The first USRA Mikado locomotive before delivery at Baldwin plant July 1, 1918.
(Altona, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
USRA LIGHT MIKADO 2-8-2
The USRA Light Mikado was a USRA standard class of steam locomotive designed under the control of the United States Railroad Administration, the nationalized railroad system in the United States during World War I. This was the standard light freight locomotive of the USRA types, and was of 2-8-2 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, or 1′D1′ in UIC classification.
A USRA Light Mikado type locomotive donated to the National Museum of Transportation by the Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway
A total of 614 locomotives were built under the auspices of the USRA, with a further 641 copies built after the end of the USRA's control. The first, for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, was completed in July 1918 and given No. 4500. The locomotives were considered well designed and modern, and were popular and successful. Large numbers remained in service until replaced by diesel locomotives. It was also called the McAdoo Mikado after William Gibbs McAdoo, head of the USRA.
Schematic of 2-8-2 steam locomotive wheel arrangement. Front of locomotive on left.
(Gwernol, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Built
With later copies, over 50 railroads used the type, including the following:
Table of original USRA allocation
| Railroad | Quantity | Class | Road Numbers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore and Ohio Railroad | 100 | Q-3 | 4500–4599 | Built 1918 by Baldwin. Scrapped 1959. 4500 preserved. |
| Chicago and Alton Railroad | 10 | L-4 | 875–884 | Built 1918 by ALCO. To Alton Railroad 4385–4394, class Q-8. Scrapped 1941-1952. |
| Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad | 15 | N-2 | 1925–1939 | Built 1918 by ALCO-Schenectady. Scrapped 1942-1955. |
| Chicago Great Western Railway | 10 | L-3 | 750–759 | Built 1918 by Baldwin. Scrapped 1944-1951. |
| Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railroad ("Monon") | 5 | J-2 | 550–554 | Built 1918 by ALCO-Schenectady. Scrapped 1947-1949. |
| Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad | 9 (+11 from T&P) | K-55 | 2300–2308, 2309–2319 | Built 1919 by Baldwin And ALCO. Scrapped 1942-1945 and scrapped 1947-1951 |
| Grand Trunk Railway | 15 | M-3 | 440–454 | Built 1918 by ALCO to Canadian National Railway 3700–3714, class S-3-a. Scrapped 1958-1959. |
| Grand Trunk Western Railroad | 25 | M-3 | 455–479 | Built 1918 by ALCO to Canadian National Railway 3715–3739, class S-3-a. Scrapped 1959-1960. 4070/3734 preserved. |
| Lehigh and Hudson River Railway | 4 | 80 | 80–83 | Built 1918 by Baldwin. Scrapped 1942-1948. |
| Louisville and Nashville Railroad | 18 | J-3 | 1500–1517 | Built 1919 by Lima. Scrapped 1951-1954. |
| Maine Central Railroad | 6 | S | 621–626 | Built 1919 by ALCO. Scrapped 1953. |
| Missouri Pacific Railroad | 15 (+10 from PRR) | MK-63 | 1301–1315, 1316–1325 | Built 1926 by ALCO-Brooks. Scrapped 1947-1950. |
| Monongahela Railway | 10 | L1 | 170-179 | Built 1919 by ALCO-Schenectady. Scrapped 1941-1949. |
| Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway | 10 | L2-55 | 650–659 | Built 1918 by ALCO-Schenectady. All scrapped in 1951. |
| New York Central Railroad | 95 | H-6a | 5100–5194 | Built 1918-1919 by ALCO and Lima. Renumbered 1800–1894, less 11 to PM. Scrapped 1944-1955. |
| New York Central subsidiary Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway | 25 | H-6a | 6089–6113 | Built 1918 by Baldwin. Renumbered 1700–1724. Scrapped 1944-1952. |
| New York Central subsidiary Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad | 24 | H-6a | 400–423 | Built 1918 by ALCO. 10 to SLSF, others to PM. Scrapped 1949-1950. |
| New York Central subsidiary Lake Erie and Western Railroad | 15 | H-6o | 5540–5554 | Built 1918 by Baldwin. 86–600. Scrapped 1947-1957. 587 preserved. |
| New York Central subsidiary Michigan Central Railroad | 20 | H-6a | 7970–7989 | Built 1918 by ALCO. Renumbered 1770–1789. Scrapped 1947-1956. |
| New York Central subsidiary Toledo and Ohio Central Railroad | 15 | H-6a | 9732–9746 | Built 1918 by ALCO. Renumbered 1732–1736. Scrapped 1945-1955. |
