages in Brazil after the Second World War, 27 scaled down American Niágara locomotives were ordered by the Brazilian (DNEF) from ALCO in 1946. These locomotives were supplied to the (VFRGS), which then purchased another fifteen directly from ALCO in 1947. They were designated the 1001 class. In 1956 and 1957, some of them were sold to

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. The Baldwin Locomotive Works supplied similar locomotives to the (RMV no. 601 to 604), the (RVPSC no. 801 to 806) and the (NOB no. 621 to 623). After his retirement from the (

) in

, French engineer André Chapelon was appointed as the chief designer of locomotives at the French state-owned sales consortium (GELSA). In 1949, a contract was signed between DNEF and GELSA for the construction of 24 locomotives with a axle load. The order also included 66 Berkshires. All ninety locomotives were delivered by January 1953. The 24 class 242F Niágara locomotives were built by

Société de Construction des Batignolles The Société de Construction des Batignolles was a civil engineering company of France created in 1871 as a public limited company from the 1846 limited partnership of ''Ernest Gouin et Cie.''. Initially founded to construct locomotives, the com ...

(). They were two-cylinder simple expansion locomotives, designed to burn poor quality local coal with a low calorific thermal value, with coupled wheels of diameter and a grate area of . They were coupled to big tenders which a coal capacity of . The

Belpaire firebox The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium in 1864. Today it generally refers to the shape of the outer shell of the firebox which is approximately flat at the top and squa ...

included a combustion chamber and the boiler pressure was a high . One member of the class was tested on the Reseau Breton line in France before being shipped to Brazil. The DNEF allocated the locomotives to four of Brazil's state railways. Under Brazilian railway conditions, these modern locomotives were not popular with local railwaymen and were not used as much as had been hoped. Their maximum axle load of restricted their usefulness, as did their long tenders. In some places the

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

were too short to turn the locomotives and they had to be turned on triangles. In addition, the building specifications had called for a locomotive capable of a maximum speed of and the ability to negotiate curves with a minimum radius of . This last point proved to be a source of contention when it was later discovered that the curves in some places were of less than radius. As a consequence, the locomotives were involved in a number of derailments. In the late 1960s, they were relegated down from first class passenger trains. Some locomotives, allocated to

Southern Brazil The South Region of Brazil (; ) is one of the five regions of Brazil. It includes the states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina, and covers , being the smallest region of the country, occupying only about 6.76% of the territory ...

, were also tried in

Canada

Since the Canadian mainlines were generally laid with rail, Canadian were heavy and weighed in with axle loads up to . When the

(CN) introduced its first in 1927, it used the name "

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

" for the type, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. The CN employed a total of 160 Confederation locomotives. Canadian Northern 6400 1939

* Altogether forty locomotives were delivered in 1927, twenty Class U-2-a from the

Canadian Locomotive Company The Canadian Locomotive Company, commonly referred to as CLC, was a Canadian manufacturer of railway locomotives located in Kingston, Ontario. Its works were located on the south side of Ontario Street between William and Gore streets on Kingston' ...

and twenty Class U-2-b from the

Montreal Locomotive Works Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) was a Canadian railway locomotive manufacturer which existed under several names from 1883 to 1985, producing both steam and diesel locomotives. For a number of years it was a subsidiary of the American Locomotive ...

(MLW). * Another twenty Class U-2-c came from MLW in 1929 and another five Class U-2-d, also from MLW, in 1936. * The CN U-4a was one of the few streamlined Confederation types, with five locomotives built by MLW and also introduced in 1936. U-4a No. 6400 achieved fame in 1939 by heading the royal train (see

1939 royal tour of Canada The 1939 royal tour of Canada by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth was undertaken in the build-up to World War II as a way to emphasise the links between Britain and Canada. The royal tour lasted from 17 May to 15 June, covering every Canadian ...

) and being exhibited at the New York World's Fair in the same year. * Between 1940 and 1944, a total of ninety more Confederation locomotives, built in four batches, were added to the CN roster. The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) experimented with the wheel arrangement in 1928, when two K-1a class locomotives were built in its

Angus shops Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * Angu ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, the first locomotives to be built with a one-piece cast-steel frame in Canada. However, since the CPR mainlines were built to high standards, the railway preferred to develop the Hudson type for passenger work since it gave adequate power and was cheaper to maintain, while a ten-coupled type, the Selkirk, was adopted for heavy-duty work. Nevertheless, although the two CPR Northerns remained orphans, they proved their worth continuously for 25 years on overnight passenger trains between Montreal and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. Before their retirement in 1960, they were converted to oil-burners and worked freight trains in the prairie provinces.

Chile

In 1936, the German builder

Henschel & Son Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehic ...

supplied ten gauge locomotives to the (State Railways or FdE) of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, designated the . They were called (Super Mountains), since they followed the Mountain that was introduced six years earlier. They were equipped with mechanical stokers and Vanderbilt tenders and weighed 185 tonnes in working order. On test, they produced at a coal consumption of and a water consumption of per kilometre. The design was not repeated, however, and the FdE returned to the wheel arrangement with its subsequent acquisitions. The was used on the line from Almeda to

Talca Talca () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, Chile, Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile). As of the 2012 census, the ...

until it was replaced by diesels in 1969. One of them, no. 1009, is preserved in the Santiago Railway Museum.

China

In 1933, the Beijing–Hankou Railway in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

needed new locomotives for their

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

Shaoguan Shaoguan (; Hakka: Seukoan) is a prefecture-level city in northern Guangdong Province (Yuebei), South China, bordering Hunan to the northwest and Jiangxi to the northeast. It is home to the mummified remains of the sixth Zen Buddhist patriarch H ...

line, where gradients of around two percent, curves with less than radius and low capacity bridges existed. The requirement was therefore for a locomotive with high tractive effort and a low axle load. In 1935 and 1936, 24 600-series locomotives, designed and built in the United Kingdom by Vulcan Foundry, were delivered to the railway. The locomotives represented a significant improvement over previous designs and incorporated a more efficient E-type superheater and duplex steam valve to allow better steaming without enlarging the boiler, while the wheel arrangement allowed better weight distribution. When the

Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, an ...

