Chicago & Western Indiana 2-6-0 "Mogul" Locomotives in the USA

Class J1 (Locobase 13940)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 43, p. 95+. Works numbers were 38953-38957 in December 1912.

This superheated quintet was one of the largest Moguls to be delivered to a US railroad at that time. Each had relatively ample 14"(356 mm) piston valves. (Lima added four more, virtually identical 2-6-0s thirteen months later; see Locobase 15733.)

This transfer railroad (owned by the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, Erie, Grand Trunk, Monon and Wabash) owned 51.6 miles (83 km) of lines at the time these engines were purchased.

The railroad used the class at least in part to pull its passenger locals out of Dearborn Station to southern suburbs. Photographs show that this service could include trains of up to five coaches and operated into the early 1940s.

Class J2 (Locobase 15733)

Data from C&WI 1935 Locomotive & Crane Diagrams supplied in August 2013 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also "Moguls for the Chicago & Western Indiana", Railway & Locomotive Engineering, Volume , No. 6 (June 1914), p. 209. Works numbers were 1329-1332 in January 1914..

Locobase 13940 describes the five Baldwins that were one of the largest Mogul designs delivered to a US railroad at that time. A little over a year later, Lima repeated the design with just a few changes, suggesting that the C&WI was very happy with that wheel arrangement. On the C&WI, the Mogul served both as a transfer freight hauler and a passenger engine on the limited suburban schedule.

Indeed, the R&LE report said Lima had improved the design "along the lines of service experience with the earlier ones." Axle journals were enlarged and the side rod and guide yoke were redesigned to "facilitate taking down the front section of these rods. A "handsome tender of rather unique appearance" evolved from discussions in which the need to set the fuel collar in at the edge of the water tank would allow the engineman to have an unobstructed view.

Relatively large 14" (356 mm) piston valves with a maximum travel of 6 1/2" (165 mm). Firebox heating surface area was originally given as 185 sq ft (17.19 sq m). 22 sq ft (2.04 sq m) of arch tubes supplemented that baseline.

Class unknown (Locobase 15732)

Data from "Chicago & Western Indiana Mogul," Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Vol 18, No 4 (April 1905), pp. 182-183. Works numbers were 6240-6242 in October 1904.

At the same time this long-time Paterson, NJ builder produced three suburban Prairie tank engines for the C&WI, it also turned out three Moguls. The halftone accompanying the relatively short report in the R&LE shows a high-pitched boiler with a tapered second course.

As often proved the case with the C&WI, this Mogul design was among the biggest and heaviest of its time. Locobases 13940 and 15733 show superheated Moguls from the 'teens that out-muscled most of their 2-6-0 contemporaries.

It would also be the biggest Rogers produced for any operator, which can be explained best by the fact that, other than a few USRA Santa Fes, these were the largest locomotives the C&WI would buy. Their traffic was well-suited to 2-6-0 motive power.