The Great Northern C-1 class 0-8-0 switching type Steam Locomotives were a fleet of standard heavy switchers built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the GN Ry. during World War I.

GN #818 in a 1940s-1950s photo, it was built in July 1918 by Baldwin and Retired in March 1958. The unit was scrapped four years later.
History and Design[]
During late World War I the Great Northern Railway developed they're heaviest design of any Steam Switcher they owned, the C-1 class. 40 Locomotives were constructed by the Baldwin Locomotive Works during Mid 1918-Early 1919 as a Coal burners. Numbered from #810-#849 they served the GN for many years at various Rail yards. They were built with 26" x 28" cylinders, four pairs of 55" Drivers and 200 Lbs. PSI (Later 210 Lbs.), and 58,500 Lbs. of tractive effort. They also were fit with Belpaire Fireboxes, which was most referred to as those on the Pennsylvania Railroad. In the C1's mid years of service they were painted the GN's glacier park green on their boilers and cylinders. By the 1930s many of them were converted to Oil firing for easier firing and changed only very little in appearance as they got older. Several and quite a few locations used them, such as Superior, WI. and in Minnesota. The GN Crews really liked them for their size and replaced the smaller A Class 0-6-0s as being the main principal switcher for more than 30 years. All 40 units remained active throughout World War II and in 1947, the GN started repainting them black keeping their red roofs, although some retained the original glacier green. They remained the road's primary Switchers until the mid 1950s when they started being replaced by Diesels. The last of these units steamed in the Autumn of 1957 when Steam was put in the deadline later that year, a chunk of them remained on the sidings as Stand-by locomotives as all retirements were completed by May 1958. Scrapping's began in the late 1950s, and they were all gone with the last broken up in 1963. None were preserved.
Trivia[]
- The C-1 class locomotives were the only 0-8-0s built new for the GN as the railroad itself built its own 0-8-0s out of older 2-8-0 Consolidations.
- In 1947, many of the C1s received Aluminum-colored painted lettering and numbering with "Great Northern Railway" Goat heralds painted on both sides of the tender.