Great Northern Class L-1

The Great Northern Railway L-1s were an early fleet of 2-6-6-2 Mallet Compound locomotives built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1906 and 1908 for freight services and helpers on steep Mountain Grades.

GN L-1 #1919 at Skykomish, WA. with Freight, c. 1914

Great Northern Class L-1
Railway(s)	Great Northern Railway
Status	All Rebuilt to Mikado's, later all Scrapped.
Technical specifications
Type	2-6-6-2 "Mogul-Mallet"
Manufacturer(s)	Baldwin Locomotive Works (Burnham, Williams & Co.)
Build date	1906 and 1908
Rebuilder	GN Ry's Hillyard and Delta Shops.
Rebuilt	1925 to 1926
Total produced	Twenty-Five
Total rebuilt	Twenty-Three
Classification	L-1 O-6 (Post 1920's Rebuilds)
Wheel arrangement	2-6-6-2
Dia. of Drivers	55"
Weight	503,000 Lbs. (Both engine and tender together First Batch) 514,850 Lbs. (Both engine and tender together Second Batch)
Rail gauge	4 Feet 8 1/2 Inches (Standard gauge)
Valve gear	Walschaerts
Cylinders	Two 33" x 32" Low-Press. and Two 21 1/2" x 32" High-Press. Cylinders Rear cylinders changed to 24" x 32".
Boiler type	Belpaire
Boiler pressure	200 Lbs. PSI.
Superheater	None (Two received Schmidt Superheaters)
Firegrate area	78 Sq ft.
Fuel type	Coal
Fuel capacity	13 Tons of Coal and 8,000 Gallons of Water.
Braking	Westinghouse
Performance figures
Maximum speed	About 12 to 20 Miles per hour estimated.
Tractive effort	69,900 Lbs. TE. (Overall) 74,525 Lbs. (Conversions)
Axle load	52,667 Lbs. (Maximum)
Service information
Entered service	First batch: August to September 1906. Second batch: April to May 1908.
Operator(s)	Great Northern Railway Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railway
Running numbers	GN Ry. #1800 to #1804 (Later #1900 to #1904) GN Ry. #1905 to #1924 (Last three renumbered to #1905 to #1907)
Nickname(s)	"Mountain Engines" (Early Years)
Disposition details
Withdrawn	1925 to 1926 (As Mallets)
Retired	March 1947 to March 1958 (As Mikado's)
Preserved	None.
Number scrapped	Last O-6 units Scrapped in 1963.

Early History and Design Stats

After the great success unveiling of America's first articulated steam locomotive, "Old Maude" of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad after 1904, the Great Northern Railway became interested in Mallet Compound Locomotives. In 1905 the GN Ry. used older F class 2-8-0s and G class 4-8-0s for they're heavy freight services on the mountains, sometimes as pushers. But even with these large of engines, the GN was looking for something more powerful for they're Glacier Divisions out West near Montana. In early 1906 the Railway Officials turned to its most trusted builder, the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, PA. for a much larger locomotive that would be twice the power. The GN asked for a locomotive that matched up to the performance similarly of Old Maude, but with a two-wheel lead and trailing trucks on both sides between the two sets of drivers for more flexible operation around the mountain's curves. So with designing a locomotive based on the GN's Belpaire Firebox with larger pistons and slightly heavier than the earlier Mallet locomotive, the 2-6-6-2 was born. The first five locomotives #1800-#1804 were delivered from the Philadelphia plant by September 1906 as they were the first Mallets on the Great Northern Railway as well as the first Articulated type Steam Locomotives to enter service on the Company's mainlines. The GN Ry. originally used these five Mallets as helpers on the Cascade Mountains pushing heavy freights up the steep grades and were found to be very successful, even with the help of their leading and trailing wheels around the curves and the engine's weight that the railroad

