Class 1799 (Locobase 8568)

Data from The Industrial Magazine Vol VI (January-June 1907) , pp. 590-591.

This single engine was one of Baldwin's first experiments with superheaters. The device used in the 1799 was a smokebox variant of Baldwin's own design. Another unusual feature was the large-diameter cylinders for a Consolidation; these would be reduced in size to 24" when the locomotive was reconfigured with a Schmidt superheater - see Locobase 8358.

Locobase had recorded 1799 earlier (Locobase 2795) with the following information:

"Although ordered for the Rock Island, this engine, then #1799, never actually went into service there. It was soon sold to the NY S & W. The data is from a June 1908 table in American Engineer and Railroad Journal." That was in fact a different locomotive.

Class C-25 (Locobase 8360)

Data from RI to 1951 Combined Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

This single locomotive was inherited by the Rock Island when it took over the C O & G. It didn't last long on its new road, being cut up in October 1919.

Class C-26 (Locobase 8359)

Data from RI to 1951 Combined Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The C, O & G was a Oklahoma railroad that began as the Choctaw Coal and Rail Company, which completed a line from Wister to McAlester in 1890. Over the next eight years the CC & R connected McAlester to Oklahoma City and El Reno to Weatherford. It also bought the Little Rock & Memphis, which began in 1854 and by the time of the purchase had linked Memphis and Little Rock. And finally, the Little Rock to "Indian Territory" border was completed while the Oklahoma portion was extended up to meet it.

The C, O & G was bought by the Rock Island System on 1 April 1904. These small, lightweight Consolidations were part of the booty. The classs erved a purpose as branch-line freight locomotives and were retired only gradually. The first was gone in 1934, but the last remained in service until 1952.

Class C-28 (Locobase 7190)

Data from RI 1 - 1942 Locomotive Class & Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Interesting profile for these Consolidations. They look small until the viewer realizes that the drivers are 56" tall. They were not superheated but many remained in service into the 1940s.

Class C-31 - 50"" (Locobase 9109)

Data from RI 1 - 1942 Locomotive Class & Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Similar to the 56" C-31s supplied to the CO & G by Baldwin a couple of years later (Locobase 7217), but equipped with smaller drivers. Compared to other Consolidation s of the time, C O & G 2-8-0s had small grates and weighed less than the average.

The first four were scrapped in 1935-1936, the last retired in 1933, but not scrapped until 1945.

Class C-31 - 56"" (Locobase 7217)

Data from RI 1 - 1942 Locomotive Class & Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Locobase 7190 shows the 56" version of a small Consolidation that the C O & G bought first. They went back to Baldwin 2 years later for these larger variants that had a few more tubes of greater length and higher boiler pressure.

Class C-31 - camelback (Locobase 7230)

Data from RI 1 - 1942 Locomotive Class & Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection and from Angus Sinclair, Railway and Locomotive Engineering, July 1902, p. 315.

Rare camelback west of the Mississippi River. The C O & G bought these as a variation to the C-31s they'd purchased at the same time. Sinclair explains that these were described as "dirt burners", locomotives that burned very-low-calorie brown coal.

After the Rock Island bought out the C O & G, their shops rebuilt some of the class as switchers with a conventional cab, sloped tender, and new boiler and grate.

Class C-34 (Locobase 7218)

Data from RI 1 - 1942 Locomotive Class & Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

A subsidiary of the Rock Island system, the St P & DM bought these three Consolidations from a builder who was just then venturing into mainline steam construction.

Class C-39 / S-39 (Locobase 5335)

Data from table in AERJ July 1903.

These Consolidations had inside valve gear. Virtually all of them were redesignated S-39 (as switchers) and retired in that role from 1936-1942.

Class C-41 (Locobase 7221)

Data from RI 1 - 1942 Locomotive Class & Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The Schenectady engines shared some characteristics with other Rock Island Consolidations, most of all being the grate area. Some of this class retained their saturated-steam boilers even into the early 1940s. The four listed as so configured had had their fireboxes made over, however, and now included 57 sq ft of thermic syphons in their direct heating surface.