| New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railway ("Nickel Plate Road") | 10 | H-6a | 601–610 | Built 1918 by ALCO. Scrapped 1940-1950. |
| Pennsylvania Railroad | (33) | L2s | 20006-20038 | Built 1919 by ALCO. Refused; 10 to MP, 23 to SLSF. Scrapped 1948-1949. |
| Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad | 5 | L2s | 108-112 | Built 1919 renumbered PRR 9627-9631. Scrapped 1949-1953. |
| Pere Marquette Railway | (30) | K-8 | 1011–1040 | Built 1919-1920 by ALCO and Lima. Acquired secondhand from IHB (14), NYC (11) and WAB (5). To C&O 2350–2379 Scrapped 1952. |
| Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway | 3 | H6 | 1000-1002 | Built 1918 by Baldwin. Scrapped 1949-1951 |
| Rutland Railway | 6 | H-6a | 32–37 | Built 1918 by ALCO-Schenectady. Scrapped 1951-1952. |
| Seaboard Air Line Railroad | 10 | Q-1 | 390–399 | Built 1918 by ALCO. Renumbered 490-499 in 1925. Scrapped 1954-1957. |
| St. Louis – San Francisco Railway | (23 from PRR, 10 from IHB) | 4000 | 4000–4032 | Built 1919 by ALCO. Scrapped 1950-1951. 4003 and 4018 preserved. |
| Southern Railway | 25 | Ms-1 | 4750–4774 | 4765–4775 to subsidiary Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway. Renumbered 6285–6294 in 1920. |
| Texas and Pacific Railway | (11) | H-1 | 550–560 | Refused; to Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. |
| Texas and Pacific Railway | 11 | H-2 | 800–810 | Built by Baldwin in 1919 |
| Union Pacific Railroad | 20 | MK-Spl | 2295–2314 | Renumbered 2480–2499 in 1920. |
| Union Pacific subsidiary Oregon Short Line Railroad | 20 | - | 2535-2554 | Built 1918 by Baldwin. Scrapped 1945-1953 |
| Wabash Railroad | 20 | K-2 | 2201–2220 | Built 1918 by ALCO. 5 to PM, replaced by 5 from WP Scrapped 1950-1955: Wabash. |
| Western Pacific Railroad | 5 | MK-55 | 321–325 | Built 1919 by Baldwin. Sold to Wabash in 1920. Scrapped 1949-1956. |
USRA Light Mikado No. 639 from the Nickel Plate Road.
(Moosemilkrailroad1987, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
Copies
Table of USRA copies
| Railroad | Quantity | Class | Road Numbers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akron, Canton and Youngstown Railroad | 7 | |||
| Atlantic Coast Line Railroad | 74 | |||
| Canadian National Railway (Grand Trunk (Western) | 18 | S-3 | 3740-3757 | |
| Chesapeake and Ohio Railway | 3 | |||
| Chicago and Alton Railroad | 5 | L-4a | 885–889 | to Alton Railroad 4395–4399, class Q-8a |
| Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway | 9 | |||
| Detroit and Toledo Shore Line Railroad | 11 | |||
| Florida East Coast Railway | 15 | 701 | 701–715 | |
| Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway | 1 | |||
| Louisville and Nashville Railroad | 75 | J-3 | 1518–1592 | |
| Midland Valley Railroad | 16 | |||
| Missouri Pacific subsidiary International-Great Northern Railroad | 10 | MK-63 | 1101–1110 | |
| Mobile and Ohio Railroad | 37 | 450 | 450–486 | |
| Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México | 56 | |||
| Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway | 12 | L2A-55 | 660–671 | |
| New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railway ("Nickel Plate Road") | 61 | H-6b–H-6f | 611–671 | |
| Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka Railway | 68 | |||
| Pere Marquette Railway | 10 | K-5 | 1041–1050 | to C&O 1060–1069 |
| Seaboard Air Line Railroad | 118 | Q-3 | 334–451 | |
| Southern Railway subsidiary Alabama Great Southern Railroad | 10 | Ms-1 | 6612–6621 | |
| West Point Route (Atlanta and West Point Rail Road) | 3 | F | 425–427 | |
| West Point Route (Georgia Railroad) | 7 | F | 320–326 | |
| West Point Route (Western Railway of Alabama) | 4 | F | 375–378 | |
| Total | 641 |
Frisco 4003 on May 31st of 2019. (Lodkins, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
SLSF 4018, built by Lima, on display at the disused Sloss Furnaces pig iron plant in Birmingham, AL. (Thilo Parg, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
Nickel Plate 587. (RattlerJones, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
No. 639, NKP class H-6e 2-8-2 built by Lima in 1923. (Wahkeenah at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Preservation
Nine USRA Light Mikados both originals and copies are preserved.
