Banner
Navigation

Navigation

loco-info.com
The reference for locomotives and railcars

Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville (Monon) class J-4

United States 1926 16 produced
No. 578 at Lafayette, Indiana in May 1947 Ralph Graves

In 1926, ALCO-Richmond built six Mikados for the Monon which were based on the USRA Light Mikado. But compared to this, the boiler and the cylinders got bigger, while the driver diameter was still 63 inches. They were numbered 560 to 565 and formed the class J-3. Three years later, ALCO-Schenectady built ten similar locomotives which were numbered 570 to 579 and formed the class J-4. These were among the last new steam locomotives built for this railroad. Later the J-4 was rebuilt with a trailing-truck booster and a larger boiler with thermic syphons and a feed water heater. Five also got roller bearings. Since the J-3 and the original J-4 were similar, the specs for the J-4 in the table are for the rebuilt variant. Both classes lived until the end of steam on the Monon. No. 578 shown in the photo was sold to the Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia in 1948 and numbered 402. It was scrapped in 1951.

Technical data

General

Property J-3 J-4 rebuilt
Built 1926 1929
Manufacturers ALCO
Wheel arrangement 2-8-2 (Mikado)
Gauge 1,435 mm (Standard gauge)

Dimensions and weights

Property J-3 J-4 rebuilt
Wheelbase 11.00 m 11.25 m
Total wheelbase 21.86 m 23.31 m
Service mass 143.8 t 152 t
Adhesion mass 112.3 t 114.5 t
Total mass 230 t 251.7 t
Rigid wheelbase 5.11 m
Water capacity 37,854 l 45,425 l
Fuel capacity 14.5 t (coal) 18.1 t (coal)
Length 26.83 m

Boiler

Property J-3 J-4 rebuilt
Grate area 6.596 m² 7.451 m²
Firebox surface 28.986 m² 35.768 m²
Tube heating surface 370.683 m² 365.481 m²
Evaporative heating surface 399.669 m² 401.249 m²
Superheater surface 91.974 m² 108.325 m²
Total heating surface 491.6 m² 509.6 m²

Power plant

Property J-3 J-4 rebuilt
Driver diameter 1,600 mm
Boiler pressure 13.8 bar
Expansion type simple expansion
Cylinders two, 686 x 813 mm

Power

Property J-3 J-4 rebuilt
Power source steam
Estimated power 2,386 kW (3,244 PS) 2,610 kW (3,549 PS)
Starting effort 280.0 kN
Starting effort booster 51.155 kN

Calculated values

Property J-3 J-4 rebuilt
Factor of adhesion 1 : 3.93 1 : 4.01
Optimal speed 51 km/h 56 km/h
Power-to-weight ratio 16.6 kW/t 17.2 kW/t
Heating Surface Equivalent 728.5 m² 796.7 m²
Cylinder volume/HSE 1 : 824.22 1 : 753.67
Adhesive weight/Total 1 : 1.28 1 : 1.33
Tractive force/Heating surface 1 : 11.90 1 : 11.48
Grate area/Heating surface 1 : 74.54 1 : 68.39
Firebox/Tube surface 1 : 12.79 1 : 10.22
Total/Superheater 1 : 4.35 1 : 3.70
Auf Deutsch umschalten

Settings

Your settings are retained for this browser session only.

Consent to cookies

We use cookies to save your display settings. If you decline, the settings are retained only for the current browser session.