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Chesapeake & Ohio Mountain Type Locomotives by Karen Parker Series #9 Soft Cover
Chesapeake & Ohio Mountain Type Locomotives by Karen Parker
Soft Cover
64 pages
Copyright 2015
CONTENTS
Introduction4
The J-1: The First Mountain5
The J-2: USRA Heavy Mountains14
Painting, Lettering and Decorating22
Drawing Portfolio24
Mountains in Service32
The End of Steam Passenger Service on the C&O62
Afterword63
References64
INTRODUCTION
In 1911 the C&O inaugurated the use of the 4-8-2 wheel arrangement in the United States (this wheel arrangement had been in use overseas for five years or more.) As the first North American user, the C&O named the type, and henceforth 4-8-2s in North America were known as "Mountains."
The new Class J-1 Mountain-type locomotive on the C&O was an unusually large beast, the largest passenger locomotive yet built in the U.S., and, in fact, the largest two-cylinder engine yet built, exceeded in size only by various Mallet compounds. It was intended to replace double-headed F-15 Pacifics, another type pioneered by the C&O less than 10 years before, on heavy passenger trains on the Road's Mountain and Alleghany Subdivisions. In this it was eminently successful, with one 4-8-2 able to handle a train that required two Pacifics, and keep or even exceed scheduled speeds. The road's initial order for two J-ls was supplemented with a third the following year, and the three Mountains set about doing what they were designed to do - hauling the C&O's heaviest passenger trains over its toughest lines.
The road subsequently ordered more F-16 and F-17 class Pacifics to power passenger trains in the mountains. Some might wonder about this seeming retreat, but most likely these engines were intended for lighter trains. Then too, despite their stellar performance, the J-ls had revealed a dark side - they rode roughly and were hard on the track, particularly when running at speed.
The reason for this may seem obvious from our view point, and perhaps it was obvious at the time, too. The solution proved to be elusive, though, and the engines were never duplicated, although a fix was found and adopted, probably in the early 1920s.
In the mean time, during WWI and the period of USRA control of the railroads, the C&O was allocated five USRA Heavy Mountains to supplement the J-ls. These J-2 class engines were a great success, and the railroad bought two copies in 1923, bringing the total number of 4-8-2s to 10 in two different classes. These 10, along with the six F-17 Pacifics, carried on, handling virtually all passenger trains through the 1920s and into the 1930s. The delivery of the first five class J-3 Greenbriers (4-8-4s) in 1935 did not replace the Mountains, but released the F-17s for service on other, less difficult, parts of the railroad. The Mountains continued hauling passenger trains between Hinton, W.Va. and Charlottesville, Va., working alongside their newer 4-8-4 sisters. They did so through the Great Depression and WWII, right up to the end of steam passenger service in 1951, despite the addition of seven more Greenbriers, two during WWII and five more shortly after the end of the war.
Other roads had larger fleets of 4-8-2s, in some cases numbering in the hundreds. There were a total of over 1,800 4-8-2-type locomotives built in North America from 1911 to the end of steam. Some of them could reasonably have been called Superpower locomotives. But in its day, the first 4-8-2, the C&O J-1, was a superpower locomotive of its time. The C&O was content with a fleet of 10, because that was all it needed. It didn't have a lot of passenger trains, no "Great Steel Fleet;' and on the easier graded parts of the line Pacifics and later Hudsons were more than sufficient to power those trains. The Mountains were only needed on the line they were built for, and that is where they served faithfully for 40 years.
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