Class 52 (Locobase 6903)

Data from 1928 NOGN Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. The book only records driving wheel center diameters; Locobase assumes a 3 1/2" tire. The tractive power given in the diagram is 24,000 lb, which doesn't come close to the figure derived from calculations using the dimensions and pressures shown in the diagram. Baldwin supplied some of the class and Alco-Brooks the others.

James H Lemly's Gulf, Mobile and Ohio online history (http://www.acmeme.org/gmo/chapter____xxi.htm, accessed 1 September 2005) observes that the big difference between the "Nogan" and most Mississippi railroads was its big plans and mainline engineering standards. The NOGN was drawn up by "a group of Yankee lumbermen" and incorporated in August 1906. It was to run between the Crescent City and Jackson, Mississippi by way of the new port city of Bogalusa. The promoters acquired the 50-mile East Louisiana Railroad along the way.

Construction of the 200-mile main line took about 3 years, the road opening in 1906 between Slidell, La and Bogalusa with the rest being added by 1909.

The NOGN operated independently for a little over 20 years. Early traffic included lumber and gradually expanded to include agricultural and dairy products. After World War I, tonnage per train rose dramatically from 336 in 1920 to 587 in 1924. But unbalanced traffic and, especially the downturn in business brought on by the Depression.

The Gulf, Mobile & Northern saw that the NOGN line to New Orleans would be valuable to its North-South service and in 1929 negotiated to assume operating control through a stock exchange. As the Depression deepened, the NO-GN proved unable to meet its bonded indebtedness and by 1933, GM&N had concluded a 99-year lease that effectively ended the NO-GN's independent existence.

Class 61 (Locobase 6904)

Data from 1928 NOGN Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The GM&N books do not show this pair of locomotives and Drury (1993) shows 60 as part of the 52-60 class. This is clearly a later design of modest proportions.

Class 70 (Locobase 6906)

Data from 1928 NOGN Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

When the NOGN superheated its Alco Ten-wheelers, it drafted a new and somewhat more informative diagram. The GM&O 5 -1945 diagram book, also supplied by Allen Stanley, fills in more data about the superheater.

The makeover included larger cylinders with 11" piston valves and a higher-pressure boiler. Locobase assumes that the figure of 641 sq ft for the superheater area represents an "equivalent heating surface", a value used by some railroads, and for a time the Railway Age Gazette, to represent the more powerful steam superheating created. To bring that value in line with the straightforward calculation used by most railroads, Locobase deducts 1/3 from the GM&O figure.

Class 71 (Locobase 6905)

Data from 1928 NOGN Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Three Alco locomotives came in 1912 and 1914 (Richmond supplying those in the former year, Brooks the engine(s) in the latter year). By 1928, each had a different set of specs. This is the saturated variant; see Locobase 6906 for the makeover wrought by the NOGN shops in 1925.