–Guangzhou Railway was completed in October 1936, the locomotives were transferred to operate over the northern section between Hankou and Changsha on this new mainline, which connected Guangzhou with

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the locomotives were designated the

China Railways KF The Class KF (聯盟型, 'Confederation class', re-designated "ㄎㄈ" or "KF") was a 4-8-4 mainline passenger steam locomotive type built in the United Kingdom by the Vulcan Foundry for the railways of China. Between 1935 and 1936, 24 locomotiv ...

class. Some of the locomotives survived in service until the early 1970s. One of them, no. 607, is preserved at the

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...

in the United Kingdom and another is in China at the

Beijing Railway Museum The China Railway Museum () is a Chinese museum preserving locomotives that have operated on the railways of the People's Republic of China. The museum offers a total exhibition space of 16500m² and 8 exhibition tracks. The museum is located ...

Czechoslovakia

The 60 T tank engines of Czechoslovak State Railways' 477 class represent the ultimate development of the CKD 4-8-2 tender locomotive, but added a four-wheel trailing truck as part of the conversion to a tank locomotive. One of five classes of three cylinder locomotives known, they were the last steam locomotives delivered to the Czechoslovak State Railways, with the last group built in 1955. Used primarily in local passenger service, they were pulling regularly timetabled trains as late as 1981. 477_Farbe

Three are preserved, as of 2018 two of them were still operational (013 and 043).

France

The lone prototype, numbered 242A1, of the (SNCF) was one of the five known classes of three-cylinder locomotives. It also had the distinction, along with an experimental high pressure locomotive of the

in the United States, of being one of the two compound . It was rebuilt by Andre Chapelon from the unsuccessful 1932 three-cylinder simple expansion locomotive no. 241.101 of the into a compound locomotive. This remarkable locomotive achieved extraordinary power outputs and efficiency in coal and water consumption, but no further examples were built since the SNCF focused on electric traction for its future motive power development. SNCF Class 242 A1

No. 242A1 was put through trials on many test runs which showed that this locomotive was equal in power output to the existing SNCF electric locomotives at the time. Here, for the first time in Europe, was a steam locomotive with a axle load which was not only at least as powerful as the most powerful existing high-speed electric locomotive, but which could repeatedly achieve its maximum power without any mechanical trouble. Developing and with of peak tractive effort and of mean tractive effort; nothing in Europe could match it. While no. 242A1 was being tested, electrical engineers were designing the locomotives for the line between

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, which was to be electrified. An electric locomotive that was to be slightly more powerful than the successful Paris to

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and ''Mistral'' and other heavy passenger express trains would therefore not have been so outstanding if no. 242A1 had not existed and Andre Chapelon therefore indirectly influenced French electric locomotive design. In addition, no. 242A1 demonstrated the suitability of the Sauvage-Smith system of compounding for French conditions and the designs for future French steam locomotives that were prepared but never produced, were to make use of the Sauvage-Smith compounding system. In service, no. 242A1 was allocated to the

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

depot and, between 1950 and 1960, it hauled express trains over the between Le Mans and

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

. It did not remain in service long, however, and was withdrawn and scrapped in 1960.

Germany

In 1939, the Deutsche Reichsbahn placed two prototype three-cylinder

DRB Class 06 The German DRB Class 06 engines were standard steam locomotives (''Einheitsdampflokomotiven'') with the Deutsche Reichsbahn#1937: Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB), Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB) designed to haul express train services. They were the only Germ ...

2D2-h3 heavy express locomotives in service, built by

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krup ...

in 1938. Along with the lone 242A1 of the (SNCF) and the lone Victorian Railways H class in Australia, it was one of the five known classes of three-cylinder locomotives. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War and construction problems, only the two locomotives were produced. With three cylinders, large diameter coupled wheels, a high boiler pressure and of tractive effort, they were capable of a maximum speed of and could haul a 650 tonne train at . Many parts, such as the boiler, were standardised with that of the

DRG Class 45 German Class 45 steam locomotives were standard locomotives ('' Einheitslokomotiven'') designed by the Deutsche Reichsbahn for hauling goods trains. History The Class 45 engines were the most powerful steam locomotives ever operated in Germany. ...

heavy freight locomotive. The streamlined Class 06, the only German , was the biggest steam locomotive ever built in Germany. The two locomotives were shedded in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and were placed in service on the line to

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

. No. 06.002 was bombed and destroyed during the hostilities and no. 06.001 survived until 1951, when it was retired and scrapped. The boiler of both the 06 and 45 were designed along the lines of

Robert Garbe Robert Hermann Garbe (pronounced 'Garber') (9 January 1847 – 23 May 1932) was a German railway engineer and chief engineer of the Berlin division in the Prussian state railways from 1895 to 1917. He was especially known for his steam locomotive ...

and Richard Paul "Kunibald" Wagner, who held that a

combustion chamber A combustion chamber is part of an internal combustion engine in which the fuel/air mix is burned. For steam engines, the term has also been used for an extension of the firebox which is used to allow a more complete combustion process. Interna ...

or double-expansion compound steam engines were unnecessary when using

superheated steam Superheated steam is steam at a temperature higher than its vaporization point at the absolute pressure where the temperature is measured. Superheated steam can therefore cool (lose internal energy) by some amount, resulting in a lowering of its ...

. While the DB railways in the FRG salvaged the Class 45 design by fitting it with a badly-needed mechanical stoker, there was no need for the powerful Class 06 Express locos; when express traffic resumed, DB Class V 200 and

DB Class E 10 The class E 10 is an electric locomotive of the Deutsche Bundesbahn, introduced in 1952. It belongs to the '' Einheits-Elektrolokomotiven'' (standardised electric locomotives) program and was built for express passenger service. In 1968 the seri ...

Diesel-hydraulic and AC electric engines made any investment into pre-World War II steam engines unacceptable for the DB leadership even though

Friedrich Witte Friedrich may refer to: Names *Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' *Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' Other *Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...

or Adolph Giesl-Gieslingen proposed many improvements.