Class C-41s (Locobase 7222)

Data from RI 1 - 1942 Locomotive Class & Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Upgrades to the Schenectady C-41s (Locobase 7221) followed a typical Rock Island pattern in which the shops somehow found more room in the boiler than most other programs would turn up. In fact, Locobase is just a touch suspicious of the resulting numbers. But the figures are repeated in the 1951 Combined Diagrams book.

Class C-43 (Locobase 5380)

Data from table in AERJ June 1907, corrected and supplemented by RI to 1951 Combined Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

These had the same power dimensions as the 1903 batch, but used a smaller boiler and the unusual combination of Walschaerts gear and slide valves. The AERJ data from 1907 showed a smaller boiler of 2,595 sq ft using 340 small tubes, but Locobase takes the figure from the later diagram because of the higher area from 6 fewer tubes.

In the 1920s, the 1700s were superheated and rebuilt -- the increase to 200 psi resulting in an increase in tractive effort to 43,000 lb (thus, C-43). Retirements began in 1936 and continued through the end of steam in 1953.

Class C-43 - 1901 - s (Locobase 7219)

Data from RI 1 - 1942 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The Brooks Consolidations had provided a good measure of power even when delivered in 1907 in their saturated-steam form. When superheated beginning in 1918, however, they gained a good deal more. Some were rebuilt with arch tubes, which contributed 30.3 sq ft to an overall direct heating surface of 198.3 sq ft. Others were supplied with 57 sq ft of thermic syphons.

Class C-43 - 1931 - s (Locobase 7220)

Data from RI 1 - 1942 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

A slight tweak to the basic Brooks Consolidation design as it had been delivered to the Rock Island in 1907 resulted in a much longer run of 2-8-0s from the same builder in 1909. Not too long after their delivery, the railroad began fitting superheaters to this class and by 1942 had upgraded virtually all of them. The heating surfaces shown in the specs represent the firebox as retrofitted with 57 sq ft thermic syphons. The firebox with 30.3 sq ft of arch tubes had a direct heating surface area of 198.3 sq ft and a total evaporative heating surface of 2,356 sq ft.

Class C-43 - s - 1701 (Locobase 8357)

Data from RI to 1951 Combined Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Like most other early-1900s Consolidations on major US roads, the C-43s that appeared in such numbers on the Rock Island were later superheated. And as usual, the substitution of flues for tubes (in this case 30 flues for 144 tubes) meant a drop in evaporative heating surface. But the Rock Island also saw an opportunity to increase direct heating surface by putting 58 sq ft of thermic syphons in the firebox and it boosted power by increasing the cylinder diameter by an inch.

The result was a satisfactory workhorse that served the railroad for the rest of the steam era with the last retiring in 1953.

Class C-43 -2100 - s (Locobase 9108)

Data from RI to 1951 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Schenectady's contribution to the enormous C-43 stud was this batch of 45 produced in 1907. When they were superheated, they had more flues and tubes and, although they were a bit shorter than those in other variants, the result was a bit more superheater area. Later on the Schenectady C-43s were retrofitted with 57 sq ft of thermic syphons.

Class C-46 (Locobase 9107)

Data from "Consolidation Locomotive," The Industrial Magazine, June 1907, pp.590-591

This single engine (works 30562) came from Baldwin in 1907 as road #1799 (later 2200, then 1784). It had a long-stroke motion, large cylinders, and a large grate, which may explain why the Rock Island went to the trouble of superheating in 1921. See Locobase 8358.

Class C-46 - superheated (Locobase 8358)

Data from RI to 1951 Combined Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

This single engine came from Baldwin in 1907 as road #1799 (later 2200, then 1784). It had a long-stroke motion and a large grate, which may explain why the Rock Island went to the trouble of superheating in 1921. Only rarely did such upgrades change the running gear, but this one locomotive saw a cut in cylinder diameter of 4 inches from its saturated-biler state.

According to the diagram, the 1784 was "cut up" on 8 June 1939.

Class S-41 (55 As) (Locobase 8356)

Data from RI to 1951 Combined Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Locobase 5335 describes a large class of saturated-steam Consolidations and notes that some of them later became switchers. That large contingent was later divided into two groups, one with superheaters, one without (this latter group differed among themselves in having arch tubes or not). The superheated engines