What defines an engine as being in a “spot class”?
I have never heard that term. It could possibly mean engines in use marked for retirement.
“Spot Class” would normally refer to a series of locomotives that are numbered in the range of 1-9. Many times, those locomotives would be referred to affectionately as “The One-Spot” for locomotive No. 1 and so forth. This was especially true on small railroads were they would only have a few locomotives, thus all of them with single digit numbers. This carried over to the large, Class 1 railroads, also. For instance, my favorite railroad (the Frisco RR) had a series of 2-10-2 steamers that were numbered from 1 to 60. Since they started with the “spot” numbers (single digits), they were colloquially known as the “Spot Class”.
Hope that helps…
- James
Thanks James
That explains why some photos that I have seen referred to the engine being in the spot class when it was numbered 15.
Makes sense, I never thought of that angle.
There was also an engine numbered as “1111” and was referred to as the “4-spot”.
Timken Roller bearing equipped by ALCO also called the Four Aces.