ordered twenty more in the spring of 1908 (Numbers #1905-1924, by the arrival of the twenty locomotives (Three rejected) the first five were renumbered to #1900-1905 by January 1908. All twenty-five built had the same specifications, a large Belpaire boiler that had more heating space than the B&O engine, Two Low-Pressure cylinders of 33" x 32", and Two High-Pressure cylinders of 21 1/2" x 32" driven by a pressure of 200 Lbs. PSI. delivering an impressive 69,900 Lbs. of tractive effort at the time. All engines were hand-fired with coal in their small eight-wheel tenders as some were fit with curved pipes on top of their stacks for tunnel use to direct the Smoke more straight over the cab than preventing the Smoke from hitting the tunnel and coming back down onto the Cab. However, three engines, the first #1905-1907 were instead delivered to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Ry. as the seventeen 1908-built locomotives were used in prime heavy freight service in that region near Chicago, IL.

Rare Early Postcard Information

In 2023, a Railfan picked up a vintage postcard (Date possibly late 1900s of early 1910s) on Ebay as it had rare Steam Locomotive information of the engine #1907's performance written in pencil. It indicates that "This engine is 75 feet 6 in. in length, wt. 135 tons. Will haul 125 loaded cars, 14 miles per hour. Length of cars 40 feet, wgh 37,000 lbs. load 80,000 lbs. Train of 9,625 tons. Height 14 feet, has 4 cylinders, 6 drive wheels on each side. Burns 17 tons coal per 100 miles." It was also revealed that the L-1s were also called "Mountain Engines" as they were used on the Steep grades of the Cascades.

Later Years and Fate

Used extensively for their services as intended, they were placed aside as the GN had new fleets of Articulated Steam Power in the early 1910s with the M-1 Class 2-6-8-0s and the N-1 class 2-8-8-0s arriving by 1912 which were more powerful than the L-1s as they became used more for secondary freight services and pushers. In 1915, the Great Northern Railway rebuilt two of the units, numbers #1902 and #1921 with Schmidt Superheaters and reducing the Rear cylinders from 21 1/2" to 24" bore. These two refit locomotives put out an Impressive 74,525 Lbs. of Tractive effort. As the Class soldiered on well through World War I, they were well-used as three locomotives, despite the class of Twenty-two locomotives present on the roster during the early 1920s, they were less than 20 years old but fell obsolete to the M-1 and N-1 Class Locomotives and other faster steam engines such as the O class 2-8-2s which were already the main backbone of the GN's massive engine roster. With the GN Ry. interested in the Mikado's and larger Articulated engines, there was no more use for them, but instead of scrapping the class the Railway decided to rebuild all the remaining L-1s into a new class of O-6 type 2-8-2 Steam Locomotives using their boilers and Dismantled parts. Rebuilds began in Early 1925 with the last conversions of the O-6s completed by the End of 1926 as newly Refined Mikes. Numbered as GN Ry. #3350-#3371 (21 locomotives). After the 1930's, most if not all the O-6's were converted to Oil-Firing, the preferred Firing method by the GN Ry, all of the other 2-6-6-2s were converted and the Railway used the O-6s until the late steam era with the first Scrapping's in 1947 with the last unit cut up in 1963. None were preserved Unfortunately.

Stock List

(Newly Updated)