Mexico

In 1946, the (N de M) placed orders with American Locomotive Company and Baldwin Locomotive Works for sixty Niágara locomotives for use on its principal express passenger services on upgraded lines, but the order was reduced to 32 in favour of diesel-electric locomotives. These QR-1 class locomotives were used mainly on lines north of

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

and were nicknamed . All were taken out of service in the late 1960s. Most survived and No. 3028, although not in operating condition, was stored on the deadline at the

New Hope and Ivyland Railroad The New Hope Railroad , formerly and colloquially known as the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad, is a shortline and heritage railroad located in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Today, the railroad operates both steam and diesel powered locomotives and is a ...

in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

New Zealand

New Zealand adopted the narrow gauge to minimise railway construction costs and, due to the mountainous terrain, the

loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...

was restricted to a maximum height of and width of , making it one of the most restrictive loading gauges in the world. While this undoubtedly reduced the cost of building the two hundred-odd tunnels on the railway system, it posed major problems for locomotive designers which were exacerbated by an axle load limit of .The Nineteenth Century Heritage: The Steam Railways
/ref> After the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) had the largest fleet of locomotives outside North America, with 71 similar locomotives in the K class, K^A class and K^B class. The K class was designed by R.J. Gard to the requirements of Locomotive Superintendent P.R. Angus and was built locally at the Hutt Workshops of the NZR. The first locomotives were delivered during the depths of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

in 1932. The grate and comparatively large boiler was slung low on a narrow frame to keep within the height restrictions, and width restrictions were adhered to with sloped cab sides and the mounting of two single stage air compressors in front of the smokebox. Locomotive Ka 942

After the construction of thirty K class locomotives, the NZR developed the design to strengthen the frame and introduced other improvements, such as roller bearings on all axles and ACFI () feedwater heaters. Introduced from 1939, they were also built in NZR workshops, most of them with streamlined shrouding to cover the external pipe work of their feedwater heater systems. The first 35 locomotives were designated K^A class and worked on the North Island mainlines with the older K class locomotives. Six more were built, designated K^B class, for service on the steeply graded Midland line on the South Island. These locomotives were equipped with trailing truck boosters, which raised their tractive effort by . On occasion, these recorded speeds up to . The streamlining shrouds of the K^A and K^B classes were removed in the late 1940s when the ACFI feedwater heaters were replaced with exhaust steam injectors. The last of these locomotives was withdrawn in 1968 due to dieselisation. Seven have been preserved, K class numbers 900, 911 and 917, K^A class numbers 935, 942 and 945 and K^B class no. 968.

South Africa

Between 1953 and 1955, the South African Railways (SAR) placed fifty Class 25NC Northern locomotives in service. Designed under the direction of Chief Mechanical Engineer L.C. Grubb, eleven of these locomotives were built by

North British Locomotive Company The North British Locomotive Company (NBL, NB Loco or North British) was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp, Stewart and Company (Atlas Works), Neilson, Reid and Company (Hyde Park Wor ...

(NBL) and 39 by Henschel & Son. They were tended by Type EW1 tenders which rode on six-wheeled bogies. Two versions of the same locomotive were built, the Class 25NC being the non-condensing version, hence the "NC" suffix to the class number. 3511 - Hartswater 240481

Ninety Class 25 condensing locomotives were introduced simultaneously, acquired as a means to deal with the shortage of adequate supplies of suitable locomotive water in the arid

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ext ...

. The design work on the engine's condensing apparatus and the enormous condensing tender was carried out by Henschel, who built one locomotive complete with tender as well as sixty of the condensing tenders, to which they held the patent. The other 89 condensing locomotives and thirty tenders were built by NBL. SAR Class 25 3511 (4-8-4) Tender

The Type CZ condensing tenders were slightly longer than their engines. One-third of the total length of the tender was taken up by the water tank and coal bunker, while the rest was taken up by eight large radiators on each side, cooled by five steam-driven roof-mounted fans. Roller bearings were used throughout on all these locomotives, including the coupling and connecting rods, the crosshead gudgeon pins as well as the three-axle bogies of both the standard and condensing tenders. The leading bogies and coupled wheels had Cannon-type axle boxes. The cylinders and frames were cast in one piece, while the steel cylinders and steam chests were fitted with cast iron liners. The tender frames of both locomotive types were also one-piece steel water-bottom castings. Since they were entirely mounted on roller bearings, very little effort was required to move these big locomotives. On the condensing locomotives, spent steam was recycled and condensed back to water for repeated use. Since the steam was not expelled up the chimney, the smokebox contained a steam turbine-driven fan beneath the chimney to keep the draught going. Visual evidence of this altered and slightly longer smokebox is the locomotive's banjo-face smokebox front. The condensing system proved extremely efficient and reduced water consumption by as much as 90% by using the same water up to eight times over, which gave the Class 25 a range of between water refills. In addition, the hot condensate feedwater resulted in significantly reduced coal consumption. SAR Class 25NC 3480 (4-8-4) Tender

However, the Class 25 was a complex locomotive that required high maintenance, especially on the turbine blower fans in the smokebox, whose blades needed to be replaced frequently due to damage by solid particles in the exhaust. The equally complex condensing tender also required frequent maintenance. Between 1973 and 1980, partly motivated by the spread of electric and diesel-electric traction, all but three of the locomotives were converted to free-exhausting and non-condensing locomotives and reclassified to Class 25NC. In the process their condensing tenders were also rebuilt to ordinary coal-and-water tenders by removing the condensing radiators and roof fans and replacing it with a massive round-topped water tank. Since the tenders were built on single cast-steel main frames, it was impractical to attempt to shorten them. Locomotives with these rebuilt Type EW2 tenders were soon nicknamed (Sausage dog or Dachshund). 3450 - Pretoria 250481

The Class 26, popularly known as the ''Red Devil'', was rebuilt from Henschel-built Class 25NC no. 3450 by mechanical engineer

David Wardale The 5AT Advanced Technology steam locomotive was a conceptual design conceived by the British engineer David Wardale, and first described in his definitive work on modern steam, ''The Red Devil and Other Tales from the Age of Steam.'' Wardale's pu ...

. The rebuilding took place at the Salt River shops of the SAR in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

and was based on the principles developed by Argentinian mechanical engineer Livio Dante Porta. The primary objectives of the modifications were to improve the combustion and steaming rate to reduce the emission of wasteful black smoke and to overcome the problem of clinkering. This was achieved by the use of a Gas Producer Combustion System (GPCS), which relies on the gasification of coal on a low temperature firebed so that the gases are then fully burnt above the firebed. The GPCS minimises the amount of air being drawn up through the firebed, the main source of air required for combustion being through ancillary air intakes on the firebox sides above the firebed.The Ultimate Steam Page
/ref>
/ref>
/ref> The modified locomotive became the only Class 26. Compared to an unmodified Class 25NC, the ''Red Devil'' achieved a 28% measured saving on coal and a 30% measured saving on water, measured during freight service, and a 43% increase in drawbar power based on the maximum recorded drawbar power. Its approximate maximum range in full load freight service on 1% to % grades was based on its coal capacity, and based on its water capacity. The maximum recorded freight load hauled relative to gradient was on 2% grades, and it could haul a passenger train at a constant speed of on 1% grades. The ''Red Devil'' great power, however, also turned out to be its one weakness. The Class 25NC had already proven to be on the slippery side and the much more powerful Class 26, with essentially still the same dimensions as the Class 25NC, was even worse. It was a poor performer at starting or at low speeds on steep gradients.

