Railroads & Locomotives Locomotives Locomotive profile: 2-8-4 Berkshire type steam locomotive

Locomotive profile: 2-8-4 Berkshire type steam locomotive

By Angela Cotey | February 21, 2020

| Last updated on November 3, 2020

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Pere Marquette 2-8-4 Berkshire type steam locomotive No. 1225 steams near Owosso, Michigan.
Pere Marquette 2-8-4 Berkshire type steam locomotive No. 1225 steams near Owosso, Michigan.
Jim Wrinn
2-8-4

•YEARS BUILT: 1924 to 1949

•MANUFACTURERS: Lima, Alco, Baldwin

•OPERATED ON: Multiple large railroads

•NAMES: Berkshire, Kanawha (Chesapeake & Ohio)

•QUANTITY: 611; C&O had the most with 130 on the roster in 1947

•BOILER PRESSURE: 240 psi

•KNOWN FOR: High speed freight service and super power; a unified design produced for Nickel Plate Road resulted in copies for the Erie, Pere Marquette, and Wheeling & Lake Erie; other railroads, notably Chesapeake & Ohio, picked up on it

•STATUS: Several in museums, two are operational in the Midwest: Nickel Plate Road No. 765, based in Fort Wayne, Ind., and Pere Marquette No. 1225 in Owosso, Mich.

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