4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" Steam Locomotives in the USA

Class 178 (Locobase 11791)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 10, p. 242. Works numbers were 5925, 5929 in November 1881; 5948, 5953 in December.

These Ten-wheelers were small even by the early '80s' standards. One note on the specs states that the "Inside seams of furnace [sic] countersunk and all rivets driven nearly flush with sheet except those in water space." The grate had 2 1/4" water tubes.

They all operated for over 30 years with 265 the first to be scrapped in December 1914, followed by 263 in October 1916, 264 in December 1917, and 266 in October 1920.

Class L-3/T-26 (Locobase 9764)

Data from Angus Sinclair, Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume XV [17], No 8 (August 1902), p. 335-336; and "Ten-wheel Passenger Locomotive for the Central Railroad of New Jersey.", Railway Age, Volume 34, No 2 (11 July 1902), 37-38 . Works numbers were 25971-25995 in May 1902.

Piston valves measured 10 1/2" (267 mm) in diameter.

Sinclair paid particular attention to the fireman's position in this class of camelbacks. He explains that a lot of the discomfort and peril of coal-heaving in a double-cab came from requiring the fireman to work from the tender, or worse, straddle the footplate-tender junction just a couple of feet above the rails. In the L-3s, the "coal digger" is placed "on deck" which offered the advantage that "...with all the motion of the engine, the fireman and firehole door maintain the same relative position to each other all the time." As a result, the man moved coal over a shorter distance and at a lower height and would have a truer aim at the door. Another amenity was that the fireman was housed in a complete cab that could be fitted with "curtains over the doors that would make [him] decidedly snug, and furthermore, he can't fall out."

Sinclair claimed that "The engines are very popular on the road, they are well liked by the men, and are doing excellent work".

Class L-4s (Locobase 16553)

Data from CNJ 6 - 1935 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in June 2021 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange collection.

As noted in Locobase 9764, the fireman's lot in the L-3 Ten-wheelers was substantially eased by several innovations provided to the camelback's second crew member. Angus Sinclair claimed the crews' opinion of the class was very positive.

As indeed it must have been because beginning with 602 in September 1916, the CNJ superheated the entire class over the next eight years. The firebox design remained the same, but most of the power elements of the locomotive changed. Cylinder diameters increased by 1" (25.4 mm) each and 11" (279 mm) piston valve served the cylinders and radial valve gear replaced inside link motion.

More than half of the small tubes were removed to make room for the 21 flues that held superheater elements, but the total cost in evaporative heating surface area was only 104 sq ft (9.66 sq m).

Most of the class retired in the mid-1930s, but ten survived to be reclassified T-26 in 1945.. The last three to be dismantled met the torch in April (617, 622) and May 1950 (623).

Class L-5b (Locobase 16611)

Data from "Ten-Wheel, Wide-Firebox Locomotives-Central Railroad of New Jersey", American Engineer & Railroad Journal, Volume (October 1900), p 328. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 2 December 2022 email alerting Locobase to the saturated origins of this class, distilling key date, and providing a link to the above article.) Works numbers were 3529-3539 in June 1901, 3942-3944 in August, 3945-3948 in September. As part of Alco, works numbers were 26173-26174 in June 1902, 27787-27792 in June 1903.

One of a series of Camelback Ten-wheelers built for the Central of New Jersey, the L-5b sextet (169-174) is featured in the photo section of Bruce's The Steam Locomotive in America (1952). And it's a worthy representative of the type with the center cab wrapped around the boiler and the massive Wootten firebox showing its polished steel over the third driver.

AERJ reported Mr McIntosh (locomotive superintendent) as speaking "very highly of their work." Their fireboxes burned fine anthracite on grates of the " Yingling" type, which AERJ contrasts with the usual rocking grates by noting, "these shaking grates are placed so the fingers of adjacent grates interlock and grind the cinders so that they pass down through." The fingers were "made small in section to prevent burning." The firebox also contained water tubes.

Beginning with 169, the engines were delivered with extended wagon top boilers

Piston valves and water scoops meant these fast freighters could haul shoreline passenger trains on the Long Branch & Point Pleasant Division with "very satisfactory results."

Superheaters for this class -- which had several subclassess -- were installed in the late 1920s and early 1930s for the most part, although a couple were refitted in the early 1920s (see Locobase 5037). .

Drury (1993) notes that the 111 Camelbacks "were essentially the same locomotive" and served as mixed-traffic engines into the 1950s.

Class L-5ds, es/T32 (Locobase 5037)

Data from CNJ 7 - 1944 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange collection. Additional data from Crater's Organization of Locomotive Tables document supplied in August 2013 by Allen Stanley.

Locobase 16611 describes a subset of this Ten-wheel camelback class in their original 1901-1902 saturated boiler configuration. The CNJ began installing superheaters in this class in two phases. L5as and L5bs represented superheating and an extended wagon top boiler, but no cylinder change; these occurred in 1918-1921.

Conversion to L5ds/es began in 1923 with seven (151-154, 156, 164, 174). Three more followed in 1925 and two in 1927. The rest underwent the conversion in 1929-1932. Only two L-5b were left saturated--158, 167.

