Final 4-4-0's?, C&IM (Chicago and Illinois Midland) #500-501

The three C&IM 4-4-0's were built in 1927 and 1928.  They were the last 4-4-0's built and purpose built for the railroad.  The were used for Springfield-Peoria passenger service, which ran until 1953. 

I don't think you'll find many 4-4-0's built after 1900.  By then the 4-4-0 was considered obsolete as trains grew larger.

C&IM had 6 steel passenger cars, which bore a striking resemblance to Interurban cars, mainly because Sam Insull owned the C&IM at the time.

Rusty

The 1941 Locomotive Cyclopedia (which, oddly, does not cite years of erection for pictured locos), only lists two...#500,501, but.....?  I thought maybe they might have been built more recently than the 1920's,  and wondered if many 4-4-0's, if any, were built for U.S. roads, possibly a few to several years before they were.  They  appeal to me as something a branch or short line with a small budget, but a regular scheduled passenger run might use as power (this is appaently exactly their role, but I wondered if there were others in that time frame, on large or small roads).  I have always pictured the C&IM, the Chicago and Eastern Illinois, the GM&O, and the Illinois Central, with peddlar freights working grain elevators on the Ill. prairie, and wondered how their tracks ran, to where, and how they served different and distinct cities, as "fingers" south out of Chicago.   Peoria to Springfield is a north and south route, but, as some railroads never reached their name cities,  I ASSUME  the C&IM did run out of Chicago.  The C&EI is another you hear little about.

While it's primary purpose was to supply coal to Chicago Edison's (later Commonwealth Edison) power plants, the C&IM didn't run to Chicago.  Peoria was the northern end of the railroad.

Rusty

The Chicago & Illinois Midland never reached Chicago.  It had great aspirations to link Chicago & St. Louisbut never came close.Its main line was from Taylorville to Pekin via Springfield and Havana.  It's primary task was to haul  Commonwealth Edison coal for transhipment by barge.

The Missouri Kansas Texas (MKT) had a beautiful fleet of 4-4-0s that  pulled local trains in central and western Oklahoma all the way up to late 1940s or early 1950s.

lewrail

Wow... C&IM was more of a short line than I had imagined, and not located where I thought, either. Having heard something about it, I thought it had a longer route than that. Now I wonder about the C&EI. My suspicions about unreached cities was true, though.

I found the newest surviving and running standard gauge 4-4-0 , built in 1909, runs today in Delaware.  Searching that I noticed Wikipedia had a wheel arrangement for an 0-3-0...apparently NOT a French arrangement, for the same listing included 0-6-0's, and besides Garratt and Mallet articulateds, something called an Enchard? (spelled wrong) articulated, with those in a variety of wheel arrangements in a separate listing.  What is that?  (I wanta see an 0-3-0!)  (maybe just for circular track, one wheel inside, two out?

Those MKT 4-4-0's sound interesting...Wonder where pictures can be seen...probably no prototype survives?

colorado hirailer posted:

Those MKT 4-4-0's sound interesting...Wonder where pictures can be seen...probably no prototype survives?

 

 

The St. Louis Museum of Transport has the only surviving MKT 4-4-0.

http://trains.nute.ws/4-4-0/MKT311.htm

Rusty

I found a good photo of the MKT (Katy) 4-4-0 on the MKT historical site, and mention there of Frisco's locos.  Looks like the prairie roads, C&IM, MKT, and Frisco were last stands for this wheel arrangement.  Probably not the only ones, as short lines were likely using a few.  If those were Elescos on the Frisco's...well, I will look those up.  I don't have much interest in passenger engines, but these hangers-on were different.  Dunno what exists in three rail I could kitbash into one of these......

Kelly Anderson posted:

There was a good thread on this subject on http://www.rypn.org/forums/vie....php?f=1&t=38638 a few months back.  Frisco had two downright beautiful rebuilt 4-4-0's with front end throttles, feed water heaters, and Walschaert valve gear.

Can't find a photo of those particular rebuilds, but Frisco did have some pretty 4-4-0's.

And getting back to the original subject, the C&IM 4-4-0's were just as pretty.

Rusty

With the number "502" emblazoned on the side, in Rusty's posted photo above, there WERE at least three of these C&IM "Americans", and the 1941 Loco. Cyclopedia apparently omitted one.  With their center smokebox headlights, I now like the MKT and Frisco versions better, in appearance.

They actually look a LOT like the Espee's 3000 class 4-4-2's, except being 4-4-0's instead. Wonder if it was a standard design from Baldwin or someone?

I have a beautiful HO brass  Hallmark Frisco 4-4-0 nicely painted and lettered. So you can see that if you wait long enough someone will make what you are looking for.  BTW I could be convinced to sell it for the right offer.    Odd-d

A fair number of 4-4-0's lasted into the 1930's, for branchline service. Many were re-boilered which extended their service lives. Long-lived 4-4-0's in service in the '30's were found on the Southern Pacific/Texas & New Orleans, Soo Line, Canadian Pacific, Chicago & Illinois Midland, Chicago StPaul Minneapolis & Omaha  (Omaha Road), Missouri-Kansas-Texas (Katy), St Louis-SanFrancisco (Frisco), Chicago Milwaukee StPaul & Pacific (Milwaukee Road), Illinois Terminal, Missouri-Illinois ("Mike 'n Ike"), Northern Pacific, Great Northern,  Pennsylvania, and Kansas City Southern. Almost all were retired by the outbreak of WW II, as worn out/obsolete and good candidates for war-inspired scrap drives.

4-4-0's that survived beyond WWII into the early '50's included those of C&IM, Katy, SP/T&NO and Canadian Pacific. Most were retired in the early '50's. The Canadian Pacific was the last North American railroad to use 4-4-0's, employing #'s 29, 136 and 144 on it's Chipman-Norton, NB branchline into early 1960. So........4-4-0's were amoung the last steam locomotives still in regular service at the end of steam!!