Cambria & Indiana 2-8-2 "Mikado" Locomotives in the USA

Class 4/K-2 (Locobase 6797)

Data from CLINCH 1943ca Locomotive Diagrams book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange; and DeGolyer, Volume 39, pp. 33+. Works number was 37175 in November 1911.

This Mikado was delivered to the C&I, which was based in Rexis, Penna. The C&I, incoporated in the same year they received this Mikado, grew from the Blacklick & Yellow Creek Railroad, common-carrier outgrowth of the Vinton Lumber Company's lumber road. Because much of the railroad's ownership resided in one person, the C&I didn't pass out of family hands until 1950 when Bethlehem Steel bought it.

An unusual slide-valve 2-8-2 this Mike remained virtually unchanged. In March 1917, the C&I sold the 4 to the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio as their 499.

Working in local freight and even switching service, this one-of-a-kind remained in service until the early 1950s.

It was scrapped in March 1952

Class 5 (Locobase 13733)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 45, p. 225. Works number was 40917 in November 1913.

This heavy-duty coal hauler didn't need to bother with superheat, at least not when it was ordered. Its driver diameter and boiler size shows a desire for continuous steaming and its tender suggests short trips.

The Rexis, Pa C&I sold the 5 in 1930 to the Lake Superior & Ishpeming as their MK-1 class #16. The LS&I operated the 16 until 1955.

Class 6 (Locobase 13732)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 51, p. 340. . Works number was 41903 in February 1915.

Ordered about a year after the 5 (Locobase 13731), the 6's boiler had five fewer tubes than than the earlier engine. It was otherwise identical. Both the 5 and the 6 were sold in 1930 to the Lake Superior & Ishpeming as their MK-1 class. The LS&I operated the 17 until 1955.

Class 7 (Locobase 6456)

Data from the Lima builder's card housed at [] (visited 20 Jan 2005). See also DeGolyer, Vol 59, pp. 379+. 10-11 were built by Baldwin (works numbers were 49239 and 49307 in July 1918.

These Mikados were certainly designed for the C&I's coal drags up and down steep gradients in western Pennsylvania. Their low drivers indicate as much, as does the location of the steam dome well back along the boiler between two sand domes. Firebox heating surface area includes 25 sq ft (2.3 sq m) on four arch tubes. The Baldwins had minor differences in heating surface areas. Relatively small twelve-inch (305 mm) piston valves fed the cylinders.

The low drivers might have proved too small; indeed, no other standard-gauge Mike with a boiler this big had drivers of less than 63" in diameter.

Not two decades later, all three Limas were sold off the property in 1930. 7 went to the S&L, 8 to General Logging Company and 9 to General Railway Equipment. The Baldwins were both sold north across the international border in 1941 to Nova Scotia's Sydney & Louisburg as their 77-78. 10 later served Dominion Coal while 11 was retired by the S&L in 1957.