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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.[1] 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.
Chesapeake and Ohio class K-4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() C&O K-4 No. 2736 at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, September 1963 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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10 preserved built by ALCO and 2 preserved built by Lima |
As of 2024, twelve examples are preserved, with their display locations including the National Railroad Museum, the Science Museum of Virginia, Chief Logan State Park, and the B&O Railroad Museum.
Details
editIn the early 1940s, as the United States entered World War II, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) was looking to roster large locomotives to aid their aging 2-8-2 "Mikados" in general freight service.[2] The Advisory Mechanical Committee (AMC) formulated a 2-8-4 design, named the K-4 class.[2] The K-4s were reproduced from the AMC's previous designs for the Nickel Plate Road's (NKP) 700 series 2-8-4s and the Pere Marquette Railway's (PM) 1200 series 2-8-4s, but the K-4s were equipped with boosters to increase their tractive effort, and their steam domes were positioned behind their sandboxes.[2] The steam domes were positioned in front of the sandboxes for the NKP and PM 2-8-4s, since they allowed for efficient steam passages while traveling on level territories, but the design feature was prone to water-overflowing at the C&O's downhill grades in the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains.[2]
Ninety K-4s, Nos. 2700-2789, were built between 1943 and 1947 by the American Locomotive Company and the Lima Locomotive Works.[2] The K-4s were mostly assigned to heavy and high speed freight services throughout the north-eastern regions of the United States and part of Ontario, Canada by the Pere Marquette. The early K-4s were also used to haul passenger trains during World War II. The K-4s were considered to be one of the few recognizable 2-8-4 "Berkshire" classes in North America, since they were designed with their headlights below their smokeboxes and oval-shaped number plates on their smokebox doors.[2] They were successful locomotives and were popular with crews, so popular with them that they referred to the locomotives as "Big Mikes".[3]
Preserved Locomotives
editTwelve Kanawhas have been preserved, with No. 2716 being restored to operation.
- 2700 (On Display) Dennison Railroad Depot Museum - Dennison, Ohio. The first Kanawha built, cosmetically restored in 2017.[4]
- 2705 (On Display) Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum - Baltimore, Maryland.
- 2707 (On Display) Illinois Railway Museum - Union, Illinois.
- 2716 (Undergoing restoration to operating condition) owned by the Kentucky Railway Museum, currently on lease to the Kentucky Steam Heritage Center - Ravenna, Kentucky.
- 2727 (On Display) National Museum of Transportation - St. Louis, Missouri.
- 2732 (On Display) Science Museum of Virginia - Richmond, Virginia.
- 2736 (On Display) National Railroad Museum - Green Bay, Wisconsin.
- 2755 (On Display) Chief Logan State Park - Logan, West Virginia.
- 2756 (On Display) Huntington Park - Newport News, Virginia.
- 2760 (On Display) Riverside Park - Lynchburg, Virginia.
- 2776 (On Display) Eyman Park Dr - Washington Court House, Ohio.
- 2789 (On Display) Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum - North Judson, Indiana. The last Kanawha built.
One Kanawha (No. 2701) was on display in Buffalo, New York after retirement, but was vandalized beyond repair and was eventually scrapped a few months after being on display.[5]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Riggan, Phil (May 28, 2014). "C&O Locomotive Restored at Science Museum of Virginia". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Boyd, Jim; Dixon, Tom (January 1981). "The last Greenbrier". Railfan & Railroad. Vol. 3, no. 8. Carstens Publications. pp. 39–40.
- ^ "Chesapeake & Ohio "2-8-4" Locomotives: Roster, Photos".
- ^ "Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 "Berkshire" Locomotives in the USA".
- ^ "Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 "Berkshire" Locomotives in the USA".
Further reading
edit- Dixon Jr., Thomas W. (2013). Chesapeake & Ohio K-4 Class 2-8-4 Steam Locomotives (1st ed.). The Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society. ISBN 978-0939487592.