Lehigh Valley 4-4-2 "Atlantic" Locomotives in the USA

Class F-1 (Locobase 9932)

Data from American Engineering & Railroading Journal (1896), p. 340; and "Fast Passenger Locomotive for the Black Diamond Express, Lehigh Valley Railroad ", Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume IX [9], No 10 (October 1896), pp. 814-818, See also Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 20, p. 158. See also Scot Lawrence's account of the Black Diamond service that prompted the order of the first Atlantics archived at []; Angus Sinclair, "Ratio of Heating Surface to Grate Area and Cylinder Volume," Locomotive Engineering, Volume X, No. 4 (April 1897), pp. 316-318; and "Lehigh Valley Railroad Express Locomotive," The Locomotive & Railway Carriage & Wagon Review, Volume IV [4] (November 1899), p. 172. Baldwin works numbers were 14956-14960 produced in July 1896.

Ordered only a few days after the Black Diamond all-Pullman express train began service between Buffalo and New York City, this quintet may have been summoned to take on the task of pulling this five-car (205-ton) train at the 46-mph (74 kph) average speed demanded by the schedule. In 1897, the train achieved a 90% on-time percentage.

It had the typical camelback form dictated by the 80" (2,032 mm) -wide Wootten firebox, although this version had no combustion chamber length at all. LE's report admiringly commented that there appeared "to be nothing in the make-up of this engine that could be criticised as being used 'because it was cheap.'" From I-section eccentric rods to driver tires shrunk on centers and secured with retaining rings to "the most expensive kind of iron" used in the staybolts, material and method were pronounced as quite sound.

They remained in passenger service for more than 25 years before the 2321-2322 were scrapped in November 1923. 2323 followed in June 1926 with class leader 2320 and tail-ender 2324 going to the ferro-knacker's in March 1928.

Class F-2 (Locobase 12289)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 21, p. 228. Works numbers were 15961-15964 in June 1898.

A quartet of camelbacks of medium size that remained essentially unchanged. 2332 was scrapped quite early in August 1919. All of the others were scrapped in 1919, the 2330 and 233 in March, the 2331 in June.

Class F-3 (Locobase 8950)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 25, p. 270 and Volume 27, p. 170. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his comments regarding tender capacities, driver diameter, and and heating surface areas.) Works numbers were 22476, 22484-22485, 22547 in July 1903; 24388, 24393, 24407 in June 1904

Firmly pressed into the classic anthracite-road express camelback mold, this design filled a particular LVRR need. The 1903 engines had 318 tubes, the 1904s the 320 tubes shown here. Chris Hohl pointed out that the specs for the first four calculated a 12 1/2 ton (11.35 metric tons) coal capacity while the 1904 trio's specs gave the same water capacity and same loaded weight while cutting the coal capacity by 20%.

Six years later, even as the Atlantic's allure had faded considerably, the railroad returned to Baldwin for five duplicates. Chris Hohl's comments led to the discovery of two variants of this design. The slightly larger 1910 locomotives appear in Locobase 13769.

First to the ferro-knackers was 2404 in November 1923. The second and third to go were the last two delivered; 2405-2406 were scrapped in June 1924. 2402 and 2415 followed in September 1925. 2414 went to the yard next in June 1926. 2401 was scrapped in October 1928, 2412-2413, and 2416 were cut up in March 1929, and the last two -- 2400, 2402 -- in April 1929.

Class F-3 - wide firebox (Locobase 13679)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 35, p. 260. See also Clarence Roberts & Russell M Smith, Practical Locomotive Operating (Philadelphia: J B Lippincott Co, 1912), pp 61,67. Thanks to Chris Hohl for his comments on Locobase 8950, which led to a better recognition of the differences in this later batch.) Works numbers were 22476, 22484-22485, 22547 in July 1903; 24388, 24393, 24407 in June 1904; 35585-35586 in November 1910; 35657-35659 in December.

Roberts and Smith intended this engine to be a typical Atlantic express passenger engine. They did pretty well in finding a standard camelback 4-4-2, although the tubes on this class were a bit longer than most.

When Hohl pointed out some discrepancies in the entry for the 1903-1904 engines in Locobase 8950, Locobase determined that the differences came from noticeable changes in the design when the last five were ordered in 1910. The biggest alteration in this quintet was the provision of an even wider Wootten firebox, which grew from 90 1/4"(2.3 m) to 102 3/8"(2.6 m). Firebox length and depth remained unchanged at 108"(2.74 m) and 58 3/4 (1.49 m) (front) and 54 3/4" (1.39 m) (back), respectively, but the 12 1/8"(308 mm) difference accounted for the increased grate and firebox heating surface areas.

Adhesion and engine weights each grew by about three short tons (2.7 metric tons). Another change from the earlier locomotives was the adoption of outside radial valve gear.

First to the ferro-knackers was 2415 followed in September 1925, followed by 2414 in June 1926 and finally 2412-2413, and 2416 were cut up in March 1929.

Class F-4 / F-5 (Locobase 12290)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volumes 22, p. 260; and 24, p. 20. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for a tweak of the driver diameter and a pointer to the tender's coal capacity. Works numbers were 17792, 17794 in May 1900; 17815 in June; 19208-19209, 19222-19224 in July.

These tall Atlantics were renumbered twice, the first time in order in 1905, the second time sometime later. When the F-4s swapped their 80" drivers for 77" wheels and were reclassed as F-5s, the road-number order got scrambled in the second renumbering, the engines winding up in this order (by builder's number): 2467, 2465, 2462, 2461, 2460, 2466, 2464, and 2463.

Class F-6 (Locobase 9933)

Data from "A Practical Demonstration in Fuel Economy," Railway Age Gazette, Vol , No (28 July 1911), p. 175.

One of the locomotives of this class was featured in a fuel-economy demonstration in which the same locomotive pulled a Buffalo-to-New York City train of up to 10 cars and 560 tons over the entire route of 446.6 miles on 21 June 1911. It was equipped with a tender big enough to hold the 15 tons of coal the engine burned, but 2475 had to stop 8 times for water. The run took 12 hours 3 minutes (running time 10 hrs 40 minutes) and included 31 stops.

The chief outcome of the demonstration was the ability of the crew to reduce coal consumption by nearly half, dropping the average from a whopping 132 lb/train mile to 67.33 lb/train mile. "A remarkable feature in the test," RAG added,"...is that the fire was not cleaned nor even raked during the whole trip and the grates were only lightly shaken six times." Locobase suspects this was not run-of-the-mine coal.