Cornwall 2-8-0 "Consolidation" Locomotives in the USA

Class 15 (Locobase 15328)

Data from Mark Cain's [], supplemented by DeGolyer, Vol 74, pp. 14+. Works number was 58468 in June 1925.

This superheated Consolidation provided a considerable amount of power for this 12-mile-long iron-ore railroad. Its design was a duplicate of a coal Consolidation produced for the Unity Railways (about 30 miles closer to Pittsburgh) and described in Locobase 15329. The 15's hot steam was conveyed to its cylinders through 12" (305 mm) piston valves. In a nod to one of its principal customers, the Cornwall specified Bethlehem "material" was to be used in the "plates, bars, bolts, rivets, boiler tubes, wheels, axles, and any other material of Bethlehem production wherever possible."

The 15, which shared a lot of detail components with the 14 (a 4-4-0 delivered a year earlier and described in Locobase 11795) was obviously a good fit as it remained in service for the rest of the CRR's years of steam. When the CRR turned to diesel power in 1950, the 15 was retired and later scrapped in 1951.