Chesapeake & Ohio No. 1642 was a class H-8 2-6-6-6 "Allegheny" type steam locomotive built in 1944 by the Lima Locomotive Works for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.
History[]
Construction[]
Chesapeake and Ohio No. 1642 was constructed in 1944 by the Lima Locomotive Works for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway as a member of the Class H-8 "Allegheny" designed for heavy coal trains.
Accident[]
On June 9, 1953, No. 1642 suffered a crown sheet failure and a catastrophic boiler explosion due to a prolonged low water condition at Hinton, West Virginia. The crew members were killed, the locomotive was not rebuilt, as the class was undergoing retirement by then and it was sadly scrapped.
Surviving Sisters[]
Although No. 1642 was gone, two other examples of the Class H-8 have been preserved, those being Nos. 1601 and 1604, with 1601 on static display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and No. 1604 on static display at Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.