Class 300 / M-4 (Locobase 13920)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 41, p. 164 and Vol 62, pp. 61+. See Locobase 10016 for more on this West Virginia short line. (Thanks to Stephen Low for his 7 May 2019 email noting an error in the number of locomotives.) Works numbers were 35262 in September 1910, 37530 in February 1912, and 47487 in December 1917.

Glen Jean residents may have remembered the 2-6-2s that pulled their trains (Locobase 10016), but it was this trio of Mikados that hauled most of the freight. The 302's firebox had 10 sq ft (0.9 sq m) more heating surface area.

Months after the KGJ&E was absorbed by the Chesapeake & Ohio in October 1940, the new owners retired the 300 in July 1941. Five months earlier, they had found a more appropriate home for the 301 on the Kelleys Creek & North Western of Ward, W Va. Connelly is not certain that the 301 later went to the Buffalo Creek & Gauley. Cut loose from the C & O in June 1941, 302 passed through the rosters of two locomotive rebuilders/resellers in a row (first Georgia Car & Locomotive, then Birmingham Rail & Locomotive) before winding up on Aberdeen & Rockfish as their 50. Its sale on 7 December 1941 was overshadowed by the Imperial Japanese Navy's attack on Pearl Harbor.

Class K-1 (Locobase 480)

Data from C&O Locomotive Diagram book from 1936 (supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also "Mikado Locomotives of Great Power," American Engineer, Volume 86, No 3 (March 1912), pp. 128-131. Philip Shuster, Eugene Huddleston, and Alvin Staufer; C&O Power (Alvin Staufer, 1965), p 59. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 28 February 2018 email correcting the valve gear ID, pointing out the tender capacities and weights, and providing a link to the American Engineer article.) Works numbers were 50471 in November 1911, 51269-51276 in May 1912; 51277-51292 in June, 52000-52012 in November, 52013-52024 in December, 54665-54670 in July 1914.

Cylinder horsepower was 2,727 and steam was admitted through capacious 16" (406 mm) diameter piston valves feeding oversquare (bore greater than stroke) cylinders. The first 25 were delivered with the Security brick arch and Street automatic stoker. The March 1912 AE described these K-1s as "outside some boiler changes ...essentially the Mountain type, with a two-wheel truck substituted for the four wheel one." The boiler changes included a reduction in the combustion chamber's length. Eugene L Huddleston, writing in the November 2000 issue of the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Magazine ("C&O's J-1 & K-1") agrees with Phil Shuster that the K-1 was essentially the J-1 4-8-2 (Locobase 198) with 56" [later 57"] drivers.

The original requirement demanded that these engines be able to handle 4,000 tons up a 0.3% grade at 15 mph [24 kph]. Instead, say the C&O Power authors, The March 1912 AE report summarized the goal: "To deliver a drawbar pull of over 27,000 lb at 33 mile per hour ...requires a locomotive built on a thoroughly balanced design. It must not only have a large boiler, but one of large capacity--terms which are not always synonomous--and must carry a well adjusted balance between boiler output and engine demand, and must also included capacity increasing devices capable of doing their full duty."

K-1s easily moved almost 6,000 tons over a "rolling profile"at 20-30 mph (32-48 kph). The authors deride the K-1 appearance, remarking that they "reflected the ungainly, awkward look typical of C&O locomotives in the pre-World War I era." The cab was too big ("hotel sized") and was later replaced by a smaller one that balanced the profile. The original tender later was replaced by a much larger tender weighing 193,700 lb (87,861 kg) that held 10,000 US gallons (37,850 litres) of water and 19 tons (17.3 metric tons) of coal

Although later supplanted in mainline freight service by the 1920s K-2 and K-3 designs (Locobases 481-482), these first-generation engines were kept in service into the early 1950s and were retired in 1952.

Class K-2 (Locobase 481)

Data from Philip Shuster, Eugene Huddleston, and Alvin Staufer; C&O Power (Alvin Staufer, 1965), pp. 59-60 and 1936 C&O Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. Works numbers were 65880-65929 in October-December 1924.

The C&O Power authors tell us that the K-2s and K-3s (Locobase 482) were, "for nearly 20 years" the "mainstay of C&O gradient power." Their design stemmed from a realization that the 1911 K-1 Mikes (Locobase 480) were "technologically outdated" in their cylinder volume, boiler pressure, and driver diameter. The K-2s shown here were delivered with trailing truck boosters, shorter strokes; the authors note that these "light" Mikados actually outweighed the K-3 Heavies by several thousand pounds. Both classes used the same superheater layouts and both used 14" (356 mm) piston valves versus the 16" valve installed in the K-1s.

Cylinder horsepower calculated to be 2,824. Elesco or Worthington feedwater heaters and starting boosters.

All remained in service until dieselization in 1952.

Class K-3, K-3a (Locobase 482)

Data from C&O 9 - 1936 supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange, See also S Kip Farrington, Jr, Railroading Coast to Coast (New York: Bonanza Books, 1976), p. 124. Works numbers were 65830-65878 in August (probably) 1924.

66468-66491 in January 1926, 66492-66505 in February, and 66506-66517 in March.

As noted in Locobase 481, the K-2s (481) and K-3s (this entry) were very successful in updating the Mikado design to reflect the widespread adoption of 6" (152 mm) taller drivers, larger grates, higher boiler pressure, and larger boilers. K-2s were "light" and had trailing truck boosters. These K-3s were "heavies" (although actually weighing less than the K-2s), had longer strokes that raised cylinder volume, and larger boilers. Both classes used the same superheater layouts and 14" (356 mm) piston valves.

Boiler had feedwater heater (Elesco K-40 in K-3, Elesco or Worthington in K-3a). The firebox featured only 36 sq ft (3.44 sq m) arch tubes to supplement the heating surface area. 14" (356 mm) piston valves supplied steam to the cylinders.

Little difference between the two classes. K-3 (1210-1259, 1924) put a little less weight on the drivers (271,500 vs 274,500), but had a larger tender (376,340 vs 300,000 lb); K-3a (2300-2349, 1925-1926) tender capacity was 16,000 gal water, 20 tons of coal.

S Kip Farrington regarded these as "the finest 2-8-2 type he has ever ridden." All remained in service until dieselization in 1952.

Class M1 (Locobase 8394)

Data from Hocking Valley 9 - 1924 supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. Works numbers were 51734-51738 in November 1911; 54298-54303 in October 1913.

Similar to the Chesapeake & Ohio K-1s (see Locobase 480), this 11-locomotive set was delivered in two batches. The first five came in 1912, the rest in 1913. Like the K-1s, the HV Mikes had large-bore, 16" (406 mm) piston valves. The M-1s operated at 170 psi (vs the K-1 setting of 185 psi). Otherwise, the two classes shared many attributes including identical tube/flue layouts and "oversquare" cylinders in which the diameter was greater than a relatively short stroke.

When the Hocking Valley was taken over by the C & O, these became K-class engines.