Boston & Albany Berkshire Type Locomotives

The Boston & Albany Railroad was the first railroad to test Lima's 2-8-4 "superpower" design and it was impressed enough to immediately order twenty-five of the new locomotives. The B&A was the first railroad to use the 2-8-4 and it gave this wheel arrangement its name "Berkshire" for the Berkshire Hills where it was tested.

The first order was for twenty-five exact duplicates of the demonstrator that was used in the tests. This group arrived from the Lima Locomotive Works in 1926 and was designated Class A-1a and assigned road numbers 1400 through 1424. These first production "Berkshires" had 63" diameter drivers, 28" x 30" cylinders, a boiler pressure of 240 psi, they exerted 69,400 pounds of tractive effort and each weighed 389,000 pounds.

Shortly after delivery of the first order, the B&A placed an order for twenty more "Berkshires" from Lima. This new order called for these locomotives to have larger sand capacity. The original design sand domes were to be built up and squared off to carry twice the sand. These twenty became Class A-1b and were given road numbers 1425 through 1444. The larger sand domes were needed to provide more sand for traction on the steep hills and later the "Berkshires" from the first order were modified with the squared off boxes. These locomotives were delivered in 1926 and 1927 and were similar to the class A-1a and each weighed 390,500 pounds.

In 1930, the B&A took delivery of its third and last order of Lima built Berkshires. The order for ten was designated Class A-1c with road numbers 1445 through 1454 assigned. On the B&A these last ten "Berks" were dubbed "sport models" because of their cleaned up lines and 12- wheel tenders. The "sport models" locomotive had the same basic performance specifications as the earlier classes and they weighed 396,100 pounds.

While all fifty-five of these A-1s were always Boston & Albany locomotives they did not spend their entire lives on the B&A. During World War II they were used on the New York Central (its owner) to help with the heavy war related traffic, and as diesels were delivered to the B&A, the Berkshires were transferred to other NYC system lines.

There are no surviving B&A 2-8-4 "Berkshire" type locomotives.

B&A 2-8-4 Roster
Class	Qty.	Road Numbers	Year Built	Builder	Notes
A-1a	25	1400-1424	1926	Lima	1
A-1b	6	1425-1430	1926	Lima	2
A-1b	14	1431-1444	1927	Lima	3
A-1c	10	1445-1454	1930	Lima	4

Notes

Specifications
Class	A-1a	A-1b	A-1c
Wheel Arrangement:	2-8-4	2-8-4	2-8-4
Length:	86'-11 1/2"	86'-11 1/2".	94'-11 1/2".
Drivers:	63" dia	63" dia	63" dia
Weight on Drivers:	249,500 lbs	250,400 lbs	254,000 lbs.
Total Locomotive Weight:	389,000 lbs	390,500 lbs	396,100 lbs.
Locomotive & Tender Weight:	590,900 lbs	592,400 lbs.	683,100 lbs.
Grate Area:	100.0 sq. ft.	100.0 sq. ft.	100.0 sq. ft.
Cylinders (dia. x stroke):	(2) 28" x 30"	(2) 28" x 30"	(2) 28" x 30"
Boiler Pressure:	240 psi	240 psi	240 psi
Tractive Effort:	69,400 lbs.	69,400 lbs.	69,400 lbs.
Tender Capacity:
Water:	10,000 gals.	10,000 gals.	15,500 gals.
Coal:	16 tons	16 tons	21 tons

Boston & Albany Berkshire Type Locomotives

Notes

Photos

References