Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Class L1

The L1 class locomotives were a fleet of 29 2-8-2 Mikado type steam locomotives that ran on the Nashville Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway from 1915 until 1950.

History of the class

Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Class L1
Details Builder Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA Dates Built 1915 - 1918 Wheel Arrangement 2-8-2 Mikado Gauge Standard (4 foot 8 1/2 inches) Driving Wheel Diameter 58" inches Cylinder Size 25" x 30" inches Boiler Pressure 200 psi Tractive Effort 54,900 lbs. Weight 136 tons (210 tons with tender) Fuel Capacity 13.50 tons Water Capacity 8,000 gallons Total Built 29 Numbers 600 - 628 Retired 1942 - 1950 Number Preserved None, All Scrapped
V - E - T - D

The L1s were a class of 2-8-2 Mikado type steam locomotives that worked on the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad Company. They were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA from February 1915 - July 1918 with 29 locomotives built, numbered from 600 to 628. They had 58" inch driving wheels, walschaerts valve gear, 200 psi boilers, 25" x 30" inch cylinders, a tractive effort of 54,900 lbs., and weighed in at 136 tons (210 tons with tender). They each had vanderbilt tenders which carried 13.50 tons of coal and 8,000 gallons of water. 

These Mikes were nicknamed "Jitneys" by their crews, the reason for this is still unknown why they were called that. Among the lightest Mikes of their time, these well-balance engines served the main freight drags for years. Their relatively small dimensions included a cylinder volume that was served by 15" (381 mm) piston valves. As delivered, these Mikes had 26.6 sq ft (2.5 sq m) of arch tubes. A later retrofit deleted two of the four tubes and installed 73 sq ft (6.8 sq m) of thermic syphons to arrive at the firebox heating surface area shown in the specifications. The locomotives proved to be the most flexible freight engine on the road, operating as needed into Atlanta, Memphis, Martin, and Paducah. Most of them later recieved stokers and the Worthington BL or 4S feedwater heater.

No. 616 was selected in 1918 for an experimental duplex design by placing a 2-8-0 wheelset under the tender, this gave the locomotive enough of a boost to have a grand total of 81,000 lbs of tractive effort and a total weight of 452,580 lbs. The test was conducted at a 95 mile stretch between Nashville, and Hallow Rock Junction. Unfortunately the boiler did not have sufficient steaming capacity to supply the engine with steam, it was virtually impossible to maintain the working pressure under a constant load of coal. On top of that, the engine suffered a severe loss of tractive effort whenever it ran above five to ten miles per hour. Naturally this proved the duplex design to be a failure and No. 616 was returned to its conventional mikado form. Some of these engines were fitted with Elesco Feedwater Heaters.

In later years, the class would work as helpers and west of Nashville. They were a common sight around Cowan, Tennessee. After the second world war when all of the Dixie Line's mallets were retired, these locomotives became the standard helpers on the Cumberland Mountain Grades and also handled trains of coal and empty hoppers between Cowan and Tracy City. The L1s were rated at only 514 tons uphill to Sewanee, but could handle 1,750 tons of loaded cars from Tracy City down to Cowan. On the Sparta Branch, these locomotives were rated at 1,700 tons out of Sparta, increasing to 2,000 at Doyle, 2,100 from McMinnville at 909 ft, and finally 2,400 tons down from the 1,114 elevation for the remaining 19 miles into Tullahoma.

Southboard ratings ranging from 1,950 tons from Tullahoma and diminishing to 1,800 tons into Sparta were of small importance due to traffic of empty coal cars. Maximum grades of about 1.60% were encountered in either direction between Quebeck and the assembly yard at Sparta. However, the Consolidations handling mine runs from East Sparta to Bon Air carried empty trains up nearly 3 miles of a 3% grade to Price at 1,174 feet, and worst of all, they, had to brake the heavy cars of coal down the steep slope. But as impressive as they looked, they couldn't outlast time and modernization. The first locomotives, #605 - 607 were retired from service from March - October 1942, but retirements were postponed due to World War 2. In June 1945, retirements began with #618 and after that, they began dropping like flies and by January 1950, only engines #611 and #620 were left in service. These two would later retire on May 15, 1950. Sadly, none of these engines were preserved.

Batches

These are the serial numbers of the engines and when they rolled out of Baldwin.

• Locomotives #600 - 604 in February 1915 (serial numbers 41904 - 41908)
• Locomotives #605 - 609 in March 1915 (serial numbers 41928 - 41932).
• Locomotives #610 - 614 in October 1915 (serial numbers 42607 - 42611).
• Locomotives #615 - 618 in January 1916 (serial numbers 42826 - 42829).
• Locomotives #619 - 620 in April 1918 (serial numbers 48223 - 48224).
• Locomotives #621 - 624 in May 1918 (serial numbers 48574 - 48575, 48735, and 48779).
• Locomotives #625 - 627 in June 1918 (serial numbers  48903, 48953, and 49084).
• Locomotive #628 in July 1918 (serial number 49234).

Stock List

Number	Built	Serial Number	Retired	Other Notes
600	February 1915	41904	October 1948
601	February 1915	41905	August 1948
602	February 1915	41906	February 17th, 1947
603	February 1915	41907	February 17th, 1947
604	February 1915	41908	October 22nd, 1946
605	March 1915	41928	October 14th, 1942
606	March 1915	41929	March 15th, 1942	First of the class to be retired from active duty
607	March 1915	41930	April 22nd, 1942
608	March 1915	41931	October 1948
609	March 1915	41931	September 20th, 1947
610	October 1915	42607	October 1948
611	October 1915	42608	May 15th, 1950	One of the last two engines in service
612	October 1915	42609	August 1948
613	October 1915	42610	October 1948
614	October 1915	42611	September 20th, 1947
615	January 1916	42626	August 1948
616	January 1916	42627	January 20th, 1948	Fitted with experimental 2-8-0 tractor tender in 1918. Later converted back to conventional engine.
617	January 1916	42828	August 1948
618	January 1916	42829	June 30th, 1945
619	April 1918	48223	June 18th, 1949
620	April 1918	48224	May 15th, 1950	One of the last two engines in service
621	May 1918	48574	October 22nd, 1946
622	May 1918	48575	October 1948
623	May 1918	48735	September 20th, 1947
624	May 1918	48736	June 8th, 1949
625	June 1918	48903	November 17th, 1948
626	June 1918	48953	February 17th, 1947
627	June 1918	49084	September 20th, 1947
628	July 1918	49234	February 17th, 1947

Gallery

Locomotives #623 and #617 coming down after helping a train up Cowan Hill, west of Chattanooga.

#623 helping J3 class 4-8-4 #587 with an express passenger train.

Locomotive #608 (Built in 1915)]]

#618 with an 1870 4-4-0]]

#621 with a troop train during World War 1.

#616 during her "Experimental" phase.

#611 and #623 pushing a train up the Cumberland Mountain after leaving Cowan, Tennessee in March 1946.

#608 after being built by Baldwin in 1915. This is what the class looked like when they were new.

NC&StL L1 diagrams

#617 in Nashville in 1924