Class 39 / F-1 (Locobase 2616)

Data from 1899 Brooks Catalogue.

Builder info from B.Rumary, 25 Kingscombe, Gurney Slade, Radstock, BA3 4TH, ENGLAND and Jeremy Lambert as supplied by Allen Stanley in March 2004. Works #2269 manufactured in April 1893 and shown at the Chicago World's Fair.

Tandem compound Consolidation that had less heating area than the Brooks Mogul delivered a couple of years later. It had an Improved Belpaire boiler.

Manufactured beginning in June 1892, the batches included works #2093-2116 (road #450-473, renumbered 516-539 in 1899), 2133-2157 (474-499, 540-565) in August-September 1892, and 2187-2201 (500-514) in November-December 1892.

Class 40 / F-2 - compound (Locobase 8826)

Data from Data from GN 1-1929 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. works numbers were 12817-12820, 12823 in July 1892.

In the same year that Brooks was delivering several dozen Consolidations to the GN (Locobase 2616), Baldwin supplied 5 tandem compounds of their own. These were bigger and had much larger grates in their Belpaire fireboxes. The difference came from a wide firebox that rode above the drivers.

As with the Brooks engines, this quintet was soon simpled - see Locobase 8826.

Class 50 / F-5 (Locobase 8825)

Data from Data from GN 1-1929 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Delivered right at the turn of the century, these Consolidations were typical of the breed. Locobase isn't sure, but suspects that they arrived as compounds and were later simpled. Note the usual Belpaire firebox, this time as part of a design that featured a long stroke.

Like many of the GN's earlier 2-8-0s, most were never superheated. Those that were appear in Locobase 8826.

Class 50A / F-7 (Locobase 8830)

Data from Data from GN 1-1929 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

1901 saw the Great Northern purchase several classes of Consolidations from several builders. They shared many things: all came from manufacturers that would soon be gathered under the American Locomotive Company banner, all had Belpaire boilers, all had 55" drivers. Rogers' F-5 engines are shown in Locobase 8825 and the superheated F-6s originally supplied by Brooks appear in Locobase 8830.

These Cookes had 10 fewer boiler tubes than did the Rogers F-5s, but otherwise were quite similar. They were later superheated, the result of which is shown in Locobase 8831.

Class 50B / F-6 (Locobase 8849)

Data from Data from GN 1916 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

These long-stroke, Belpaire-boilered Consolidations continued the line of such 2-8-0s that began with the Rogers F-5 engines.

Class 51B / F-9 (Locobase 8850)

Data from Data from GN 1916 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

This class combined the basic power dimensions of Brooks's F-6 Consolidations (Locobase 8849) with a bigger grate in its Belpaire firebox. Most were superheated not long after they entered service; see Locobase 8851.

Class F-1 - simpled (Locobase 8823)

Data from Data from GN 1-1929 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Locobase 2616 describes the original tandem-compound layout of this large class of Consolidations. Not long after it entered service, however, the railroad changed the class over to simple expansion. The dimensions are slightly different, but that's likely more because the railroad was measuring rather than Brooks. The essential details of a Belpaire firebox, small drivers, and large tubes remained the same. For a time, the boilers were pressed to 160 psi, but working pressure later rose to 185 psi as shown in the specs.

A very few were superheated; see Locobase 8824.

Class F-1-S (Locobase 8824)

Data from Data from GN 1-1929 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Taking the basic simple-expansion F-1 rebuild described in Locobase 8823, the GN later superheated a few. Two had the layout shown in the specs, in which the 22 flues measured 5 1/2" in diameter; another had 5" flues, which held smaller elements and resulted in a 8-sq ft drop in superheater area. Other than the usual tradoff of tubes for flues and a reduction in boiler pressure to 150 psi, a level more usually seen in the 1880s, the Belpaire-boilered F-1s were essentially the same.

The GN eventually reset the working pressure to 175 psi.

Class F-11 (Locobase 8832)

Data from Data from GN 1-1929 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The design is certainly foreign to the GN, having a round-topped boiler and small dimensions.

Class F-2 - simpled (Locobase 8827)

Data from Data from GN 1-1929 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Other than taking off the two LP cylinders and enlarging the HP cylinders to 19", the GN made very few changes on these 5 Consolidations. The signature Belpaire firebox mated to a wide grate and an overall stubby look remained a part of the profile.

Four of the 5 were scrapped in June 1928; 596 didn't join them at the ferro-knacker's until September 1929.