To accommodate the 24 flues, the shops removed 150 small tubes, gaining a relatively small amount of superheater area. Later conversion to L5ds increased cylinder diameter by one inch (25.4 mm).

Drury (1993) notes that the 111 Camelbacks "were essentially the same locomotive" and served as mixed-traffic engines into the 1950s.

Class L-6a (Locobase 13672)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 35, pp 119. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 20 April 2015 correcting the valve gear ID, tender fuel capacity and its loaded weight.) Works numbers were 35107, 35143 in August 1910; 35239-35244, 35280-35281 in September.

Firebox heating surface included 19 sq ft (1.75 sq m) of combustion chamber. Cylinders received their steam through 13" (330 mm) piston valves.

This class of double-cab passenger power spend much of its career on commuter service and thus were a commonly seen and photographed class. By the 1930s, adhesion weight on the unmodified engines was recorded as 164,600 lb (74,661 kg) and engine weight had grown to 217,200 lb (98,520 kg).

Perhaps surprisingly, these ten locomotives were superheated much later.; see Locobase 6726.

Class L-6as / L-7s (Locobase 6726)

Data from CNJ 7 - 1944 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 42, pp. 314+. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 27 August 2015 email reporting the tender's capacity and estimated weight and for suggesting a review of heating surface areas that led to some revisions.) Works numbers were 38758-38762, 38865-38869 in November 1912.

1912 saw Baldwin's delivery of the 760-769 as superheated locomotives. Their increased power almost immediately led to the CNJ's conversion of the L-6s (Locobase 13672) to the same design.

Chris Hohl's email pointed out that the tender weight was originally estimated at 150,000 lb (68,039 kg) and that the Baldwin engines' boiler were set at 200 psi. Their adhesion weight was estimated at 160,000 lb (72,575 kg). When delivered, they had small combustion chambers contributing only 19 sq ft (1.77 sq m).

The ten engines built in 1910 (Locbase 13672) were superheated to the same specifications much later than usual. In the process the L-6s sacrificed 176 small tubes, but gained cylinders with an inch greater diameter. The boilers in the rebuilds did not have combustion chambers and by the time most were modified, the 1912 L-7s had surrendered theirs as well.

755, 757, and 758 were made over in June, August, and July, 1928, respectively. 759 followed in February 1931. After a nine-year pause, the 756 received its upgrade in June 1940. Two more followed in 1941 (754 in April, 752 in November) and 750 followed suit in August 1943.

With no reason to replace these quite-satisfactory engines, their retirements only came in 1953-1954 at the end of steam.

Class L-7as (Locobase 6727)

Data from CNJ 7 - 1944 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 49, pp. 327+. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 19 February 2024 email pointing out the increases in boiler pressure and tender coal capacity.) Works numbers were 41027-41028, 41041-41048 in December 1913.

A later batch of Camelback Ten-wheelers of the same power dimensions as the L-6as and L-7s shown in Locobase 6726, but a grate that was widened a foot to 9 ft 1/4" (2.75 m). Interestingly, the enlargement of the grate resulted in only a very modest increase in firebox heating surface. Later, the CNJ boosted the class's boiler pressure to 210 psi (14.48 bar) and fitted coal boards to raise capacity to 15 tons (13.6 metric tons). The short combustion chamber added 18 sq ft (1.67 sq m) to the firebox heating surface area. Piston valve diameter measured 13" (330 mm).

Like the earlier camelback Ten-wheelers on the CNJ, virtually all of these engines served to the end of steam on the railroad in the early-to-mid 1950s.

Class L-8s/T40 (Locobase 6463)

Data from CNJ 7 - 1944 and CNJ 6 1935 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 and July 2021, respectively, by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange, corrected by DeGolyer, Volume 59, pp. 98+. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 6 November 2024 email noting the coal boards, the tender weight, and the likely deletion of the combustion chamber.) Works numbers were 47868, 47914, 47962 in February 1918; 48027, 48074, 48149 in March; 48280-48283 in April.

And information from John McCoy Oct 10 1998, 12:00 am Newsgroups: misc.transport.rail.americas From: igop ...@ix.netcom.com (John McCoy) Date: 1998/10/10 (accessed 13 March 2005).

Roster information from the Northeast Railroads website [] (accessed 13 March 2005), which Locobase used to identify the class only generally referred to in McCoy's post. Given that only one 4-6-0 class reached 40,000 lb of tractive effort, it's likely that that group of eight engines is the subject of McCoy's data. This was confirmed by the 1944 book, which showed a classic Camelback Ten-wheeler that must have been among the last of the type to be built.

Like most 20th century camelbacks, the L-8s had a very short combustion chamber that added only 18 sq ft (1.6 sq m) to the firebox heating surface. Hohl's deduction that the reilroad had deleted the combustion chamber appears correct as both editions of the diegram books showed firebox heating surface area at 193 sq ft (17.93 sq m).

Piston valves measured 13" (330 mm) in diameter.

Coal boards placed at the top of the tender edges increased capacity to 15 tons. Loaded tender weight increased to 155,800 lb (70,670 kg) and power system (engine and tender) weight) grew to 381,400 lb (exactly 173,000 kg).

This class was retired at the end of steam in 1950-1954.