Chesapeake & Ohio No. 1604 is an H-8 class 2-6-6-6 "Allegheny" type articulated steam locomotive built by the Lima Locomotive Works of Lima, OH in December 1941 for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O). It was used by the C&O to haul coal trains over the Allegheny Mountains until it was officially retired from service in 1956. After its retirement, it was initially moved to the C&O's scrap lines behind their diesel locomotive shops in Russell, KY and scheduled to be scrapped, but it was then donated around 1969 to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA.
In 1985, it was partially damaged by a flood, but the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) had paid for a cosmetic restoration later on in 1987 to get the locomotive looking right again. Shortly after that, it was moved to Baltimore, MD to be displayed at a shopping center adjacent to the B&O Railroad Museum. Finally, in 1989, it was donated to the B&O Railroad Museum where it currently resides today on indoor static display. It is one of only two C&O Alleghenies surviving in preservation, the other one being No. 1601, which is on indoor static display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI.
Gallery[]
