Least numerous class of 4-8-4,

Classic Trains General Discussion
1

Hey all,

I was wondering, what railroad had the smallest fleet of 4-8-4s?
And not just in terms of one-offs, experimental types etc.
But actual inservice loco’s.

Thanks,
Alvie

2

CPR owned but two K-1-a class 4-8-4 Northerns 3100-3101 with 75" drivers pulled trains between Montreal and Toronto and Montreal St. John.
Temiskaming & Northern Ontario also owned a pair 1102 and 1103 with 69" drivers operated in passenger service between Toronto and the North Country.

3

The Toledo,Peoria and Western had a fleet of three.

4

I think CP will win this one…

Didnt SSW have only a few too?

5

The Tip Up had six: #80-85 built by Alco in 1937.

6

Cotton Belt had 20 Northerns: #800-819. The first ten were built in 1930 by Baldwin. Cotton Belt’s shop in Pine Bluff built another five in 1937 and finished off the class with another five in 1942-1943. The 819 is preserved in Pine Bluff at the Arkansas Railway Museum.
[8D]

7

The Pennsy only had one. The R1 which lost the contest to the locomotive with the Challenger wheel arrangement, otherwise known as the GG1.

8

Thanks for the info, SWW9389!

9

WP received, I think, 6 from the SP “war baby” order. SP&S had 3. Who knows the size of the WM fleet?

10

The Soo Line had only four, Nos. 5000-5003, built by Lima in 1938. The tender of one of them, I believe, was re-used on Richard Jensen’s ex-Grand Trunk Western 4-6-2 No. 5629.

11

Western Maryland Railway 4-8-4 Potomacs : 12

12

For a while the New York Central had only one 4-8-4, the high-pressure experimental No. 800. It was unsuccessful and was scrapped before World War II. For information and photo, go to http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/USAhp/USAhp.htm .