Soviet Union

Outside North America, the largest fleet of locomotives was the Class P36 of the (SZhD) or

Soviet Railways The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, of which 251 were built by the Kolomna locomotive works between 1949 and 1956. As the last Soviet standard class steam locomotive, the Class P36 shared some common components and design attributes with earlier standard Soviet designs such as the L class Decapod type and LV class Santa Fe type, as well as some common attributes with the P34 class Mallet and P38 class Yellowstone type Mallet. For example, the P36 and LV classes shared the same feedwater heater, made by the Bryansk machine factory. Apart from a trio of fully streamlined Baltic-type locomotives, they were the only semi-streamlined steam locomotives built in Russia. Passenger steam locomotive P36-001 (01)

The Class P36 was one of the best passenger steam locomotive classes built in the Soviet Union. They had boilers with of heating surface that had a working boiler pressure of . Russian-designed roller bearings were fitted throughout and the boilers were designed to provide a continuous steaming capacity of per of heating surface in the boiler. With its

cylinders A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infini ...

and diameter coupled wheels, it could easily attain speeds up to with passenger trains of up to . The Class P36 first appeared on the '' Oktyabrskaya Railway'' (October Railway) to haul principal express trains between

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, but they did not remain on this mainline long. Diesels took over after only a few years and the P36 class locomotives were transferred to other lines and depots, such as the Moscow–

Kursk Kursk ( rus, Курск, p=ˈkursk) is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German stru ...

and Moscow– Ryazan lines, Kalinin,

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yeni ...

, Belarusian Railway,

Melitopol Melitopol ( uk, Меліто́поль, translit=Melitópol’, ; russian: Мелитополь; based on el, Μελιτόπολις - "honey city") is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Zaporizhz ...

depot, Kuibyshev and Alexandrov depot. Later, when electrification and dieselisation expanded, many of the Class P36 locomotives were transferred to work on the

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

, Eastern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, and Transbaikal Railways. The last was withdrawn from regular scheduled express passenger train service in 1974. All were staged in full working order and kept in reserve for times of extraordinary demand. At certain intervals, the locomotives were taken out from staging, steamed up and put to work to haul trains to test the condition of the locomotives. In the late 1980s, these strategic reserves of locomotives were disbanded and the Class P36 locomotives were distributed to museums and for preservation. Some that had not seen regular use for more than fifteen years and were in the worst mechanical condition, were scrapped. It was found that the roller bearings suffered most by standing unused. When the computerised new class numbers were introduced by the Russian Ministry of Railways, the Class P36 were designated Class 1000.0001 to 1000.0251. In the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number were sold to private train operators.

Spain

The 242F class express passenger locomotives were designed by the Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles (RENFE) in 1955 and were remarkably well-proportioned. Developed from a preceding Mountain type, they had improved steam passages and developed 30 to 40 per cent more power at medium cut-offs and high speed. Ten of these locomotives were built by in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

to burn fuel oil. They had Witte type smoke deflectors and were fitted with a double

KylChap The Kylchap steam locomotive exhaust system was designed and patented by French steam engineer André Chapelon, using a second-stage nozzle designed by the Finnish engineer Kyösti Kylälä and known as the ''Kylälä spreader''; thus the name ...

(Kylälä-Chapelon) blast-pipe, a Worthington feedwater heater and a (TIA) water-softening device. To increase the comfort of the locomotive crew, the cabs had wooden floors mounted on springs, and the seats of the driver and fireman were also sprung, a very welcome improvement for long runs on poor tracks. These locomotives were painted in a green livery when turned out from the builder's works at Barcelona and were consequently nicknamed (The Greens). Bf Madrid Delicias, 242 F 2009

The 242F class was the fastest Spanish steam locomotive. When tested on the line from Barcelona to

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

across of practically level and straight line between

Vilanova i la Geltrú Vilanova i la Geltrú () is the capital city of Garraf ''comarca'', in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Historically a fishing port, the city has a growing population of approximately 66,000, and is situated 40 km south-west of Ba ...

and Sant Vicent, a speed exceeding was sustained twice, first with a train of 430 tons and then with a train of 480 tons. High-capacity tests took place between

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and

Ávila Ávila (, , ) is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m abov ...

when a train weighing 426 tons, including a dynamometer car, was hauled at sustained speeds of up a gradient of (1 in 286), up a gradient of (1 in 95) and up a gradient of (1 in 44.5). The gross horsepower figures recorded with the dynamometer car were 1790, 2350 and 2320 respectively, the calculated horsepower on the rail being 2600, 3400 and 3580. The latter output translates to about . With these locomotives, there was some concern about water supply. The capacity of the tender was limited at only and, with few watering points in service, the full capacity of the locomotive was not always used for fear of running short of this essential commodity in the semi-arid Spanish landscape. For example, for the stretch between Medina del Campo and

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...

that rises with an uphill start, three intermediate stops, one slack and some shunting movements to couple extra coaches to the train, the amount of water consumed was about . All ten locomotives were allocated to the Miranda de Ebro shed to haul principal heavy express trains. In the 1960s, they were a familiar sight at the head of the premier express trains, but in 1971 they were transferred entirely to semi-fast passenger trains and even to the haulage of heavy seasonal fruit trains between Castejón and Alsasua from October to January. One locomotive, no. 242F.2009, is preserved at the Madrid Railway Museum.

United Kingdom

In 1938

William Stanier Sir William Arthur Stanier, (27 May 1876 – 27 September 1965) was a British railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Biography Sir William Stanier was born in Swindon, where his ...

considered a

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 ...

express passenger locomotive design, together with a 4-8-4 version as a large mixed-traffic locomotive. War intervened and suspended development of express passenger locomotives, but the 4-8-4 design was re-examined in 1942 by Fairburn, the acting CME, as a possible post-war type for fast fitted freights. While no steam locomotives were known to be this type, an experimental diesel-mechanical locomotive, the

British Rail 10100 British Railways 10100 was an unusual experimental diesel locomotive known informally as ''The Fell Diesel Locomotive'' (after Lt. Col. L. F. R. Fell, who was one of the designers). It was the joint production of Davey Paxman & Co, Shell Ref ...

, had this wheel arrangement, but it was scrapped after a gearbox failure caused a loss of interest in the project.

United States

Steam locomotive in Vancouver, Washington -a

Women wipers of the Chicago and North Western Railroad

The American was a heavy locomotive, with nearly all examples in the United States having axle loads of more than . On railroads with rail of , axle loads of more than were permitted. Exceptionally heavy 4-8-4s were therefore introduced on the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

(Santa Fe),

Chicago and North Western 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 ...

(CNW), Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O),

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 ...

(MILW), Northern Pacific (NP),

Norfolk and Western The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

(N&W),

Spokane, Portland and Seattle The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway (SP&S) was a railroad in the northwest United States. Incorporated in 1905, it was a joint venture by the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway to build a railroad along the north bank ...

(SP&S) and Western Maryland (WM) railroads. The

Santa Fe Class 2900 The Santa Fe 2900 Class was a series of 30 4-8-4 type steam locomotives built between 1943 and 1944 for Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and pulled freight and passenger trains until retirement in the early to late-1950s. Today, six 2900s ...

had the heaviest axle load of all at as well as being the heaviest 4-8-4s ever built, weighing total. The lightest 4-8-4s in the United States were the six H-10 class locomotives of the Toledo, Peoria and Western (TPW), with an axle load of . Some 4-8-4s were used on exceptionally long runs. * The Santa Fe Heavy Mountains were rostered to haul the ''Chief'' and ''Fast Mail'' trains between

La Junta, Colorado La Junta is a home rule municipality in , the county seat of, and the most populous municipality of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,322 at the 2020 United States Census. La Junta is located on the Arkansas Ri ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

across , and also handled the ''Grand Canyon Limited'' between Los Angeles and Wellington, Kansas, across . From 1942, they ran through from Los Angeles to

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

via the

Belen Cutoff Belén is the Spanish name for Bethlehem. Belen, Belén or Beleń may also refer to: Places Argentina *Belén, Catamarca *Belén de Escobar, Buenos Aires Province Bolivia *Belén (Aroma), La Paz Department, Bolivia *Belén (Potosí), Bolivi ...

and

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

, a distance of , setting a new record for through steam locomotive rosters.Vernon L. Smith. ''The Case for the American Steam Locomotive''. Trains Magazine, August 1967 * The Niagaras of the

(NYC) also accomplished long runs on

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

passenger trains, including the ''Chicagoan'' and the ''Commodore Vanderbilt''. * The Northern Pacific hauled the ''North Coast Limited'' across from

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

, to Livingston, Montana. * The

Great Northern Great Northern may refer to: Transport * One of a number of railways; see Great Northern Railway (disambiguation). * Great Northern Railway (U.S.), a defunct American transcontinental railroad and major predecessor of the BNSF Railway. * Great ...

S-2 Class of 4-8-4s hauled the ''Empire Builder'' across from St. Paul, Minnesota to Wenatchee, Washington and possibly as far west to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, a maximum distance of . Several of the earlier locomotive models were modified or rebuilt during their service lives. * Santa Fe developed their 4-8-4s for years, and named the classes based on the number of the first locomotive in the class. The fourteen 3751 class locomotives that were introduced in 1927 and 1928 were of conservative design, with diameter driving wheels and a boiler pressure of . In 1938, these locomotives were rebuilt with more modern features, including new diameter

Boxpok A Boxpok is a steam locomotive wheel that gains its strength through being made of a number of box sections rather than having traditional solid spokes (the name is a variation on "box-spoke"). Being hollow, they allow better counterbalancing ...

driving wheels, increased size steam passages to and from the cylinders, the boiler pressure raised to and roller bearings on all engine axles. This gave them a maximum drawbar power of at . Engine no. 3752 was equipped with Franklin rotary cam poppet valve gear and achieved the very low steam rate of 13.5 lb per indicated horsepower-hour (2.28 mg/J). These locomotives were permitted to run at , but they were alleged to have exceeded several times. * The heavy Class H Northerns of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad were rebuilt in 1940 with lightweight rods, Boxpok driving wheels and roller bearings on all axles, and the boiler pressure was raised from . Some years later, 24 of them underwent another rebuild which included new nickel-steel frames, new cylinders, pilot beams and air reservoirs, new fireboxes and other minor improvements. These were reclassified as Class H-1. * The S-2 Class Northerns of the Great Northern Railway were rebuilt to have Timken roller bearings on every axle in 1945, replacing their original plain bearings. Vestibule cabs were added to engine 2577 in the early 1930s and engines 2582, 2586, 2587 and 2588 by the late 1940s. Some Northern locomotives were also rebuilt from older engines. Between 1945 and 1947, the Reading Railroad rebuilt thirty of their heavy I-10 class Consolidations to booster-fitted Northern locomotives with diameter driving wheels. An additional ring was added at the smokebox end of the boiler, which increased the length of the boiler tubes from to , and a larger smokebox was installed which increased the distance between the tube plate and the chimney centre line from to . Steam pressure was raised from . Four syphons were fitted, three in the firebox proper and one in the combustion chamber. A twelve-wheeled tender was attached, weighing 167 tons in working order, with a capacity of 23.5 tons of coal and of water. A new cast-steel frame was used, with the cylinders cast integral and roller bearings on all axles. They were reclassified to T1 and numbered 2100 to 2129. Two of these locomotives, preserved for hauling special trains, were still in use in 1963. 4449idle

The Northerns were workhorses that went without much public recognition, with a few exceptions. The Class GS-4 ''Golden State'' locomotives of

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

(SP), of which 36 were built by Lima Locomotive Works in 1941 and 1942, were semi-streamlined and were given a striking livery with a broad orange valence over the wheels below a narrow red band that came halfway up the cab windows. The locomotives headed the '' Coast Daylight'' train on the railroad's Coast Line between Los Angeles and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. The television program '' The Adventures of Superman'' was introduced with a shot of an SP GS-4 as the announcer declared that

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

was "more powerful than a locomotive." One of them, Southern Pacific 4449, has been restored and is in operating condition. Even after the demise of steam, the Northern type has been in the spotlight of publicity and, along with Union Pacific 844 of the

Union Pacific FEF Series The Union Pacific FEF Series consists of forty-five 4-8-4 "Northern" steam locomotive types built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) between 1937 and 1944 and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad until 1959. The 45 locomotives were the ...

and

Norfolk and Western 611 Norfolk and Western 611, also known as the "Spirit of Roanoke" and the "Queen of Steam", is a Norfolk and Western (N&W) class J 4-8-4 "Northern" streamlined steam locomotive built in May 1950 by the N&W's East End Shops in Roanoke, Virginia. It w ...

of the Norfolk and Western Class J series, among other Northerns, have been the favoured type to provide mainline excursions in the United States. The former is the only steam locomotive of a Class I railroad never to have been retired.American-Rails.com - The 4-8-4 Northern Type
(Accessed on 10 November 2016)

North American production list

Most North American s were built by ALCO, Lima and the Baldwin Locomotive Works, while Canadian National Railway's fleet was built by

. Only the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Norfolk and Western Railway, the

St. Louis Southwestern Railway The St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company , known by its nickname of "The Cotton Belt Route" or simply "Cotton Belt", is a former Class I railroad that operated between St. Louis, Missouri, and various points in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Ten ...

