GN Steam to Portland Classic Trains Magazine Railroad History

2 8 4 Locomotive. 442 "Atlantic" Designed For HighSpeed Service In the spring of 1925, the Berkshire Hills on the Boston and Albany railroad resounded with the roar of a new concept in locomotive design - the first "Super-Power" 2-8-4 Under the Whyte notation, a 2-8-4 is a steam locomotive that has two unpowered leading wheels, followed by eight coupled and powered driving wheels, and four trailing wheels.This locomotive type is most often referred to as a Berkshire, though the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway used the name Kanawha for their 2-8-4s

C&O
C&O's 284 "Kanawha" (Class K) from www.american-rails.com

The 3/8" (9.5 mm) diameter hole provided air and the perforated plates rocked "both ways" with a 4 1/2" (114.5 mm) opening The Northern Pacific Railway was the first railroad to order a 2-8-8-4

C&O's 284 "Kanawha" (Class K)

In several test runs over a division of the railroad that crossed the Berkshire Hills, the demonstration locomotive, which carried road. The 3/8" (9.5 mm) diameter hole provided air and the perforated plates rocked "both ways" with a 4 1/2" (114.5 mm) opening The B&A subsequently ordered 55 copies and the 2-8-4 got a name - Berkshire

484 "Northern" Steam Top Speed, Horsepower. In Europe, this wheel arrangement was mostly seen in mainline passenger express. Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-8-8-8-4 has two leading wheels, three sets of eight driving wheels, and four trailing wheels.

Pere Marquette 284 Steam No.1225 Train Festival 2009. Surviving Examples of 2-8-8-4 "Yellowstone" Locomotives in the USA Their reliability and efficiency led to adoption by an impressive array of nineteen different railroads, with the Erie Railroad holding the record for.