2-10-4 Totally Explained

Everything about 2-10-4 totally explained

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-10-4 locomotive has two leading wheels, ten driving wheels (in other words, five driven axles), and four trailing wheels. These were referred to as the "Texas" type in most of the United States, the "Colorado" type on the Burlington Route and the "Selkirk" type in Canada.
Other equivalent classifications are:
UIC classification: 1E2 (also known as German classification and Italian classification)
French classification: 152
Turkish classification: 58
Swiss classification: 5/8
This locomotive type can either be viewed as a 2-10-2 "Santa Fe" type with an enlarged firebox requiring the larger trailing truck, or a longer 2-8-4 "Berkshire" type requiring extra driving wheels to fit within axle loading limits. Indeed, examples of both of those evolutionary progressions can be found.

Santa Fe 3829

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway took delivery of locomotive 3829 from the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1919, a member of the 3800 class of 2-10-2s fitted with a four wheel trailing truck. Nearly 100 more 3800 class locomotives were delivered after 3829, all with the 2-10-2 wheel arrangement. 3829 was used by the Santa Fe as an experimental locomotive. Photographs exist that show 3829 fitted with at least two different four wheel trailing truck designs through the years. No additional members of the 3800 class have been documented with four wheel trailing trucks and 3829 was scrapped in 1955 with a four wheel trailing truck.

Lima revives the 2-10-4

The 2-10-4 type was revived in 1925 by the Lima Locomotive Works, and this time it was an expansion of the 2-8-4 "Berkshire" type that Lima had pioneered. The four-wheel trailing truck allowed a much larger firebox and thus a greater ability to generate heat (and thus steam) - the Superpower design, as Lima's marketing department called it, meant for a locomotive that could develop great power at speed and not run out of steam-generating ability. A version of the Berkshire with ten driving wheels instead of eight was an obvious development, and the first delivered were to the Texas and Pacific Railway, after which the type was named.

The C&O perfects the type

The early Lima Texas types were low-drivered, 60 through 64 inches (152 through 163 cm) in diameter, which didn't give enough space to fully counterweight the extremely heavy and sturdy side rods and main rods required for such a powerful locomotive's piston thrusts. That changed with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in 1930, who stretched an Erie Railroad high-drivered Berkshire type to produce 40 of the T-1, a Texas with 69 inch (175 cm) drivers that was both powerful and fast, fast enough for the new higher-speed freight services the railroads were introducing. All subsequent Texas types were of this higher-drivered sort.

The Pennsylvania Railroad's "War Babies"

The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) ordered few new locomotives after 1930; electrification both ate up the railroad's resources and provided a supply of excess steam locomotives, soaking up any requirement for new power. It wasn't until World War II had begun that the PRR's locomotive fleet began to look inadequate. The Pennsylvania Railroad urgently needed new, modern freight power. The War Production Board prohibited working on a new design, and in any case there wasn't enough time to trial a prototype. Instead, the PRR cast around for other railroads' designs it might modify for PRR use, settling on the C&O T-1. Some modifications were made for the PRR; the PRR drop-coupler, sheet steel pilot, a PRR style cab, a large PRR tender, a Keystone numberplate up front, and other modifications. It still betrayed its foreign heritage by lacking the PRR trademark Belpaire firebox and by having a booster engine on the trailing truck. 125 locomotives were built between 1942 and 1944, the largest fleet of Texas type locomotives in existence. All were sold for scrap as the Pennsylvania Railroad dieselized.

Santa Fe's express locomotives

The Santa Fe, who had originated the 2-10-4 type, tried again in 1930 with #5000, nicknamed "Madam Queen". This locomotive was very similar to the C&O T-1 described above, with the same 69 in (1.75 m) drivers. It proved the viability of the type on the Santa Fe, but the Great Depression shelved plans to acquire more. In 1938, with the railroad's fortunes improving, the Santa Fe did acquire ten locomotives; these were ordered with 74 in (1.88 m) drivers and 310 lbf/in² (2.1 MPa) boiler pressure, making the Santa Fe 2-10-4s the fastest and most modern of all. Of the original order of ten, five were oil-burning and five coal-burning; when the Santa Fe ordered 25 more for 1944 delivery, all were delivered equipped to burn oil.

Railroads that owned Texas types

2-10-4 North American construction roster>

Railroad (quantity; class name)	Road numbers	Builder	Build year
Santa Fe (37; Texas)	3829	Baldwin	1919
	5000	Baldwin	1930
	5001 – 5010	Baldwin	1938
	5011 – 5035	Baldwin	1944
Bessemer & Lake Erie (47; Texas)	601	Baldwin	1929
	602 – 610	Baldwin	1930
	611 – 620	Baldwin	1936
	621 – 630	ALCO	1937
	631 – 635	Baldwin	1941
	636 – 637	Baldwin	1942
	638 – 642	Baldwin	1943
	643 – 647	Baldwin	1944
Canadian Pacific (37; Selkirk)	5900 – 5919	MLW	1929
	8000	CPR Angus Shops	1931
	5920 – 5929	MLW	1938
	5930 – 5935	MLW	1949
Central Vermont (10; Texas)	700 – 709	ALCO	1928
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (40; Texas)	3000 – 3039	Lima	1930
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (18; Colorado)	6310 – 6321	Baldwin	1927
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (18; Colorado)	6322 – 6327	Baldwin	1929
Chicago Great Western (36; Texas)	850 – 864 880 – 882	Lima	1930
	865 – 897	Baldwin	1930
	883 – 885	Lima	1931
Kansas City Southern (10; Texas)	900 – 909	Lima	1937
Pennsylvania Railroad (125; Texas)	6450 – 6474	PRR Altoona Shops	1942
	6401 – 6434 6475 – 6500	PRR Altoona Shops	1943
	6435 – 6449 6150 – 6174	PRR Altoona Shops	1944
Texas & Pacific (70; Texas)	600 – 609	Lima	1925
	610 – 624	Lima	1927
	625 – 654	Lima	1928
	655 – 669	Lima	1929

18 of the B&LE's 2-10-4 locomotives were sold to the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range. The DMIR kept the "Texas" class name on these locomotives.

Outside North America

Outside North America, the 2-10-4 was rare. The Central Railway of Brazil, however, ordered a narrow gauge (metre gauge) 2-10-4 from Baldwin, which was delivered in 1940. In addition, some 2-10-4 tank locomotives existed in eastern Europe. One bizarre experimental 2-10-4 built in the Soviet Union had an opposed piston drive system.

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