Illinois Central 2-8-2 "Mikado" Type Locomotives

Class 1551 (Locobase 1354)

Data from IC 1913a Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Design by Edward C. Harriman. These were built by Baldwin and Lima. Baldwin delivered the first 150 in 1911-1912. As delivered, their fireboxes were essentially unadorned and relatively small. All of the Mikes in this long run had 15" piston valves. Some in this large stud of 2-8-2s were later fitted with 60 sq ft of circulators, which increased firebox heating surface to 293.2 sq ft

Class 1600 (Locobase 7044)

Data from IC 1913a Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Interesting one-off interruption in the protracted program of Mikados built to the Harriman design. The chief difference between this one locomotive and all of the other IC Mikes was the shorter set of tubes. All of the Mikes in this long run had 15" piston valves.

Class 1701 (Locobase 7045)

Data from IC 4 - 1930 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

As noted in Locobase 1354, the run of Mikado production for the IC was long and relatively unvaried. But different builders managed to alter the specs just slightly. All of the Mikes in this long run had 15" piston valves.

This particular series of batches -- mostly from Lima -- may have represented one of the first really big orders for that builder once it entered main-line steam locomotive production. Builders' numbers ran: 5005-5014 delivered in 1915, 5162-5208 in 1916. Baldwin added 35 in 1918. Lima added to the stud with 50 more (builders' #5696-5745) in 1919

Class 1800 (Locobase 9471)

The data comes from the IC 1955 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

A Locobase reader should not take the count of engines as gospel - few lists are more confusing than the IC's rebuilds. Take, for example, this group of 21 engines neatly grouped under one set of road numbers. There are Baldwins, Limas, and Schenectadies ranging in birth date from 1914 to 1923.. Many other series of locomotives could have been shown.

Also observe that on the single diagram, three different boilers are shown. All have 60 sq ft of security circulators in addition to the combustion chamber; one version has 203 tubes, the other 199. The third variant didn't have a combustion chamber, which meant it retained the 20-ft, 6-in tube length, as well as 256 fire tubes.

Class 1883 (Locobase 7046)

Data from IC 4 - 1930 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. Works numbers ran from 63611 to 63635.

Although following the general lines of the big Mikado program that supplied over 500 2-8-2s to the IC between 1911 and 1923, this small batch of Schenectady engines is shown with more than 200 sq ft less superheater area. Locobase doesn't know why there would be such a difference. The last batches procured later the same year (Locobase 20) reverted to the larger superheat area. This may be an instance of a combustion chamber taking up space in the boiler, but the evaporative heating surface was unchanged. So was the firebox heating surface, which included 31.6 sq ft of arch tubes. All of the Mikes in this long run had 15" piston valves.

Class 1908 (Locobase 20)

The data comes from the IC 4 -1930 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The last 125 of a series that began in 1911 as a design by Edward C. Harriman. These were built by Baldwin, Alco-Schenectady, and Lima. Firebox heating surface included 15.8 sq ft of arch tubes, 64 sq ft of Nicholson thermic syphons. All of the Mikes in this long run had 15" piston valves.

Many of the earlier Mikados were rebuilt using similar boiler pressures and firebox changes. See Wes Barris's entry on IC Mikados at http://www.steamlocomotive.com/mikado/ic.shtml (accessed 20 March 2006).

Specifications
Class	1551	1600	1701	1800	1883	1908
Locobase ID	1354	7044	7045	9471	7046	20
Railroad	Illinois Central (IC)	Illinois Central (IC)	Illinois Central (IC)	Illinois Central (IC)	Illinois Central (IC)	Illinois Central (IC)
Whyte	2-8-2	2-8-2	2-8-2	2-8-2	2-8-2	2-8-2
Road Numbers	1551-1700	1600	1701-1882	1800-1820	1883-1907	1908-2017
Gauge	Std	Std	Std	Std	Std	Std
Builder	Baldwin	Baldwin	several	several	Alco-Schenectady	several
Year	1911	1912	1915	1937	1915	1923
Valve Gear	Walschaert	Walschaert	Walschaert	Baker	Baker	Baker
	Locomotive Length and Weight
Driver Wheelbase	16.50'	16.50'	16.50'	16.50'	16.50'	16.50'
Engine Wheelbase	35.17'	35.17'	35.17'	36.11'	35.17'	35.17'
Ratio of driving wheelbase to overall engine wheebase	0.47	0.47	0.47	0.46	0.47	0.47
Overall Wheelbase (engine & tender)	65.60'	65.60'	65.62'	77.50'	65.96'	65.09'
Axle Loading (Maximum Weight per Axle)			56400 lbs		63700 lbs	63700 lbs
Weight on Drivers	218200 lbs	217000 lbs	218300 lbs	235400 lbs	230000 lbs	230000 lbs
Engine Weight	283850 lbs	280000 lbs	282700 lbs		298000 lbs	298000 lbs
Tender Light Weight	185000 lbs	185000 lbs	167500 lbs	216500 lbs	169900 lbs	169900 lbs
Total Engine and Tender Weight	468850 lbs	465000 lbs	450200 lbs	467900 lbs	467900 lbs	467900 lbs
Tender Water Capacity	9000 gals	9000 gals	9000 gals	13000 gals	9000 gals	9000 gals
Tender Fuel Capacity (oil/coal)	15 tons	15 tons	15 tons	16 tons	15 tons	15 tons
Minimum weight per yard of rail on which locomotive could run	90.92 lb rail	90.42 lb rail	90.96 lb rail	98.08 lb rail	95.83 lb rail	95.83 lb rail
	Geometry Relating to Tractive Effort
Driver Diameter	63.50"	63.50"	63.50"	63.50"	63.50"	64"
Boiler Pressure	185 psi	175 psi	185 psi	225 psi	185 psi	225 psi
Cylinders (dia x stroke)	27" x 30"	27" x 30"	27" x 30"	28" x 30"	27" x 30"	27" x 30"
Tractive Effort	54158 lbs	51231 lbs	54158 lbs	70838 lbs	54158 lbs	65354 lbs
Factor of Adhesion (Weight on Drivers/Tractive Effort)	4.03	4.24	4.03	3.32	4.25	3.52
	Heating Ability
Firebox Area	235 sq. ft	254 sq. ft	266.60 sq. ft	341.40 sq. ft	266.60 sq. ft	307.20 sq. ft
Grate Area	70 sq. ft	68 sq. ft	70.40 sq. ft	70.40 sq. ft	70.40 sq. ft	70.40 sq. ft
Evaporative Heating Surface	4070	3666	4102	3111	4102	4093
Superheating Surface	1083	785	1099	969	860	1099
Combined Heating Surface	5153	4451	5201	4080	4962	5192
Evaporative Heating Surface/Cylinder Volume	204.72	184.40	206.33	145.51	206.33	205.88
	Computations Relating to Power Output (More Information)
Robert LeMassena's Power Computation	12950	11900	13024	15840	13024	15840
Same as above plus superheater percentage	15671.69	13998.74	15776.04	19602	15281.28	19192.88
Same as above but substitute firebox area for grate area	52612.09	52289.42	59742.80	95058.56	57869.18	83750.76
Power L1	14764.84	11180.29	15093.78	15079.19	12975.37	18736.05
Power MT	596.72	454.35	609.73	564.89	497.49	718.36