4-4-0 "American" Steam Locomotives in the USA

Class 10 (Locobase 7035)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 15, p.189. Works numbers were 10421 and 10424 in November 1889.

Possessing a bigger boiler than most of the other Eight-wheelers that wound up on the Illinois Central, these engines didn't have a comparably sized grate. As a consequence, they probably ran short of steam more readily.

As noted in Locobase 7000, the ex-OV was leased to the Illinois Central for 99 years in 1897 and these two engines were taken into the IC motive power roster. 4954 retired more than 30 years later in July 1929, but 4953 lasted almost 6 years longer before its withdrawal in June 1935.

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Class 1901 (Locobase 7028)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

As the IC was turning out Moguls in 1888 (see Locobase 7016), it took the same boiler and grate and made passenger-engine Americans out of the basic design.

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Class 1905 (Locobase 7029)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

Much of the IC's 19th-Century locomotive roster consisted of freight or mixed-traffic engines. In this year, however, Brooks provided 25 locomotives in two classes. The more common was the group described in Locobase 7031. The sextet represented here had the tallest drivers by far of any IC engines of the period, of a diameter suitable for true express work.

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Class 1930 (Locobase 7032)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

Rogers supplied two sets of Americans to the IC in the last decade of the 19th Century. They seem to have used the same grate, but had different boilers. See Locobase 7033 for the other variant.

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Class 1933 (Locobase 7033)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

This septet had the same running gear and cylinders as the Rogers trio that was delivered to the IC the year before. The firebox was a bit smaller and the boiler had 8 fewer tubes. The difference in tube heating surface doesn't quite compute but both the 1911 listing and the 1913 diagram insist on the numbers given in the specs.

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Class 2, 4-5, 5-7/2196 (Locobase 7042)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 12, p. 224. Works numbers were 7715 in November 1885, 7963 in May 1886, and 8429 in March 1887, and 8713-8714 in August.

Like the other IC Eight-wheelers of the time, these were among the lightest and smallest Americans in service. They all wound up on the Illinois Central.

(7961 - #3 in B & ASL service - became 3 on the Ohio Valley. It did not join the others on the IC, apparently.)

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Class 2157 (Locobase 7037)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

A pair of Americans, about average for the time in the size of their boilers, but possessing small grates, small fireboxes, and relatively modest adhesive weight.

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Class 2169 (Locobase 7038)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

Like their Rogers-built stablemates (Locobase 7037), these home-built Americans were among the smallest of that wheel arrangement in service in the mid-1880s. Yet, as late as 1913, they still held places in the IC's roster. One suspects that the low axle-loading had a lot to do with their longevity.

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Class 2180 (Locobase 7039)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

As the IC built its own Americans, it also bought a pair from Pittsburgh. The IC engines' boilers were bigger but the firebox was about the same size and the locomotives generated about the same amount of power.

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Class 2184 (Locobase 7040)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

Even for the time, these were small locomotives in every important respect: boiler size, grate and firebox areas, and relatively modest adhesive weight. The latter is perhaps most indicative of the intent of the design. These were light-footed engines that would be welcome on almost any branch line.

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Class 2190 (Locobase 7043)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

These were par-for-the-course IC Eight-wheelers, which meant that they were among the smallest in standard-gauge service in the US at the time.

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Class 2197 (Locobase 7041)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

Another in a series of small American designs that wound up on the IC. Locobase doesn't know the provenance of this particular loner, but figures it explored branch lines in some of the remoter areas of the IC system.

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Class 4 (Locobase 11195)

Data from "Old Time Illinois Central Engine," Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Vol 23, No 4 (April 1910), p 140. Boiler pressure is an estimate.

A wodd-burner credited to Superintendent of Machinery Samuel J Hayes, this locomotive had a noticeably large firebox heating surface for the time. Hayes had designed many of the B & O's most successful early locomotives and this effort also yielded a solid layout that was copied many times over.

The illustration in the article is credited to Matthias N Forney, then a draftsman for the IC.

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Class 542/948/1948 (Locobase 7034)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. Works numbers were 2242-2243, 2245 in December 1892, 2246-2247 in January 1893.

The last new locomotives purchased by the NN&MV were these Eight-wheelers, which presented a greater than usual amount of direct heating surface. Because the firebox still stood between the driving axle and its length and width were no greater than usual, this meant an exceptionally deep firebox.

When the IC took over the NN&MV, they assigned this set to the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley as their 948-952.

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Class 6 (Locobase 13881)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 40, p. 4. Works number was 37230 in December 1911.

A light American, this engine served the Dyerburg-Hickman line in both the CM&G number (6) and successor Illinois Central's 2107. It was scrapped sometime between 1924 and 1928.

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Class 905 (Locobase 7031)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. Works numbers were 1749-1756 in October 1890; 1793-1809 in January 1891.

As noted in Locobase 7029, most of the IC's locomotive roster in the 19th-Century consisted of freight or mixed-traffic locomotives. This relatively numerous class was typical of the railroad.