(Cotton Belt) and the Reading Railroad built or rebuilt their own. The Missouri Pacific rebuilt one class of their s from their class BK-63 2-8-4s. The Northern type was used by 37 railroads in the Americas, including 31 railroads in the United States, three in Canada, one in Mexico and two in Brazil. In all, there were fewer than 1,200 locomotives of this type in North America, compared to the approximately 2,500 Mountain types and 6,800 Pacific types. By far the largest fleet was owned by the CN and its subsidiary, the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, with altogether 203 locomotives.

Preservation by country

In many countries, the was a late development of the steam locomotive, close to the time of steam's demise. Many more were therefore preserved than other older wheel arrangements, either plinthed or in museums, with several being kept in running condition. Some of the more notable preserved Northerns worldwide are listed here by country of origin. ; Australia * South Australian Railways 504 "Tom Barr Smith": on static display at the

National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide Australia's National Railway Museum is the largest railway museum in Australia. More than 100 major exhibits, mainly from the South Australian Railways (SAR) and Commonwealth Railways and their successor, Australian National Railways Commissio ...

. * South Australian Railways 520 "Sir Malcolm Barclay‑Harvey": Restored to service in 1972, operating the

SteamRanger The SteamRanger Heritage Railway is a long broad gauge tourist railway, formerly the Victor Harbor railway line of the South Australian Railways (SAR). It is operated by the not-for-profit South Australian Division of the Australian Railway ...

tourist railway between Mount Barker and Victor Harbor at the time. Removed from operation in 1998, but currently undergoing restoration. * South Australian Railways 523 "Essington Lewis": on static display at the National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide. * Victorian Railways H220 (aka "Heavy Harry"): On static display at the Newport Railway Museum in

, this locomotive is the only surviving three-cylinder example of a 4-8-4. ; Canada * Canadian National 6153: On static display at the

Canadian Railway Museum The Canadian Railway Museum (french: (Le) ''Musée ferroviaire canadien''), operating under the brand name Exporail in both official languages, is a rail transport museum in Saint-Constant, Quebec, Canada, on Montreal's south shore. Locomotive ...

in Delson, Quebec. * Canadian National 6167: On static display in downtown

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

, Ontario. * Canadian National 6200: Canadian Science & Technology Museum,

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Ontario. *

Canadian National 6213 Canadian National 6213 is a preserved 4-8-4 steam locomotive on static display in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the Toronto Railway Museum (TRM) on the lands of the former CPR John St. Roundhouse. It was on active duty until 1959 and was donated b ...

: On static display in downtown

, Ontario, at the

Toronto Railway Heritage Centre Roundhouse Park is a 17 acre (6.9 ha) park in the downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is in the former Railway Lands. It features the John Street Roundhouse, a preserved locomotive roundhouse which is home to the Toronto Railway Museu ...

. *

Canadian National 6218 Canadian National 6218 is a 4-8-4 U-2-g Confederation built by the Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) in 1942 for the Canadian National Railway. It became famous after it was brought back by CN for their Steam Excursion Program from 1964 to 1971. It ...

: Fort Erie Railroad Museum,

Fort Erie, Ontario Fort Erie is a town on the Niagara River in the Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada. It is directly across the river from Buffalo, New York, and is the site of Old Fort Erie which played a prominent role in the War of 1812. Fort Erie is one of N ...

. Used by the CN on excursions in the 1960s and 1970s. *

Canadian National 6400 Canadian National Railway No. 6400 is a preserved 4-8-4 “Confederation” or “Northern” type locomotive built in June 1936 for the Canadian National Railway (CNR). It was the first member of the five streamlined U-4-a Class “6400 Series ...

: Canadian Science & Technology Museum,

, Ontario. * Canadian Pacific 3100: Canadian Science & Technology Museum,

, Ontario. * Canadian Pacific 3101: On display at EVRAZ (formerly IPSCO Steel),

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...

. * Grand Trunk Western 6323: On display at the

Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview Histo ...

in Union, Illinois. * Grand Trunk Western 6325: Restored in 2001 by the Ohio Central Railroad, owned by

Age of Steam Roundhouse The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum, Sugarcreek, Ohio, United States, is a museum roundhouse housing steam and diesel locomotives, passenger cars and other railroad equipment. History The roundhouse was built by Jerry Joe Jacobson, former CEO of ...

Sugarcreek, Ohio Sugarcreek is a village in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. It includes the community formerly known as Shanesville. The population was 2,220 at the 2010 census. It is known as "The Little Switzerland of Ohio." In the center of town stands one of the ...

. Currently, the locomotive needs valve and running gear work. ; China * Class KF1 006: Displayed at the

China Railway Museum The China Railway Museum () is a Chinese museum preserving locomotives that have operated on the railways of the People's Republic of China. The museum offers a total exhibition space of 16500m² and 8 exhibition tracks. The museum is located ...

. * Class KF 7: Displayed at the

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, England. ;MexicoSurviving 4-8-4 steam locomotives in Mexico
/ref> * N de M 3027:

Guadalajara, Jalisco Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...

. * N de M 3028: Retired in 1966, acquired by the Great North Eastern Railroad Foundation, and displayed at the

Altamont, New York Altamont is a village located in the town of Guilderland in Albany County, New York, United States. The village is in the western part of the town. The population was 1,720 at the 2010 census. The name means "high mountain." History In colon ...

, fairgrounds until 1983. On lease to the

. * N de M 3030: Zacatecas, Zacatecas. * N de M 3031:

Huehuetoca Huehuetoca is a ''municipio'' (municipality) in State of Mexico, central Mexico, and also the name of its largest town and municipal seat. Name origins The name "Huehuetoca" is derived from the Nahuatl ''huehuetocan'', which has several interp ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. * N de M 3033: Pachuca, Hidalgo. * N de M 3034: Puebla, Puebla. * N de M 3035: Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes. * N de M 3036: Leon, Guanajuato. * N de M 3038:

. * N de M 3039:

Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anc ...

