The class E-1 of the Erie Railroad consisted of 29 Atlantic express locomotives built by Baldwin between 1899 and 1901 and rated for speeds of 100 mph. They were Camelback locomotives with a square Wootten firebox measuring 96 by 96 inches.

Propulsion was provided by a Vauclain compound engine, i.e. with high and low pressure cylinders one above the other. A rebuild began as early as 1904, in which the four cylinders were replaced by two cylinders with simple expansion. One also increased the distance between the tube sheets by six inches to increase the heating surface area.

In the early years of the twentieth century, Mallet locomotives served only as an articulated solution for narrow-gauge railways. The L-1 of the Erie Railroad of 1907 was one of the first to show that very large freight locomotives could also be built with the Mallet principle. At the time it was commissioned, it was the largest and most powerful locomotive in the world. Since it was only intended as a pusher locomotive and did not have to reach high speeds, there was no need for leading or trailing axles. Thus, all eight axles were available as adhesive weight. The wheel arrangement was soon called “Angus”.

No. 2601

A Wooten firebox with a grate area of 100 square feet was used to maximize the energy yield from low-grade coal. In order to still ensure a good view for the engineer, the L-1 was built as a camelback engine and thus had the cab above the rearmost axle of the front bogie. It was the only camelback Mallet ever built.

Schematic drawing

Railway and Locomotive Engineering, September 1907

Only three examples were built, which were used on the Delaware and Susquehanna divisions to push trains up a 1.3 percent incline. They were rebuilt to a more conventional form in 1921. The cab was moved to the rear and two carrying axles were added, whereby they now had the wheel arrangement 2-8-8-2.

On mountain routes such as Susquehanna Hill, the Erie Railroad had the problem that the 3,500 to 5,500 ton trains, each pulled by a Consolidation or Mikado locomotive in the lowlands, could only be brought over the incline with difficulty. Two helper locomotives were often necessary, although some mallets were already being used. With the support of George R. Henderson of Baldwin, a triplex locomotive was built, which had three four-axle engine groups. Only the prototype was built in 1914, christened “Matt H. Shay” after a well-known railroad employee.

The six cylinders were all of the same dimensions to give compound action with two high pressure and four low pressure cylinders. The cylinders in the middle acted as high-pressure cylinders, with the exhaust steam from the right-hand cylinder being fed into the cylinders of the front bogie and the exhaust steam from the left into the cylinders on the rear bogie. Only the exhaust from the front low-pressure cylinders went into the smokebox, while the rear operated a feedwater heater in the tender.

During operation, it was quickly noticed that the boiler was not producing enough steam to reach significant speeds. Although the grate on the following two 1916 engines was increased from 90 to 122 square feet, they too failed to produce sufficient steam. Even the large firebox with brick arch and combustion chamber could not improve this situation. As a result, the locomotives were only used as pushers, where average speeds were barely over 10 mph. 

No. 700 “Matt H. Shay” in May 1915 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania

John B. Allen

The powered tender also proved problematic in practical use. It offered a smaller capacity than conventional tenders of the same size because the engine took up space and increased the empty mass. When the supplies were used up, the adhesive weight of the tender also dropped so much that it quickly began to slip. Since the other chassis groups were now also suddenly subject to greater loads, they quickly lost grip. Thus, their number stagnated at three and the Class XA of the Virginian remained the only other triplex locomotive that was built. A quadruple locomotive already planned by Henderson was not implemented. The three examples of the P-1 were retired in 1929, 1931 and 1933.

Based on the USRA Heavy Pacifics, which the Erie was the only one to receive, it received ten more locomotives in 1923. These were similar in size to the USRA engines, but had a larger superheater and were slightly heavier. The original 10,000 gallon water and 16 short tons of coal tenders were soon replaced with larger 16,500 gallon, 24 short tons tenders. In 1926, a single K-5b was ordered to test uniflow cylinders. Since these did not lead to the desired results, they were replaced with conventional cylinders.

The Erie was the American railroad that ordered the greatest number of 2-8-4 “Berkshire” locomotives. These 105 locomotives were not only delivered by all three major manufacturers, but also had the biggest heating surface of all Berkshires. As usual for the late twenties, they were fitted with thermic syphons, arch tubes, Worthington feedwater heaters and had a limited cutoff.

25 of the class S-1 were built in 1927 by ALCO, followed by another 25 S-2 in the same year by Lima. 35 S-3 were built by Baldwin in 1928 and 20 S-4 again by Lima in 1929. Both Lima subclasses were designed for a boiler pressure of 250 psi, but operated at only 225 psi like their sisters. These classes made it possible for the Erie to greatly accelerate their freight services and they were all scrapped between 1950 and 1952.

To accelerate heavy freight trains, the Erie Railroad ordered 20 class N-1 locomotives from Baldwin in 1911, which were the heaviest Mikados at the time. Since this design was a success, a total of 135 more were ordered, which were also manufactured by ALCO in Schenectady and Lima. The boiler pressure of the individual locomotives was between 170 and 200 psi. 

From 1927 the locomotives were modernized, adding a feed water heater, removing some pipes in the boiler and setting the pressure uniformly at 190 psi. Many received a mechanical stoker, but at least 50 remained hand-fired. Almost all were scrapped between 1947 and 1951, few were sold.