The New York Central Railroad needed a successor for its 4-6-2 "Pacific" that it was using for fast freight and selected the 4-8-2 wheel arrangement for a trail. In 1916, it bought a single "Mountain" type locomotive (road number 2500) from the American Locomotive Company and put it to the test. Satisfied with its performance, the NYC decided that the name "Mountain" would not be appropriate for a river level railroad and chose to call the 4-8-2 wheel arrangement "Mohawk" on its railroad. Twenty-nine more "Mohawks" were delivered by the end of the year. These thirty, ALCO built, locomotives (road numbers 2500 through 2529) were designated Class L-1a and had 28 x 28 cylinders, 69" drivers, a 200 psi boiler pressure and exerted 54,084 lbs of tractive effort.

During 1917 and 1918, 55 "Mohawks" designated Class L-1b (road numbers 2530 through 2584) came from ALCO and in 1918, one hundred 4-8-2s would arrive from the Lima Locomotive Works. These Lima built locomotives, Class L-1c (road numbers 2585 through 2639) and Class L-1d (road numbers 2640 through 2684) were duplicates of the ALCO built Class L-1a locomotives.

Between 1925 and 1930, the NYC bought a total of three hundred more "Mohawks" and designated them Class L-2. All 300 of the L-2 Mohawks were eventually numbered 2700 through 2999. Those L-2 Mohawks originally numbered 2450 through 2499 were renumbered 2950 through 2999 in 1936.

In the 1940s, 115 more "Mohawks" were added to the roster making a total of 600 4-8-2s built for the New York Central. This last group included the 65 Class L-3 (road numbers 3000 through 3034 and 3050 through 3064 from ALCO and road numbers 3035 through 3049 from Lima) and the 50 Class L-4 (road numbers 3100 through 3149 from Lima).

The NYC performed heavy repairs on and did rebuilding of locomotives at shop complexes such as those at Beech Grove, IN and Collinwood, OH.

The L-3 and L-4 Mohawks were built without smoke deflectors, and were the only Mohawks retrofitted with them. The L-3a Mohawks were built with roller bearings on all axles, but the L-3b and L-3c Mohawks were built with roller bearings on all axles except those of the driving wheels. The L-4 Mohawks were built with roller bearings on all axles.

The L-3 Mohawks were built with Boxpok driving wheels and the L-4 Mohawks were built with either Boxpok or Scullin Disc driving wheels. These wheels had a nickel content of 2-3 percent, but no NYC engine was equipped with stainless steel drivers. According to Mr. Gerbracht, stainless steel has metallurgical properties which make it unsuitable for use in driving wheel centers or tires.

There are two surviving NYC "Mohawks": number 2933 at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, MO and number 3001 at the National NYC Railroad Museum in Elkhart, IN.