Class E-1 (Locobase 4096)

This entry originally used data taken from a table in Paul T Warner's article on Atlantics in the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin #62 (1943, p 20). Data later supplemented by C&A 6 - 1918 and 12 - 1924 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

However, a table in July 1904 American Engineer & Railroad Journal.shows very different measurements. Warner's smaller boiler is that of the Harriman Common Atlantic design, which Drury (1993) says was the source of this quartet's dimensions. But the July 1904 table shows a bigger engine in all respects except weights, which are actually a bit lower than the HCS. For example, the boiler was credited with 326 2 1/4" tubes and a total evaporative heating surface of 3,247 sq ft. But the C & A diagrams show 278, which may reflect the installation of a new boiler at a later date. Locobase chose the larger boiler dimensions when he found those figures in John M Burley's First Aid to the Disabled Locomotive Engine, Air Brake and Air Signal (State Line, Pa, 1907), 140-143.

Locobase doesn't know when the Alton reduced the number of tubes in the boiler or why. A boiler smaller than 69" in diameter crammed with 326 2 1/4" tubes might have proved a maintenance headache. When the Alton superheated this set (Locobase 9040), it installed fewer tubes of 2" diameter. Baldwin produced these as single engines in June (22335), August (22730), and September 1903 (22953, 23064). . The class was delivered with 12" piston valves.

The answer appears to be as follows: 551 used the HCS grate while the other three were fitted with the larger grate shown in the specs. As the engines were procured around the time that Harriman surrendered control of the C & A, Locobase wonders if the confusion lies in mistakenly attributing these locomotives to the Harriman era.

See Locobase 9040 for the superheated update of this design.

Class E-1 - superheated (Locobase 9040)

Data from C&A 12-1924 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The Alton superheated its quartet of Atlantics with the usual mixture of status quo and new technology and added an unusual wrinkle. As with most modification programs in which a superheater was installed in an existing locomotive, the biggest changes came in the boiler. In this case, the usual subtraction of tubes in favor of flues included reducing the diameter of the remaining tubes from 2 1/4" to 2". Also, the Alton trimmed the firebox's width by 6", reducing grate area to 49 1/2 sq ft, but added 29 sq ft of arch tubes to the firebox's heating surface. In other words, the shops replaced all of the boiler's innards, which is more drastic surgery than usually undertaken.

Regardless of the length and complexity of the makeover, the class was out of service by the end of 1933.

Class E-2 (Locobase 9041)

Data from C&A 6-1918 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. Works numbers ran 28265 (May 1906) and 28320-28321, 28347-28348 (June 1906).

Whatever the design features of the first set of Alton Atlantics might have been (see Locobase 4096), the second group from the same builder had a smaller boiler with smaller tubes and a much narrower grate. The class was delivered with 12" piston valves. Connelly's Baldwin list indicates that they were delivered with 81" drivers, but the diagrams all show 80".

At least 3 were superheated; see Locobase 9042.

Class E-2 - superheated (Locobase 9042)

Data from C&A 12-1924 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Compared to the nearly complete redo applied to the E-1s (see Locobase 9040), the E-2 superheating project ran along much more usual lines. The firebox remained essentially untouched (although the firebox heating surface now included 15 sq ft of arch tubes) while the boiler saw the usual substitution of 1 flue for every 6 tubes removed.

The result was still a small Atlantic and given the arrangement's relatively swift supercession in fast passenger service by 4-6-2s and their inaptitude for any other kind of hauling, the class was retired by the end of 1933.