| Number | Builder | Year Built | Post-USRA Owner | Location | Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4003 | American Locomotive Company | 1919 | St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad | Fort Smith Trolley Museum | On Static Display |
| 4018 | Lima Locomotive Works | 1919 | St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad | Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark | On Static Display |
| 587 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | 1918 | New York, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad | Ravenna, Kentucky | Stored, awaiting restoration |
| 624 | Lima Locomotive Works | 1922 | New York, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad | Hammond, Indiana | On Static Display |
| 639 | Lima Locomotive Works | 1923 | New York, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad | Miller Park (Bloomington, Illinois) | On Static Display |
| 4500 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | 1918 | Baltimore and Ohio Railroad | B&O Railroad Museum | On Static Display |
| 4070 | American Locomotive Company | 1918 | Grand Trunk Railway | Cleveland, Ohio | Undergoing Restoration |
| 2537 | American Locomotive Company | 1918 | Union Pacific Railroad | Walla Walla, Washington | On Static Display |
| 551 | Lima Locomotive Works | 1928 | Chicago & Illinois Midland Railroad | St. Louis Transportation Museum | On Static Display |
No. 4500 was the first standardized locomotive on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. (Baltimore and Ohio employees magazine; Baltimore and Ohio RR, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons)
Grand Trunk 4070. (National Archives at College Park, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
C&IM USRA Light Mikado No. 551. (Kbh3rd, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
USRA Light Mikado diagram. (1922 Locomotive Cyclopedia of American Practice, CC0, Wikimedia Commons)
Overview
Type and origin
Power type: Steam
Builders: ALCO, Baldwin, Lima
Build dates: 1918-1929
Total produced: 614 originals plus 641 copies
Specifications
Configuration:
• Whyte 2-8-2
• UIC 1′D1′ h2
Gauge: 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Leading diameter: 33 in (0.838 m)
Driver diameter: 63 in (1.600 m)
Trailing diameter: 43 in (1.092 m)
Wheelbase locomotive: 36 ft 1 in (11.00 m)
Wheelbase locomotive and tender: 71 ft 4+1⁄2 in (21.76 m)
Adhesive weight: 220,000 lb (99,800 kg)
Locomotive weight; 292,000 lb (132,000 kg; 132 metric tons)
Tender weight: 185,400 lb (84,100 kg; 84.1 metric tons)
Total weight: 477,400 lb (216,500 kg; 216.5 metric tons)
Fuel type: Coal
Fuel capacity: 16 t (16 long tons; 18 short tons)
Water capacity: 10,000 US gal (38,000 L; 8,300 imp gal)
Boiler pressure: 200 psi (1.38 MPa)
Cylinders: Two
Cylinder size: 26 in × 30 in (660 mm × 762 mm)
Valve gear: Walschaerts
Performance figures
Maximum speed: 59 miles per hour (95 km/h)
Tractive effort: 54,724 lbf (243.42 kN)
Career
Preserved: 6 original and 3 copies preserved