Chicago & Eastern Illinois 2-8-2 "Mikado" Locomotives in the USA

Class K-55/N-1sa, N-4 (Locobase 1039)

Data from 1949 C&EI locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. Works numbers were 51845-51869 in September 1912.

Compared to other North American 2-8-2s of the time (ca 1910-1915), the N-1s specs put them in the top 15% in heating surface area and the top 25% in grete and firebox areas. They had 13" (330 mm) piston valves.

Charles Kratz in Drury (1993) says of these 25 engines : "They were fast and powerful and they changed the C&EI did business.". A suggestive figure in the C&EI's 1913 Annual Report appears in the table presented on page 31. The class comprised 7.27% of the railroad's motive power, but generated 12.56% of the starting tractive effort.

The 1949 diagram includes one for the N-4, which were rebuilt N-1s. Their new boilers now used a 190 psi setting, the firebox heating surface area included either arch tubes or thermic syphons, and coal entered the firebox through a Standard BK mechanical stoker.. Adhesion weight increased to 228,290 lb (103,551 kg), new appliances in the firebox shifted the distribution of weights on the non-powered trucks toward the trailing truck, and engine weight grew to 308,352 lb (139,866 kg). Seventeen N-1s went through the update:1900-1903, 1905-1906, 1908-1911, 1914, 1916, 1919-1921, and 1923-1924.

All 25 remained on the roster through the end of World War II. They were sold for scrap between 1947 and 1950.

Class N-2 (USRA) (Locobase 7)

Data from C&EI 5 -1949 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. (Many thanks to Chris Hohl for his 22 September 2017 email reporting unlikely boiler pressure values for 177 entries. A Locobase macro caused the error .) Works numbers were 59503-59517 in September 1918.

Based on the light USRA design (Locobase 40), but there are some small, slight differences.

1930 blew up on 4 January 1940 and was scrapped in the next month. The others all retired August 1949 to August 1950.

Class N-3 (Locobase 7176)

Data from C&EI 5 -1949 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. Works numbers were 63568-63577 at Brooks in November 1922 and classed N-1sa, 64524-64533 at Schenectady in July 1923 and classed N-1sb.

These Mikes represent the difficulty in sustaining any effort at standardization as represented by the USRA series. Although they had very similar tube and flue layouts, their grates were considerably smaller because the firebox was 12" (305 mm) shorter. At the same time, cylinder volume increased when the diameters grew by 2" (51 mm). The cab's roof included a clerestory.