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References: [1] [2] [3] |
The Chesapeake and Ohio Greenbrier was a class of twelve 4-8-4 steam locomotives built by the Lima Locomotive Works between 1935 and 1948 and operated by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O). The C&O did not name their 4-8-4s "Northerns", and instead chosen the name "Greenbrier" after the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, a major destination on the C&O mainline.
They were built with the primary purpose of hauling long, heavy, high-speed express passenger trains for the C&O Railway such as the George Washington and the Fast Flying Virginian . All retired by the mid 1950s, only 614 survives and is on display, awaiting to be moved to undergo restoration to operating condition.
Built in three batches, all 12 of the Greenbriers were built for mountain passenger service, hauling trains such as the "George Washington" or the "Sportsman". [4] They also saw service pulling freight and occasionally in pusher service for eastbound coal trains when necessary. The overall design was largely the same between the three batches, although there were changes between each batch.
The first batch consisted of five "Greenbriers" (600-604) built in 1935 and named Virginia statesmen Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Harrison, James Madison and Edmund Randolph. These first five were classified as J-3. [4] They were delivered with spoked driving wheels and worked at a boiler pressure of 250 PSI, which was later raised to 255 PSI. The 1935 J-3s were the only "Greenbriers" built with Walschaerts valve gear, which was later changed to Baker, and were equipped with feedwater heaters and thermic siphons, arch tubes, and a combustion chamber in the firebox.
Only two locomotives were part of a second batch in 1942, numbered 605-606. These were also classified as J-3 but referred to by some accounts as "J-3b." Like their predecessors, they were given the names of Virginia statesmen: Thomas Nelson, Jr and James Monroe. They also used the same trailing truck boosters, feedwater heaters, and arrangement of thermic siphons, arch tubes, and combustion chamber as the 1935 J-3s. Nonetheless, there were several changes from the original design. The 1942 J-3 pair were built new with Baker valve gear and saw the steam and sand domes change positions. They also worked at a slightly higher boiler pressure of 255 PSI from delivery, had three more superheater flues in the boiler, and used roller bearings on the lead and trailing trucks. The 1942 pair were heavier than the 1935 locomotives as well, presumably due to the use of heavier metals in construction than the lightweight alloys often used before the start of World War II.
The final batch of "Greenbriers" were numbered 610-614 and were built in 1948 and classified as J-3a. These locomotives were unnamed and saw many changes to the original design. Boxpok driving wheels, which offered better counterbalancing, were used in place of spoked wheels, and cast steel frame beds were used instead of bar frames for structural integrity. Timken roller bearings were used on the axles and running gear to reduce maintenance, and a different model of feedwater heater was fitted. No. 613 was also equipped with experimental smoke deflectors. [4] Despite having a smaller heating surface than the earlier J-3s, the J-3as had firebox circulators, a larger combustion chamber, and larger-diameter flues in the boiler to improving steaming capacity. [5] They were also fitted with a cast steel, streamlined pilot. These locomotives were the last 4-8-4s built by Lima and were the last commercially built 4-8-4s in the United States.
Only one "Greenbrier" has survived into preservation, No. 614. 614 ran in a number of excursions, starting with the Chessie Safety Express in the early 1980s and ending pulling excursions in conjunction with New Jersey Transit (NJT) and co-sponsored by the Volunteer Railroaders Association between 1996 and 1998. [6] No. 614 was also used as a test locomotive for the ACE 3000 project, hauling coal trains between Huntington and Hinton, West Virginia in 1985 and "T" was added next to her number to indicate testing. During 614's excursion career, her tender was modified, reducing its water capacity from 21,500 gallons to 18,200 gallons, but increased its coal capacity from 23 metric tons to 45 metric tons. To compensate the reduced water capacity, an auxiliary tender was given to 614, increasing her overall water capacity to 50,000 gallons, these changes increased distance traveled with fewer coal and water stops. [7] Today, 614 is on display at the C&O Railway Heritage Center in Clifton Forge, Virginia in the Greenbrier Presidential Express scheme, a luxury passenger train which never came to be.
On November 8, 2024, it was announced that C&O 614 was sold by Ross Rowland to RJD America, LLC of Denville, New Jersey, who will be restoring it to operating condition. [8] [9] The locomotive will be moved to the Strasburg Railroad in early 2025, who has been contracted to complete the restoration. [8] [9]
Number | Lima serial number | Date built | Disposition | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
600 | 7627 | 1935 | Sold for scrap April 1953. | Named Thomas Jefferson. |
601 | 7628 | 1935 | Sold for scrap April 1953. | Named Patrick Henry. |
602 | 7629 | 1935 | Sold for scrap July 1953. | Named Benjamin Harrison. |
603 | 7630 | 1935 | Sold for scrap April 1953. | Named James Madison. |
604 | 7631 | 1935 | Sold for scrap July 1953. | Named Edmund Randolph. |
605 | 7842 | 1942 | Sold for scrap. | Named Thomas Nelson, Jr. |
606 | 7843 | 1942 | Sold for scrap. | Named James Monroe. |
610 | 9302 | 1948 | Sold for scrap. | |
611 | 9303 | 1948 | Sold for scrap. | |
612 | 9304 | 1948 | Sold for scrap. | |
613 | 9305 | 1948 | Sold for scrap October 7, 1955. | Fitted with smoke deflectors. |
614 | 9306 | June 1948 | Preserved, on display. | Ran excursions throughout the 1980's and 90's and is the last commercially built 4-8-4, awaiting restoration. |
A 2-8-8-4 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation, has two leading wheels, two sets of eight driving wheels, and a four-wheel trailing truck. The type was generally named the Yellowstone, a name given it by the first owner, the Northern Pacific Railway, whose lines ran near Yellowstone National Park. Seventy-two Yellowstone-type locomotives were built for four U.S. railroads.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type was first used by the Northern Pacific Railway, 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.
Lima Locomotive Works (LLW) was an American firm that manufactured railroad locomotives from the 1870s through the 1950s. The company's name is derived from the location of its main manufacturing plant in Lima, Ohio. The shops were located between the Erie Railroad main line, the Baltimore & Ohio's Cincinnati-Toledo main line and the Nickel Plate Road main line and shops.
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 to the Ohio River by 1873, where the railroad town of Huntington, West Virginia, was named for him.
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 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway used the name Kanawha for their 2-8-4s. In Europe, this wheel arrangement was mostly seen in mainline passenger express locomotives and, in certain countries, in tank locomotives.
Timken 1111, also named 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 locomotive built with all sealed roller bearings rather than plain bearings or a combination of the two. It was later operated by the Northern Pacific Railroad (NP) as their No. 2626.
Chesapeake and Ohio 614 is a class "J-3-A" 4-8-4 "Greenbrier" (Northern) type steam locomotive built in June 1948 by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) as a member of the J-3-A class. As one of the last commercially built steam locomotives in the United States, the locomotive was built with the primary purpose of hauling long, heavy, high speed express passenger trains for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway such as the George Washington and the Fast Flying Virginian.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's class L-2 comprised eight coal-fired 4-6-4 "Hudson" type steam locomotives numbered 300–307 and built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1941. They had roller bearings on all axles, and the first-built, No. 300, also had roller bearings on its side and main rods. No. 300 bore "Elephant ear" smoke deflectors from 1948.
Ross E. Rowland, Jr. is a figure in United States railroad preservation. He has run public and demonstration excursions on existing railroads utilizing steam locomotives.
Southern Railway 1401 is a 4-6-2 steam locomotive built in July 1926 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Richmond, Virginia, for the Southern Railway (SOU) as a member of the Ps-4 class, which was based on the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) Heavy Pacific design with some minor differences. It was assigned to haul SOU's premier mainline passenger trains between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia.
The Greenbrier Presidential Express was a proposed luxury passenger train that was planned to operate between Union Station in Washington, D.C., United States, and the train station at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The project was initiated in June 2011 but canceled in May 2012 due to numerous issues, among which were capacity constraints on the Buckingham Branch Railroad and Federal approval of the train's engineering.
The Southern Railway Ps-4 was a class of 4-6-2 steam locomotives built for the Southern Railway (SOU), as well as its subsidiaries, the Alabama Great Southern (AGS) and the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific (CNO&TP). They were designed to pull SOU's heavy mainline passenger trains between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia, including the CNO&TP trains between Cincinnati, Ohio and Jacksonville, Florida, as well as the AGS trains between Chattanooga, Tennessee and Meridian, Mississippi, via Birmingham, Alabama.
The Chessie was a proposed streamlined passenger train developed by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) in the late 1940s. The brainchild of C&O executive Robert R. Young, the Chessie would have operated on a daylight schedule between Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati, Ohio. The train's luxury lightweight equipment was built new by the Budd Company. A revolutionary new steam turbine locomotive would have provided power, including speeds up to 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). Although the equipment was delivered, a worsening financial outlook led to the cancellation of the train before it operated in revenue service.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's K-4 class were a group of ninety 2-8-4 steam locomotives purchased during and shortly after World War II. Unlike many other railroads in the United States, the C&O chose to nickname this class "Kanawha", after the river in West Virginia, rather than "Berkshire", after the region in New England.
The Chesapeake and Ohio class H-8 was a class of 60 simple articulated 2-6-6-6 steam locomotives built by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio between 1941 and 1948, operating until the mid 1950s. The locomotives were among the most powerful steam locomotives ever built and hauled fast, heavy freight trains for the railroad. Only two units were preserved; Nos. 1601 and 1604.
The Louisville and Nashville M-1 was a class of forty-two 2-8-4 steam locomotives built during and after World War II as dual-service locomotives. They were nicknamed "Big Emmas" by crews and were built in three batches between 1942 and 1949.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's J-1 and J-2 classes were two classes of 4-8-2 steam locomotives introduced on the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) for hauling heavy passenger trains over the Allegheny Mountains. The J-1s were the first 4-8-2s in the United States and earned the wheel arrangement the name of "Mountains" after the C&O's Mountain Divisions over which they would traverse.
Chesapeake and Ohio No. 490 is the sole survivor of the L-1 class 4-6-4 "Hudson" type steam locomotives. It was built by ALCO's Richmond works in 1926 as an F-19 class 4-6-2 "Pacific" type to be used to pull the Chesapeake and Ohio's secondary passenger trains. It was eventually rebuilt in 1946 to become a streamlined 4-6-4 for the C&O's Chessie streamliner.
The Chesapeake and Ohio T-1 was a class of forty 2-10-4 steam locomotives built by the Lima Locomotive Works in 1930 and operated until the early 1950s.
The Norfolk and Western Y3 and Y3a classes were classes of 2-8-8-2 "Mallet" articulated steam locomotives, with a total of 80 locomotives built for the Norfolk and Western Railway between 1919 and 1923.