Chicago & Eastern Illinois 4-6-2 "Pacific" Locomotives in the USA

Class K-1 (Locobase 7168)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 35, p. 196 and the C&EI 11 - 1911 Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. Works numbers were 35543-35546 in November 1910, 35692-35693, 35698-35699 in December.

The first C&EI Pacifics, these came to the railroad already superheated. The last three were delivered first to the Evansville & Terre Haute, which came into the C&EI fold in July 1911.

Steam admission came through 13"(330 mm) piston valves and the superheater area reflects the installation of the Emerson, a less-successful competitor to the Schmidt superheater. Baldwin's specs claimed 750 sq ft (69.68 sq m) for the superheater, but the C&EI diagrams from 1911 recorded the 667 sq ft shown above. Baldwin's low steam pressure setting of 165 psi (11.4 bar), probably reflects the then-prevailing view that one of the benefits of superheating was the opportunity to reduce boiler pressure and thus lower maintenance costs. The C&EI soon bumped the value to 175 psi.

Steam pressure was later raised and the tube-flue ratio changed; see Locobase 7174

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Class K-1 - modified (Locobase 13673)

Data from the C&EI 5 - 1949 Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

The original design of the K-1 Pacific (Locobase 7168) showed some tentativeness. Boiler pressure was low, the firebox a bit small, heating surface areas modest. Over time, the C&EI addressed all of those limitations in later designs and the result was much more powerful passenger engines.

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Class K-1a (Locobase 7174)

Data from the C&EI 5 - 1949 Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

The original design of the K-1 Pacific (Locobase 7168) was modified during the World War II years with higher-pressure boilers fitted with Schmidt superheaters and fewer (by four) small tubes. The 25-psi (1.72 bar) increase offset the 1 1/2" (38 mm) decrease in cylinder diameter.

The entire class was sold for scrap in 1949.

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Class K-2 (Locobase 7169)

Data from the C&EI 11 - 1911 Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 40, pp. 206+; and "Pacific Type of Locomotive for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois," Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 24, No 3 (March 1912), pp. 123-124. Works numbers were 37350-37353 in December 1911; 37416-37419 in January 1912.

Now that Baldwin had delivered the first Pacifics to the C&EI (Locobase 7168), the company enlarged the design. The new engines had ten more flues, which allowed an increase in the percentage of superheated heating surface despite the considerable overall growth of the boiler.

The firebox grew and now included 28 sq ft (2.60 sq m) of fire tubes in its heating surface. Piston valves measured 13" (331 mm) in diameter. According to the 1911 specs, the firebox also had a smoke burner consisting of "3 steam jets on each side discharging through 2" tubes ...rolled into firebox side sheet and shell sheet, and bended at both ends."

"Steam and exhaust passages to be of ample size," the spec stated elsewhere, "full throughout their entire length and made with large sweeps avoiding sharp corners wherever possible." Also, "steam ports to be as short as possible."

The class was delivered with tenders carrying 14 tons (12.7 metric tons) of coal, but later increased capacity to the 16 tons shown in the specs.

According to the 1911 Railway Age, these engines came with components manufactured by several suppliers:

Axles :. Steel Steel

Bell ringer Gollmar pneumatic

Boiler lagging Ehret sectional magnesia

Brakes New York air brake

Brake beams Creco

Brake shoes American Brake Shoe & Foundry

Brick arch Security brick type "H"

Couplers Latrobe

Driving boxes cast steel

Headlight Pyle National electric

Injector Simplex

Journal bearings Hewitt bronze

Packing United States

Safety valve Ashton

Sanding devices Leach

Sight-feed lubricators Nathan

Springs Railway Steel-Spring Co.

Staying Tate flexibe staybolts

Steam gages Ashton

Steam heat equipment Gold

Superheater Schmidt

Tires Inter-Ocean

Tubes Charcoal iron

Valve gear Walschaert

Wheel centers cast steel

The railroad later raised the boiler pressure in these locomotives to 200 psi.

Apparently, the C&EI ordered new components in 1934. The 1911 specifications archived later show a note derived from S A Shickendanz 's 22 May 1934 letter requesting that by-pass valves be omitted from the cylinders. (The Baldwin spec volumes often recorded later updates, comments, criticisms. Updating a 23-year-old locomotive's entry suggests an elphantine shop memory.)

1008 was streamlined in 1940 to head up the Dixie Flagler, but this involved only cosmetic additions.

When the C&EI converted to diesel power in the late 1940s-early 1950s, this class was scrapped.

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Class K-2as (Locobase 7175)

Data from the C&EI 5 - 1949 Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. Works numbers were 54307-54308 in November 1911.

Locobase doesn't know if the last two K-2s were delivered with a 180-psi (12.4 bar) boiler pressure like the others, but takes the opportunity offered by a different builder to show the effects of raising the BP to 200 psi.

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Class K-3 (Locobase 7173)

Data from the C&EI 5 - 1949 Locomotive Diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 10 April 2015 email correcting the valve gear ID.) Works numbers were 6321-6326 in January 1923.

After World War I, the C&EI turned to a new builder for its last new passenger engines. In Lima they found an energetic interest in power at speed. This meant large heating surfaces, a generous grate, and a high percentage of superheat area. Piston valves still measured 13" (330 mm) in diameter, but were actuated by a new valve gear. Drivers stood 6" (152 mm) taller and turned in larger journals.