Class F-4 (Locobase 8848)

Data from Data from GN 1916 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

This single Consolidation was owned by the Spokane Falls & Northern, but operated on the C & RM. The C & RM was a gold-mine creation in 1895 that ascended the Paterson valley in Stevens County from Northport to Rossland to exploit the Red Mountain gold strikes in northeastern Washington State. Not long afterward, the Great Northern bought the CR & M and renumbered the 9 as their 1094.

Class F-5-S (Locobase 8828)

Data from Data from GN 1-1929 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Superheating the F-5s, first delivered in 1901 and shown in Locobase 8827, meant retaining the Belpaire firebox, but subtracting several dozen tubes to accommodate the odd-sized flues. It was apparently usual GN practice (but much less common elsewhere) to increase the cylinder diameter substantially at the same time; they were served by 12" piston valves.

At the time of the upgrade, the working boiler pressure was lowered to 175 psi, but it was later restored to 210 psi. When that occurred, the GN had a powerful little 2-8-0 indeed.

Class F-6-S (Locobase 8829)

Data from Data from GN 1-1929 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

These Brooks machines were delivered in the same year as the F-5 came from Rogers (Locobase 8825) and the F-7s from Cooke (Locobase 8830). Like all Great Northern engines of the day, were fitted with a relatively narrow Belpaire firebox. They were superheated with one of two different designs; the GN's own installation yielded 444 sq ft compared the H & D equipment shown in the specs.

All of the class was converted to an 0-8-0 switcher layout.

Class F-7-S (Locobase 8831)

Data from Data from GN 1-1929 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

When the Great Northern superheated this set of Cooke-built Consolidations, they used the same layout as the F-5 superheating project described in Locobase 8828. At that point, the only difference was a lower adhesion weight in these F-7-S locomotives. Part of the upgrade consisted of dropping the working pressure to 165 psi. Unlike other 2-8-0 engines, however, these do not appear to have the original, higher working pressure restored later on.

Class F-8 (cross-compound) (Locobase 4129)

Part of the largest class of Consolidations on the Great Northern, these were the cross-compound variant. Data from 1901 Railroad Gazette (XXXIII, #24). Notice the good ratio of high to low pressure, although these engines, like most US rigid compounds, probably were converted to simple-expansion F-8s not long after their introduction.

Class F-8 (simple) (Locobase 2801)

This was by far the largest class of Consolidations on the Great Northern. Baldwin, Brooks, and Rogers all supplied engines of this class. This entry shows the narrow-firebox, simple-expansion variant. Other engines in this class included some with a wide firebox (59 sq ft) and others were 2-cylinder cross-compounds. (See separate entries.) Data from 1901 Railroad Gazette (XXXIII, #24).

Some were superheated in the 1920s. According to Larry Bohn (http://www.prostar.com/web/gngoat/gn27011.htm), the engine in his photograph #1230 was completed by Baldwin in November 1907 and scrapped in 1954.

Class F-8 (wide firebox) (Locobase 4128)

Members of the largest class of Consolidations on the Great Northern, this variant was described in a 1901 Railroad Gazette (Vol XXXIII, #24) as part of a Rogers delivery along with two other variants. See the other F-8 entries.

Class F-8 - superheater (Locobase 6451)

According to the diagram reproduced on Ben Ringnalda's http://www.greatnorthernempire.net/GNEGNSteamRosterO1_4.htm (visited 7 Jan 2005), this series of superheated F-8s included a variety of tube & flue layouts that resulted in slightly different surface areas. Most seem to have had the numbers shown in the specifications. Noteworthy to Locobase is the combination of retained Stephenson link motion and piston valves in a US engine that was refitted with superheaters. The piston valves measured a respectable 12" in diameter.

All had 30 5" flues, but the surface area varied on the type of superheater, ranging from 448 sq ft as shown to 475 sq ft to 505 sq ft. Some had arch tubes totalling 30 sq ft as part of the firebox heating surface, which increased the total to 225 sq ft.

The small tube counts shown in the 12 survivors on Ringnalda's duplicated diagram show as follows:

Tubes Area

189 2,012

203 2,158

205 2,173

217 2,226

236 2,371

237 2,379

Class F-9-S (Locobase 8851)

Data from Data from GN 1916 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

When superheating was applied to this class's boilers, the railroad took the unusual step of greatly increasing the cylinder volume. The boiler's total heating surface remained approximately the same as did the grate in the Belpaire firebox.

It was too much of a good thing, most likely, given how little boiler there was for every cubic inch of cylinder. By the late 1920s, the GN had converted the whole class to C-3-S 0-8-0 switchers. Some had 21" cylinders, others 23 1/2".