. * N de M 3040:

Oriental The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

. * N de M 3056: Tequisuiapan, Queretaro. ; New Zealand * K 900: On static display at the

Museum of Transport & Technology The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) is a science and technology museum located in Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand. It is located close to the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland Zoo and the Western Springs Park. The museum has ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

* K 911: Under overhaul by the

Mainline Steam Heritage Trust The Mainline Steam Heritage Trust is a New Zealand charitable trust devoted to the restoration and operation of historic New Zealand Railways and overseas mainline steam locomotives. Regular day excursions and multi-day tours are operated over ...

Plimmerton The suburb of Plimmerton lies in the northwest part of the city of Porirua in New Zealand, adjacent to some of the city's more congenial beaches. State Highway 59 and the North Island Main Trunk railway line pass just east of the main shopping an ...

. * K 917: Stored, missing many parts, Steam Incorporated,

Paekākāriki Paekākāriki () is a town in the Kapiti Coast District in the south-western North Island, New Zealand, and one of the northernmost suburbs of Wellington. It lies north of Porirua and northeast of the Wellington CBD. The town's name comes from ...

. * K^A 935: Awaiting overhaul at the Silver Stream Railway, near

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand. * K^A 942: In service at the Mainline Steam Heritage Trust, Plimmerton. Was used on mainline excursions. * K^A 945: Stored in dismantled condition at Steam Incorporated, Paekākāriki. * K^B 968: Owned by the Canterbury Railway Society, leased to the Mainline Steam Heritage Trust. Under overhaul at

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

. ; South Africa * Class 25 3511: Condenser, staged at Beaconsfield,

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

. * Class 25NC 3405: Displayed at the

Buckinghamshire Railway Centre Buckinghamshire Railway Centre is a railway museum operated by the Quainton Railway Society Ltd. at Quainton Road railway station, about west of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. The site is divided into two halves which are joined by two ...

, Quainton, England * Class 25NC 3432: Stored at Mainline Steam, Auckland, New Zealand. * Class 25NC 3437: Owned by Steamnet 2000, restored and steamed in April 2017. * Class 25NC 3442: Operated by

Rovos Rail Rovos Rail is a private railway company operating out of Capital Park Station in Pretoria, South Africa. Rovos Rail runs its train-hotel to a regular schedule on various routes throughout Southern Africa, from South Africa to Namibia and Tanza ...

, Capital Park,

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

. * Class 25NC 3454: Ex condenser with dual Lempor exhaust, staged at Bloemfontein. * Class 25NC 3484: Ex condenser, operated by

, Capital Park,

. * Class 25NC 3508: Stored at Mainline Steam, Auckland, New Zealand. * Class 25NC 3533: Ex condenser, operated by

, Capital Park,

. * Class 26 3450: The ''Red Devil'', staged at Monument Station,

. ; Soviet Union * P36-0001: Restored to working order at Roslavl in 2005. Currently displayed at Rizhsky Station, Moscow. * P36-0027: Tikhoretsk for restoration to working order. * P36-0031: Troitsk in working order. * P36-0032: The only private steam locomotive operated in Russia, owned by GW Travel. * P36-0050: Brest Railway Museum. * P36-0058: Zlatoust derelict. * P36-0064:

Railway Museum, Belarus Railways. * P36-0071: Cosmetically restored and on display in Nizhny Novgorod. * P36-0091: Skovorodino station. * P36-0094: Belogorsk station. * P36-0096: Severobaik station. * P36-0097: Seyatel Station Museum. * P36-0107: Park near

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...

. * P36-0110: Mogzhon station. * P36-0111:

Orsha Orsha ( be, О́рша, Во́рша, Orša, Vorša; russian: О́рша ; lt, Orša, pl, Orsza) is a city in Belarus in the Vitebsk Region, on the fork of the Dnieper and Arshytsa rivers. History Orsha was first mentioned in 1067 as Rsha ...

station,

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. * P36-0120: Now restored to working order at Tikhoretsk. Returned to Moscow 03/09/13 for the '1520 Railway Exhibition' at Scherbinka. Currently based in Moscow. * P36-0123: Prora Museum, Ruegen Island, Germany. * P36-0124: Chernyshevsk depot. * P36-0147: Sharya station. * P36-0182: Cosmetically restored and on display in Chelyabinsk. * P36-0192: Taiga station. * P36-0218: Tikhoretsk/Bataysk, restored to working order. * P36-0228: Uulan Baatar Railway Museum,

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. * P36-0232: Cosmetically restored at Zlatoust in 2009 for display in Samara. May display a different number. * P36-0249: Shushary Railway Museum, St. Petersburg. * P36-0250:

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

Railway Museum,

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

. * P36-0251: Warsaw Station Museum, St. Petersburg. ; Spain * RENFE242F-2009: Retired in 1973, restored in 1989, and another time in 2005. Although in running order, it is usually on static display at the Museo del Ferrocarril, housed in the former

Delicias Railway Station Delicias, is a railway station serving the area of Arganzuela in Madrid, Spain. Is owned by Adif and operated by Renfe Operadora. The station is served by Cercanías Madrid lines C-1, C-7 and C-10. It should not be confused with the former ...

. *Andorra, Escatrón & Samper de Calanda steam locomotives, retired in 1984. One is displayed in

Casetas Casetas is a borough of Zaragoza (Spain) located 15 km west of the city. Management Casetas is a population entity that is 14 km (9 mi) from Zaragoza, its administrative capital. From July 1, 1879 by decision of the City Council o ...

, Zaragoza, and the other two are displayed in

Andorra, Teruel Andorra is a town and municipality of Teruel province in the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It should not be confused with the Principality of Andorra or its capital, Andorra la Vella, 236 km (147 miles) away. In 2019 the municipality, w ...

; United States *

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and S ...

2903: On display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. * Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2912: On static display in

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo () is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, Pueblo County, Colorado ...

. * Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2913: On display in Fort Madison, Iowa. * Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2921: On display at the Amtrak Station in

Modesto, California Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton- ...

. * Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2925: On display at the California State Railroad Museum in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

. * Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2926: Currently under restoration for excursion service in Albuquerque at a site leased from the GSA near 8th Street and Haynes Avenue. More information a
New Mexico Steam Locomotive and Railroad Historical Society
* Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 3751: Restored in 1991, owned by the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society, and is operated in excursion service. It is the oldest surviving , the first one to be built by the

and the first to be built for the Santa Fe. * Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 3759: On Display in Kingman, Arizona.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 3768:
On display at the Great Plains Transportation Museum in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

. * Chesapeake and Ohio

614 __NOTOC__ Year 614 ( DCXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 614 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

: Restored in 1980 and again in 1995, owned by Iron Horse Enterprise, Clifton Forge, Virginia. * Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 5614: On display at Patee Park in

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includ ...

. * Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy 5629: On display at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado. * Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy 5631: On display at Rotary Park in

Sheridan, Wyoming Sheridan is a town in the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Sheridan County. The town is located halfway between Yellowstone Park and Mount Rushmore by U.S. Route 14 and 16. It is the principal town of the Sheridan, Wyoming, Micropol ...

. * Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy 5633: On display at the Douglas Railroad Interpretive Center,

Douglas, Wyoming Douglas is a city in Converse County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 6,120 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Converse County and the home of the Wyoming State Fair. History Douglas was platted in 1886 when the Wyoming C ...

. * Grand Trunk Western 6323: On display at the

in Union, Illinois. *

2584: On display at the Havre depot in Havre, Montana. * Milwaukee Road 261: Restored in 1993, owned, maintained, and operated by the Friends of the 261 in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. * Milwaukee Road 265: On display at the

in Union, Illinois. * Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis

576 __NOTOC__ Year 576 ( DLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 576 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

- Presently undergoing Restoration. *

: Ran frequent excursions in the 1980s and early 1990s, then placed on static display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Roanoke, Virginia. The second restoration to operational condition completed in mid 2015 at the North Carolina Transportation Museum,

Spencer, North Carolina Spencer is a town in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States, incorporated in 1905. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 3,267. History The town was named for Samuel Spencer, first president of the Southern Railway, who is credi ...

. *

Reading 2100 Reading 2100 is the prototype of the class "Reading T-1, T-1" 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotives constructed in 1945 for use by the Reading Company. Constructed from an earlier 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type locomotive built in 1923, No. 2100 ha ...

: Restored in 1988 and 1998, converted to burn oil in the Early 2000s. On long-term lease to the American Steam Railroad. Currently under restoration to operating condition. *

Reading 2101 Reading 2101 is a preserved United States, American class "Reading T-1, T-1" 4-8-4 "4-8-4, Northern" type steam locomotive constructed in 1945 for use by the Reading Company. Constructed from an earlier "I10SA" 2-8-0 "2-8-0, Consolidation"-type l ...

: On display at the B&O Railroad Museum in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. *

Reading 2102 Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad 2102 (historically known as Reading 2102) is a preserved " T-1" 4-8-4 " Northern" type steam locomotive. Originally built by Baldwin in 1925 as an "I-10sa" 2-8-0 " Consolidation" type locomotive for ...

: Reading & Northern Railroad,

Port Clinton, Pennsylvania Port Clinton is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located at the confluence of the Schuylkill and Little Schuylkill rivers, it was a port on the Schuylkill Canal and named after DeWitt Clinton. Geography According to ...

, has been restored to operating condition in April 2022. *

Reading 2124 Reading 2124 is a preserved American class " T-1" 4-8-4 " Northern" type steam locomotive that was built by the Reading Company in January 1947 using parts from "I-10sa" class 2-8-0 " Consolidation" type locomotive number 2024, which was origi ...

: Used on the "Reading Rambles" in the late 1950s and 1960s. On display at

Steamtown National Historic Site Steamtown National Historic Site (NHS) is a railroad museum and heritage railroad located on in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). The museum is buil ...

in Scranton, Pennsylvania. *

819 __NOTOC__ Year 819 (Roman numerals, DCCCXIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Emperor Louis the Pious, Louis I marries Judith ...

: Built in 1943, it was the last locomotive built by the Cotton Belt and the last Cotton Belt steam locomotive built. Restored to service in 1986 and housed at the Arkansas Railroad Museum in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. * St. Louis-San Francisco 4500: As the Frisco ''

Meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as micr ...

'', ran overnight passenger service between St. Louis, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Cosmetically restored and relocated in 2011 to the Route 66 Historical Village at 3770 Southwest Blvd in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

. * St. Louis-San Francisco 4501: Built in 1942, ran overnight passenger service as the Frisco ''

'' between St. Louis, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City. Donated to the Dallas

Museum of the American Railroad The Museum of the American Railroad, formerly known as the Age of Steam Railroad Museum, is a railroad museum in Frisco, Texas. The museum has more than 70 pieces of steam, diesel, passenger, and freight railroad equipment; guests may walk through ...

in September 1964. * St. Louis-San Francisco 4516: On display at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in

Sedalia, Missouri Sedalia is a city located approximately south of the Missouri River and, as the county seat of Pettis County, Missouri, United States, it is the principal city of the Sedalia Micropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had ...

. * St. Louis-San Francisco 4524: On display at Grant Beach Park in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. This was the last steam locomotive built for the Frisco. *

700: Restored in 1990 by the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, and is operated in excursion service. No. 700 is stored at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center in Portland, Oregon, along with SP 4449. It is the only surviving original Spokane, Portland and Seattle railway steam locomotive. * Southern Pacific 4449: Still in operation, served as the locomotive for the Bicentennial American Freedom Train. Stored at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center in Portland, Oregon along with SPS 700. *

Southern Pacific 4460 Southern Pacific 4460 is the only surviving class " GS-6" steam locomotive, together with " GS-4" class Southern Pacific 4449, which is operational in excursion service. The GS-6 is a semi-streamlined 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive. GS s ...

: On display at the National Museum of Transportation in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. This was the last steam locomotive used in revenue service by SP. * Union Pacific 814: On display at the Rock Island Depot Museum in

Council Bluffs, Iowa Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha–Council Bluffs ...

. * Union Pacific 833: On display at the Utah State Railroad Museum in

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

. * Union Pacific 838: Union Pacific Railroad, stored in

Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne ( or ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming, as well as the county seat of Laramie County, with 65,132 residents, per the 2020 US Census. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne metropolitan statistical ...

. Used solely as a source of spare parts for sister engine 844. * Union Pacific 844: Formerly Union Pacific 8444 is the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific Railroad (12/1944). Part of UP heritage fleet, often used for running in excursion service, and on occasion revenue service. Never retired, it is the longest continuously operating steam locomotive on a Class 1 Railroad. Kept at

, when not on excursion.

References

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