Chicago & Alton 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" Locomotives in the USA

Class 250 (Locobase 12499)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 23, p 300. Works numbers were 19088-19091, 19105-19110 in June 1901.

Bought at the height of the Vauclain compound popularity, this decade of Ten-wheelers used two relatively large 13" (330 mm) piston valves, each of which supplied steam to both the HP and LP cylinder in a single casting. A note in the specs notes that the last six engines had enough lateral play in the drivers to reduce the rigid wheelbase to 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m). Locobase is not certain if the 19.5 sq ft (1.81 sq m) of arch tubes is included in the firebox heating surface figure, but believes it was.

These engines were not part of the Harriman Common Standard program that ordered hundreds of locomotives to set designs, none of which used compounding.

Like most North American railroads, the Alton soon abandoned compounding and converted the class to simple-expansion engines in 1904-1908; see Locobase 9038

Class G1 (Locobase 9043)

Data from C&A 1- 1930 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

These apparently were the first of the Schenectady Ten-wheelers. Locobase isn't sure why there were so many subgroups (see G1B, G1C, G1D). Certainly the basic data didn't vary very much.

Class G1B (Locobase 9036)

Data from C&A 1- 1930 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

These seem to have been identical to the G1D shown in Locobase 9035, which also came from Schenectady in 1892. But the present class had more than 6 short tons greater adhesion weight.

Class G1C (Locobase 9039)

Data from C&A 1- 1930 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

One of the variations among the Ten-wheelers produced in 1892 by Schenectady for the Alton was driver diameter. This trio had the same boiler as the other G1 engines, but taller drivers.

Class G1D (Locobase 9035)

Data from C&A 6- 1918 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

The Alton later changed the balance in tender capacities to more water (4,500 US gallons/17,033 litres) and less coal (7 tons/7.7 tons).

Class G2 (Locobase 9044)

Data from C&A 1- 1930 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

The Alton occasionally built a locomotive in its own shops and this was the only Ten-wheeler that came on the road from that source. Compared to the later engines, this was a bit smaller in most respects.

Class G3A - simpled (Locobase 9038)

Data from C&A 1- 1930 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

Big Ten-wheelers that were originally delivered in 1901as Vauclain compounds; these are shown in Locobase 12499. The class converted to the simple-expansion arrangement in 1904-1908. In the process, they received the taller drivers more suitable for pure passenger work. Also they saw a reduction in boiler capacity by the deletion of 53 tubes

Although big engines with passenger-train-sized drivers, they were soon outstripped by the heavier trains. Never superheated, the class was scrapped in September 1933, 2 years after the Alton joined the Baltimore & Ohio