(Note: Official name for the Cotton Belt was St. Louis-Southwestern.)

Data from StL&SW 1 - 1932 Folio 725 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The Cotton Belt website -- http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/8199/c_belt.html#Deering%20Southwestern%20Railroad, accessed 29 May 2007 -- says the DSW "...originated at Caruthersville, Missouri (on the Mississippi, and extended almost due west to Deering, where it veered southwest to Hornersville and connected with the Cotton Belt." The section from the lumber mill at Deering to Hickory was completed in 1903, the remainder took the next 8 years.

Class A1 (Locobase 8200)

Data from St Louis-Southwestern diagram from p 55 of Cotton Belt Locomotives by Joseph Strapac, supplemented by data from StL&SW 1 - 1932 Folio 725 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Class B2 (Locobase 8431)

Data from St Louis-Southwestern diagram from p 50 of Cotton Belt Locomotives by Joseph Strapac. (Indiana University Press, 1999).

Strapac explains that these locomotives were originally delivered to operate on the 6-foot gauge of the Erie system. Some were built by the New Jersey-based Atlantic & Great Western itself, others by Rogers. In 1879, the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio reduced the gauge to standard and modified the locomotives accordingly. When the Saint Louis-Southwestern converted from 3' gauge to standard in 1886, the Erie made 25 of these locomotives available for a pittance.

As it turned out, the clapped-out Eries weren't worth much more than that and the StL-SW undertook a rebuild:"...the bell was jacked up and a new locomotive slid underneath; virtually nothing was left that could be called original. In fact, three were converted to cross-compounds."

The dozen locomotives rebuilt in 1894-1899 proved useful branchline engines for another 3 decades. Two were scrapped in 1909, while the rest left in the late 1920s. Five were scrapped in 1927, 1 in 1928, 1 in 1929, and the last in 1933.

Class C2 (Locobase 8462)

(Note: Official name for the Cotton Belt was St. Louis-Southwestern.)

Data from StL&SW 1 - 1932 Folio 725 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The first 7 of these Eight-wheelers came from Rogers' Paterson, NY works in 1900. Pittsburgh added 4 more in May 1901 (works #2253-2257), and Rogers, now formally part of the Alco combine, supplied the remainder in 1903. Most used Stephenson link motion for the slide valves, but at least 3 were retrofitted with Walschaert gear.

One of the class -- #40 -- later substituted one thermic syphon for the 15 sq ft of arch tubes in the original firebox. The subtraction and addition netted 18 sq ft in the firebox, but only 7 sq ft overall, so the tradeoff may have been seen as not worth the effort.

The class was retired over a long period, 17 years being required to withdraw all 18 engines.

Class D1 (Locobase 8463)

(Note: Official name for the Cotton Belt was St. Louis-Southwestern.)

Data from StL&SW 1 - 1932 Folio 725 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Entering service 3 years after the Alco bunch (Locobase 8463), this set of Baldwins were larger and had longer boilers (although fewer tubes). They also were coal-fired.