Reading Railroad 4-4-4. This is its official company portrait, taken just after construction, and published in company publicity of the time, 1915. Click to enlarge.
(Reading Railroad, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
4-4-4 READING, JUBILEE
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-4-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles. In the United States, this arrangement was named the Reading type, since the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad was the first to use it. In Canada, this type is known as the Jubilee.
Other equivalent classifications are:
UIC classification: 2B2 (also known as German classification and Italian classification)
French classification: 222
Turkish classification: 26
Swiss classification: 2/6
Schematic of 4-4-4 steam locomotive wheel arrangement. Front of locomotive on left. Click to enlarge.
(By Gwernol - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3377226)
Usage
Reading Railroad
The Philadelphia and Reading Railway built four C1a Class locomotives in 1915. They proved to be quite unstable; after that year, they were rebuilt to 4-4-2 "Atlantic" locomotives.
The B&O's Lady Baltimore.
(Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, W. Lenheim Collection)
Lady Baltimore
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad created a single 4-4-4 in 1934, rebuilding a 4-4-2 "Atlantic" into a solitary class J-1, named Lady Baltimore. Along with the single class V-2 4-6-4 Lord Baltimore, it was built for new lightweight passenger trains, in the Lady Baltimore's case the Abraham Lincoln on the Chicago and Alton Railroad, a wholly owned subsidiary of the B&O. Despite the Alton's flat territory and straight track, the locomotive did not do well. It was returned to the B&O and was again modified at the railroad's Mount Clare shops, a less streamlined cab and front end being fitted. Subsequently, it was placed into local service on the railroad's Wheeling Division, mostly operating between Holloway and Cleveland, Ohio. It proved no more successful in that service, and was sent to the B&O's Riverside Shop for storage; it was scrapped in 1949.
Canadian Pacific 2912, a 4-4-4 Jubilee-type locomotive at Winnipeg, MB, May 2, 1953. Photo by Bob Collins. (Audio-Visual Designs, Earlton, NY, Public domain, W. Lenheim Collection)
Front view of CP 2928 Jubilee class F1a 4-4-4 at Exporail, Delson, QC, June 2003. (petersent, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Canadian Pacific
The Canadian Pacific Railway built two classes of 4-4-4 "Jubilee" locomotives. Both were semi-streamlined, in a similar fashion to the 4-6-4 "Royal Hudson" and 2-10-4 "Selkirk" locomotives. The F2a was styled after the Milwaukee Road "Hiawatha" 4-4-2 "Atlantic", but with a four-wheel trailing truck to support a longer firebox.
Class F2a consisted of five locomotives, Nos. 3000-3004. They can be most easily distinguished from the other type through the main rods being connected to the leading pair of drivers. Some trouble was discovered with this arrangement, as they had a tendency to bend the main rods in reverse. However, they did hold the Canadian record for speed, at 112.5 mph, during a braking test. The pilot was smoothly rounded and streamlined, with two stainless-steel bands. None of this group survive.
Class F1a consisted of twenty locomotives, Nos. 2910-2929. These had the main rods connected to the trailing set of drivers, and a more regular pilot, with a straight pilot beam, a drop-coupler sheet steel pilot below that, and a more regular front deck. Two of this class of locomotive, Nos. 2928 and 2929, have survived. No. 2928 is at the Canadian Railway Museum in Delson, Quebec, while No. 2929 is at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
