Class A1 (Locobase 8459)

Data from StL&SW 1 - 1932 Folio 725 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. Works number was 54088

(Note: Official name for the Cotton Belt was St. Louis-Southwestern.)

The Cotton Belt website -- http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/8199/c_belt.html#Deering%20Southwestern%20Railroad, accessed 29 May 2007 -- says the DSW "...originated at Caruthersville, Missouri (on the Mississippi, and extended almost due west to Deering, where it veered southwest to Hornersville and connected with the Cotton Belt." The section from the lumber mill at Deering to Hickory was completed in 1903, the remainder took the next 8 years.

Class B3 (Locobase 3485)

Data from StL&SW 1 - 1932 Folio 725 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

NY Loco builder information from JF Webber's compilation as supplied by Allen Stanley in March 2004. This large class were works #166-195 (October-November 1886). Webber describes the class as having 16x24" cylinders

This railroad was reorganized as the St Louis-Southwestern (Cotton Belt) in 1891. (See http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/8199/c_belt.html for a detailed history of the Cotton Belt.)

Firebox heating surface includes 16 sq ft of arch tubes. In the twenties, Cotton Belt mechanics replaced slide with piston valves and fitted Walschaerts radial valve gear as well as superheating the locomotives and converting them to oil burners.

Class D2 (Locobase 8466)

(Note: Official name for the Cotton Belt was St. Louis-Southwestern.)

Data from StL&SW 1 - 1932 Folio 725 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. Richmond and Rogers supplied locomotives in this freight Ten-wheeler class. According to a compilation of Richmond locomotives by B.Rumary (25 Kingscombe, Gurney Slade, Radstock, BA3 4TH, ENGLAND) and supplied to Locobase by Allen Stanley in March 2004, Richmond's 6 arrived as a batch representing works #2716-2721 produced in August and September 1898. Rogers' 3 engines arrived in 1899.

See Joseph A Strapac, Cotton Belt Locomotives (Huntington, Calif: Shade Tree Books, 1977, reprinted in 1999 by Indiana University Press), p. 83. He notes that a Southern railroad often bought from Richmond to support the home team (as it were), but that in the case of the D-2s, "Unfortunately for Southern loyalties, the Richmonds were flawed from the time they left the drawing boards. Delivered with boilers pressed to 180 psi and 20" cylinders that were too big for the boiler, "[t]hey didn't steam." Cylinder bushings were fitted within the year to reduce the diameter to 19" and the railroad raised the boiler pressure to the 200 psi shown in the specifications.

All was to no avail, according to Strapac: "Actual horsepower capability on these engines was never reached, and they were always considered less than successful."

The Richmond records show that two were scrapped in 1923, 3 in 1927, and the last in 1933.

Class E2 - Pittsburgh (Locobase 8468)

(Note: Official name for the Cotton Belt was St. Louis-Southwestern.)

Data from StL&SW 1 - 1932 Folio 725 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. According to a compilation of Pittsburgh locomotives by B.Rumary (25 Kingscombe, Gurney Slade, Radstock, BA3 4TH, ENGLAND) and supplied to Locobase by Allen Stanley in March 2004, Pittsburgh delivered works #2258-2267 after completing them in June 1901.

As mentioned in Locobase 8467, where the Rogers E2 Ten-wheelers can be found, this Richmond set was substantially different from the Rogers engines in certain key respects. Most notably, the 70" drivers revealed that these were clearly intended to be passenger locomotives. Also, they had slightly larger boilers. Many were later refitted with Walschaert radial valve gear. (Drury (1993) tells us the driver diameter was increased to 70"by fitting thicker tires over the existing hubs. Paint the tires in white and they'd have looked like 1920s roadsters!)

218 was equipped with a single Nicholson syphon measuring 27 sq ft in heating surface in place of the 17 sq ft of arch tubes originally supplied. 222 later was fitted with 314 2" tubes and owned 2,411 sq ft of heating surface in all.

After almost 30 years of service, 219-200 were scrapped in October 1927. 215 followed in November 1928. 1993 saw 6 dismantled - 217 in February, 223 in March, 222 in October, 216 & 221 in November, and 224 in December. For some reason, 218, renumbered 478 in September 1940, wasn't scrapped until October 1944.

Class E2 - Rogers (Locobase 8467)

(Note: Official name for the Cotton Belt was St. Louis-Southwestern.)

Data from StL&SW 1 - 1932 Folio 725 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Although often grouped with the 215-224 as the same class, there were differences between this Rogers batch and those produced by Pittsburgh (for which, see Locobase 8468). Of the two, this set was the more frankly freight-oriented group. Also, the set had very slightly shorter tubes and 6 fewer tubes to boot. All had 17 sq ft of arch tubes contributing to the firebox heating surface. One later operated Baker radial valve gear.

Class F1 (Locobase 8469)

(Note: Official name for the Cotton Belt was St. Louis-Southwestern.)

Data from StL&SW 1 - 1932 Folio 725 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. Works numbers were 34748-34753 in June 1910.

Locobase doesn't know if this class was delivered with superheaters. (He does know that Vauclain was a strong advocate of the device and jettisoned his well-known compound systems several years before because of the advantages offered by drier steam.)

How and whenever the class came to be superheated, the result seems to have been highly valued by the railroad. The class worked throughout World War II, at the end of which (August 1945), 255 suffered a boiler explosion and was scrapped.

252 went to the ferro-knacker next in October 1945, then 251 in November 1946, 250 in November 1947, 253 in August 1949, and 254 in February 1953.

Class G0 (Locobase 5396)

Data from table in January 1917 issue of Railway Mechanical Engineer (RME), supplemented by data from StL&SW 1 - 1932 Folio 725 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. Works numbers were 40204-40209, 40250-40253 in July 1913; 44107-44111 in September 1916; 44246-44248 in October.

The St. Louis-Southwestern maintained its TenWheeler fleet long after most railroads had gone to Pacifics. Drury (1993) notes that this group was as modern as the times -- superheated, 14"-diameter piston valves, wide firebox, and Walschaerts valve gear. He adds that the 8 that came from Baldwin in 1916 had Baker valve gear. Firebox heating surface was augmented by 16 sq ft of arch tubes.

The 1920s saw the G0s converted to oil-burning and several later received disk drivers, which, Drury notes in a photo caption, "...would have been more at home on a New York Central Hudson." Locobase acknowledges that the refit gave the doughty mixed-traffic engine some class, though. Also, the railroad fitted 651 & 667 with 53 sq ft of Nicholson thermic syphons. Deleting some fire tubes and the arch tubes in the firebox meant that there was a net loss of total evaporative heating surface of 45 sq ft, while the direct heating surface area increased by 33 sq ft to 222.

Obviously suited to the local needs, this class saw steam out, being retired in 1945-1952