Class E (Locobase 8776)

Data from Soo 9 - 1943 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Unusual Soo-Line engines of the time in that they had such tall drivers. Less unusually, they arrived as Vauclain compounds with 2 20" HP cylinders and 2 32" LP cylinders. Not too long after they arrived, the railroad simpled the system as shown in the specs.

Class E-1 (Locobase 8777)

Data from Soo 9 - 1943 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

As Drury (1993) notes, these passenger Ten-wheelers were among the only 4-6-0s used by the Soo in that service.

Class E-2 (Locobase 8778)

Data from Soo 9 - 1943 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Rolling on freight-sized drivers, this pair of Ten-wheelers started on the W & N, but came to the Soo when the latter bought the former in 1921. Locobase doesn't know for sure, but believes that these engines were superheated when they got to the Soo if not when they were originally delivered to the W & N.

Class E-20 (Locobase 8779)

Data from Soo 9 - 1943 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Brooks typically pressed its locomotive boilers to a higher setting than most of its contemporaries. Here was a set of 11 Ten-wheelers that retained the small cylinder volume and deep, narrow fireboxes of the time, but flaunted a 175-psi boiler. Works # ran 1658-1664 and 1667-1669.

Class E-21 (Locobase 8780)

Data from Soo 9 - 1943 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Brooks delivered these Ten-wheelers to the WC just one year after the E-20s (Locobase 8779), but they were bigger. They had larger boilers and grates, substantially larger fireboxes, and they weighed a good deal more. Works #1887-1894 were produced together, then a break, then the batch of 5 (1905-1909).

Class E-22 (Locobase 3297)

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 #2923-2928, produced in March 1898.

Piston-valved passenger engine with Improved Belpaire boiler and firebox containing 24 sq ft of arch tubing.

Railroad Gazette of 3 June 1898 notes that the 10-locomotive order was broken into 6 freight, shown in this entry, and 4 passenger, shown in Locobase 2977. The boilers and grates were the same, but these freight engines had cylinders 1" larger in diameter and, of course, smaller drivers. They were later taken into the Soo Line as 2619-2624.

This batch was followed up with two more: 3154-3160 (February 1899), which came onto the WC as 231-237, and 3433-3436 (Feb 1900), road #238-241. On the Soo, they were classed E-22s as well and numbered 2629-2639

Class E-23 (Locobase 2977)

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 #2929-2932, produced in March 1898.

Railroad Gazette of 3 June 1898 notes that the 10-locomotive order was broken into 4 passenger, shown in this entry, and 6 freight, shown in another (Locobase 3297).

Piston-valved passenger engine with Improved Belpaire boiler and firebox containing 24 sq ft of arch tubing. Compared to the 6 freight engines, these four had taller drivers, but cylinders that were 1" smaller in diameter. The smaller cylinder volume makes Locobase wonder ... Later taken into the Soo Line as 2625-2628.

Class E-23-S (Locobase 8781)

Data from Soo 9 - 1943 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

At some point after their introduction, the E-23s (Locobase 2977) of the Wisconsin Central received superheaters. The tradeoff of small tubes for larger flues achieved the usual ratio. Also, the Belpaire firebox remained intact, although the firebox heating surface shown is lower.

Class E-24-S (Locobase 8765)

Data from Soo Miscellaneous Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Delivered to the Wisconsin Central from Brooks as a batch (works #3437-3441)

in 1900 as low-drivered, saturated-steam freight locomotives, this class was later superheated after the Soo took over the WC in 1909.

Class E-25 (Locobase 4140)

Profiled in the Railroad Gazette 10 May 1901, this batch of 10 freight locomotives were slightly larger than the 1898 freight ten-wheelers found elsewhere at Locobase 3297.

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 #23687-3689 (November 1900), 3704-3706, 3708-3711 in December 1900.

Like the earlier engines, these were piston-valved freight engines with Improved Belpaire boiler. The chief difference was a much larger grate that sat over the low drivers rather than between them. They also had even smaller drivers. Later taken into the Soo Line as 2645-2654 and superheated; see Locobase

3437-3441 (February 1900) - road #242-246 -- had the same basic dimensions, but were lighter. The Soo put them in a separate class E-24 (Locobase 8765).

Class E-25-S (Locobase 8782)

Data from Soo 9 - 1943 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Surely it must have been a rare event in North American superheating to trim the grate's width by 11 inches during the remodeling. The saturated-steam E-25 (Locobase 4140) had a grate measuring 73 1/4", but the remodeled hotrod had its grate cut to 62 1/4" wide. The answer lies in the substitution of an extended wagon top boiler for the original Belpaire design.

Otherwise, the makeover involved the typical substitution of a few flues for dozens of small tubes.