Numbers	Builder	Serial	Build Date	Notes	Retired and Scrapped
#1800 (Renumbered #1900 in 12/1907)	Baldwin	28601	July 1906	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops in August 1925, Rebuilt as GN O-6 #3357, Conversion completed December 22nd, 1925.	March 1949.
#1801 (Renumbered #1901 in 1/1908.)	Baldwin	28641	July 1906	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops in May 1925, Rebuilt as GN O-6 #3354. Conversion completed November 7th, 1925.	Retired December 1957, Scrapped 1963.
#1802 (Renumbered #1902 in 1/1908.)	Baldwin	28739	August 1906	Dismantled at Delta Shops in October 1925, Rebuilt as GN O-6 #3359. Conversion completed April 13th, 1926.	December 1954.
#1803 (Renumbered #1903 in 12/1907.)	Baldwin	28854	August 1906	Dismantled at Delta Shops between August and September 1925, Rebuilt as GN O-6 #3358. Conversion completed January 29th, 1926.	December 1954.
#1804 (Renumbered #1904 in 1/1908.)	Baldwin	28933	August 1906	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops in December 1925, Rebuilt as GN O-6 #3362. Conversion completed June 26th, 1926.	April 1956.
#1905	Baldwin	32722	March 1908	Delivered to CB&Q as their #4000, T-1.	Unknown.
#1906	Baldwin	32723	March 1908	Delivered to CB&Q as their #4001, T-1.	June 1927.
#1907	Baldwin	32724	March 1908	Delivered to CB&Q as their #4002, T-1, eventually Rebuilt as CB&Q F-2 Class 0-8-0.	December 1948.
#1908	Baldwin	32725	March 1908	Dismantled at Delta Shops in June 1925, Rebuilt as GN O-6 #3356. Conversion completed November 21st, 1925.	October 1955.
#1909	Baldwin	32732	March 1908	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops between June and July 1926, Rebuilt as GN O-6 #3370. Conversion completed November 23rd, 1926.	Retired March 1958, Scrapped 1963.
#1910	Baldwin	32734	March 1908	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops early 1925, Rebuilt as GN O-6 #3350. Conversion completed August 25th, 1925.	December 1954.
#1911	Baldwin	32735	March 1908	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops in July 1925, Rebuilt as GN O-6 #3355. Conversion completed November 23rd, 1925.	December 1954.
#1912	Baldwin	32740	March 1908	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops in January 1926, Rebuilt as GN O-6 #3364. Conversion completed July 28th, 1926.	Retired March 1958, Scrapped 1963.
#1913	Baldwin	32741	March 1908	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops early 1925, Rebuilt as GN O-6 #3351. Conversion completed September 14th, 1925.	August 1955.
#1914	Baldwin	32742	March 1908	Dismantled at Delta Shops between April to May 1926, Rebuilt as O-6 #3368. Conversion completed September 15th, 1926.	April 1953.
#1915	Baldwin	32743	March 1908	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops between April to May 1926, Rebuilt as O-6 #3367. Conversion completed October 26th, 1926.	December 1954.
#1916	Baldwin	32746	March 1908	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops November 1925, Rebuilt as O-6 #3361. Conversion completed May 1st, 1926.	Retired March 1958, Scrapped 1963.
#1917	Baldwin	32747	March 1908	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops February 1926, Rebuilt as O-6 #3365. Conversion completed August 31st, 1926.	Boiler exploded at Shelby, MT roundhouse, was never Repaired Scrapped March 1947.
#1918	Baldwin	32748	March 1908	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops October 1925, Rebuilt as O-6 #3360. Conversion completed February 26th, 1926.	April 1953.
#1919	Baldwin	32749	March 1908	Dismantled at Delta Shops early 1925, Rebuilt as O-6 #3352. Conversion completed August 29th, 1925.	December 1954.
#1920	Baldwin	32755	April 1908	Dismantled at Delta Shops in March 1925, Rebuilt as O-6 #3353. Conversion completed September 29th, 1925.	December 1954.
#1921	Baldwin	32758	April 1908	Dismantled at Hillyard Shops between August to September 1926, Rebuilt as O-6 #3371. Conversion completed December 21st, 1926.	April 1947.
#1922 (Renumbered as #1905 6/1908.)	Baldwin	32759	April 1908	Dismantled at Delta Shops between May to June 1926, Rebuilt as O-6 #3369. Conversion completed October 29th, 1926.	October 1955.
#1923 (Renumbered as #1906 6/1908.)	Baldwin	32760	April 1908	Dismantled at Delta Shops between November 1925 and January 1926, Rebuilt as O-6 #3363. Conversion completed May 29th, 1926.	December 1954.
#1924 (Renumbered as #1907 6/1908.)	Baldwin	32761	April 1908	Dismantled at Delta Shops between February and March 1926, Rebuilt as O-6 #3366. Conversion completed July 31st, 1926.	April 1955.