The engineers at ALCO made a study of the road conditions and other requirements. From this study they recommended a locomotive with eight drivers, like the "Mikado", for traction to which they would add a four-wheel lead truck, like the "Pacific", for speed and riding stability. The result was a new wheel arrangement, the 4-8-2.
The C&O agreed and in 1911, became the first North American railroad to take delivery of a locomotive with the 4-8-2 wheel arrangement. This locomotive was numbered 316 but was later renumbered 540. The C&O named this new type of locomotive "Mountain" because it was developed to haul passenger trains over the Allegheny Mountains.
The "Mountain" 4-8-2 was a fast dual-service locomotive that was bought by many railroads in need of more motive power for the ever increasing weight of passenger trains and to compete for fast freight.
In North America 41 railroads bought or built 2,204 "Mountain" Locomotives. The New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad used a combined total of 901 or 41% of the total. The first one built was C&O number 316, in 1911, and the last one built was B&O number 5594, in 1948.
The 4-8-2 was the locomotive that demonstrated the value of combining eight coupled high drivers with the speed potential of the leading four wheel truck. Had the engineers, in 1911, recognized the serious limitation of the two trailing wheels and had allowed more weight by adding a trailing four wheel truck then the ultimate dual-service locomotive would have been developed 16 years earlier than the 1927 introduction of the "Northern".
Information for this introduction to Mountains provided by Richard Duley.
Railroad Line | Quantity, Builder |
---|---|
Alaska Railroad | 2 Baldwin |
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe | 51 Baldwin |
Baltimore & Ohio | 2 Baldwin 42 B&O |
Bangor & Aroostook | 10 ALCO |
Boston & Maine | 18 Baldwin |
Canadian National Railway | 42 CLC 32 MLW |
Canadan Pacific Railway | 2 CPR |
Central Vermont | 4 ALCO |
Central of Georgia | 27 ALCO 5 Baldwin |
Chesapeake & Ohio | 8 ALCO 2 Baldwin |
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy | 13 BLW 8 Lima |
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific | 62 ALCO |
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western | 45 ALCO |
Denver & Rio Grande Western | 30 ALCO 10 Baldwin |
Florida East Coast | 90 ALCO |
Grand Trunk Western | 5 Baldwin |
Great Northern | 28 Baldwin 15 LIMA |
Illinois Central | 35 ALCO 25 LIMA 76 IC |
Lehigh & Hudson River | 3 Baldwin |
Lehigh Valley | 6 ALCO |
Louisville & Nashville | 22 Baldwin |
Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Sainte Marie | 18 ALCO 3 Soo |
Missouri Pacific | 33 ALCO |
Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis | 5 ALCO 8 Baldwin |
New Orleans Great Northern | 3 ALCO |
New York Central | 435 ALCO 165 Lima |
New York, New Haven & Hartford | 70 ALCO |
New York, Ontario & Western | 20 ALCO |
Norfolk & Western | 10 ALCO 12 Baldwin 26 N&W |
Pennsylvania | 225 Baldwin 50 LIMA 26 PRR |
Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac | 4 ALCO |
Rutland | 4 ALCO |
St. Louis - San Francisco | 30 Baldwin 34 SLSF |
Seaboard Air Line | 25 ALCO 36 Baldwin |
Southern Pacific | 34 ALCO 49 SP |
Southern | 58 Baldwin |
Tennessee Central | 4 ALCO |
Texas & Pacific | 5 ALCO 5 Baldwin |
Union Pacific | 60 ALCO |
Wabash | 25 Baldwin |
Western Pacific | 10 ex FEC |
Western Railway of Alabama | 2 ALCO |
No. | Class | F.M. Whyte | Gauge | Railroad Line | Location | Status | Builder Info | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1527 | 1500 | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | SLSF | ![]() | display | Baldwin #59201, 1926 | ![]() ![]() |
2500 | 2500 | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | IC | ![]() | display | IC, 1937 | ![]() ![]() |
3042 | L-3b | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | NYC | ![]() | unknown | ALCO (Schenectady), 1940 | Tender only, on display behind 3001. Used as auxiliary water tender for American Freedom Train and Chessie Steam Special then damaged in roundhouse fire. ![]() |
3001 (909) | L-3a | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | NYC (T&P) | ![]() | display | ALCO (Schenectady) #69338, 1940 | ![]() ![]() |
2523 | P-2 | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | GN | ![]() | display | Baldwin #57343, 1923 | ![]() ![]() |
928 | 4-8-2 | 12" | WF&P | ![]() | operational | WF&P, 2006 | ![]() | |
1501 | 1500 | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | SLSF | ![]() | display | Baldwin #56235, 1923 | ![]() ![]() |
1522 | 1500 | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | SLSF | ![]() | display serviceable | Baldwin #59134, 1926 | ![]() ![]() |
2933 | L-2d | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | NYC | ![]() | cosmetic restoration | ALCO (Schenectady) #68126, 1929 | Under restoration since 2004 ![]() |
1529 | 1500 | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | SLSF | ![]() | display | Baldwin #59203, 05/1926 | ![]() ![]() |
2542 | 2500 | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | IC | ![]() | display | Paducah, 1951 | ![]() ![]() |
1519 | 1500 | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | SLSF | ![]() | display | Baldwin #58607, 1925 | ![]() ![]() |
1526 | 1500 | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | SLSF | ![]() | display | Baldwin #59200, 1926 | ![]() ![]() |
6039 | U-1-c | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | GTW | ![]() | display | Baldwin #58463, 1925 | ![]() |
6755 | M1b | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | PRR | ![]() | display | PRR (Altoona) #4225, 1930 | ![]() |
2507 | P-2 | 4-8-2 | 4'-8½" | SP&S (GN) | ![]() | display | Baldwin #57184, 1923 | painted in 2002, from Port of Pasco, WA ![]() |