Built in a relatively short two-month span, the class remained esssentially intact throughout its service life. Tthe 915 went to the scrapyard in 1906 and 4921, 4926 went to pieces in July 1929. Sixteen were scrapped in a two-month period in May-June 1935.

905 closed out the class with its retirement in June 1940.

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Class 961 (Locobase 2156)

Data from Catalogue Descriptive of Simple and Compound Locomotives built by Brooks Locomotive Works, Dunkirk, NY (Buffalo, NY: Matthew-Northrup Company, 1899) and IC 1911 Locomotive Data book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange . See also P J Conlon, "Locomotive Lore - Chapter XIV", Machinists Monthly Journal, Volume XIII, No. 10 (October 1901), p. 746. Builder info from B.Rumary, 25 Kingscombe, Gurney Slade, Radstock, BA3 4TH, ENGLAND and Jeremy Lambert as supplied by Allen Stanley in March 2004. Works numbers were 2716-2723 in November 1896.

The design of this class was credited to IC's Superintendent of Machinery W Renshaw. The boiler was an improved Belpaire type with a firebox credited with 152.2 sq ft of heating surface area that together with the tube area offered a total evaporative heating surface of 1,802 sq ft. Between its delivery and the preparation of the 1911 description listing, the IC added arch tubes (Locobase supposes), which increased direct heating surface area by 25%. The resulting figures are shown in the specifications.

P J Conlon looked at the locomotive in 1901 and didn't like what he saw, apparently because of the resulting "decided foreign appearance." He observed: "The sand box and air pump are located under the boiler, with the main object of clearing the top of the boiler of all parts that could be placed elsewhere without detriment and also for the sake of cleanliness and neatness of appearance. Another novel feature is a brass number plate on the side of the boiler."

Conlon approved of the "unusually large" cab, which he credited with "...affording most comfortable quarters for the engineer and fireman."

As part of Locobase's effort to preserve a sampling of the identities of component suppliers to the major builders in various periods, the equipment supplied included:

National hollow brake beams

Gollmar bell-ringer

Cicero bronze bearings

Smith exhaust nozzle

Monitor injectors

United States metallic packing

Ashton safety valves

Dean sander

French springs

Paige spoke engine truck wheel

American balanced valves with Allen parts

The class was scrapped in 1922-1924.

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Class Clasx 69 (Locobase 7030)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data and 1913ca Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also Richard Simpson III, "Indianapolis Southern Railway" on the Indiana Transportation History website at [], last accessed 23 March 2025. Works numbers were 2478-2485 in November 1894.

The long wheelbase on these Brooks Amerocan-type passenger engines comes from the tradtional placement of the firebox between the driving axles. Given the long span between the leading driving axle and the truck, this engine had a low and overextended profile.

Twelve years after their delivery, the IC kept three of this class and sold the others in December 1906 to the Indianapolis Southern Railroad as their 91-95 (The IS came into being six months earlier when the Indianapolis Southern Railway and the Illinois & Indiana consolidated their assets. A year and a half later, the ISRR returned the quintet to the IC, which restored their earlier numbers.

Five years later, the ISRR conceded the inability to cover $1 millon of a $10 million bond. After the inevitable foreclosure, the IC bought the road.

Four of the class went to the ferro-knacker in 1928. 4844 followed in 1929, and 4942, 4945, and 4947 closed the class in 1935.

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Class F5 (Locobase 7951)

Data from CNO&TP 1893 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also the seedy beginnings of the A&C in "Alabama & Chattanooga Railroad" at [], last accessed 21 September 2025; and John Ralph Scudder, Jr's 1951 Master's Thesis "The Alabama and Chattanooga Railraosd Company--1868-1871"" submitted to the University of Alabama (University, Alabama, 1951) at []. Taunton works numbers were 490 in February 1870, 499-500 in June, and 508, 510 in October.

Seven of the small number of locomotives produced by this Massachusetts builder went to the Alabama & Chattanooga. The A&C took form as the North-East & South-West Alabama Railroad and the Wills Valley Railroad (the latter only chartered but not built.) John Ralph Scudder's well-researched 1951 MA thesis spells out the details.

Apparently taking advantage of the chaos in immediate-post Civil War Alabama, Boston promoter James C Stanton persuaded the Alabama legislature to allow him to issue bonds. He did. but Stanton "never did have any money" contended the Schafleutzle accouont, which forced his bankruptcy in 1871.

In the meantime, however, "The Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad issued small size meal tickets (scrip) printed by the National Bank Note company in New York depicting ducks, chickens or sheep. Large qualities of the scrip was issued to pay for materials and labor required to rebuild the railroad." And sufficient work on the line allowed the 300 miles (483 km) of track to reopen between Chattanooga, Tenn and Meridian, Miss. A key town on the route, Elyton, had attracted investors in a venture and before long, it took the name Birmingham.

That almost certainly was enough to tempt the English investment group into buying up the A&C and rename it the Alabama Great Southern. By 1888, the AGS had transferred of the class to the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific. By 1904, the engines had disappeared from the roster.

which merged with the Alabama Great Southern in 1879. By 1888, the Tauntons ran under the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific's herald.

The Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific was later merged into the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific.