Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

(CN) Class S locomotives were a Class of

2-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and two trailing wh ...

wheel arrangement In rail transport, a wheel arrangement or wheel configuration is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed under a locomotive. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and c ...

in the

Whyte notation The Whyte notation is a classification method for steam locomotives, and some internal combustion locomotives and electric locomotives, by wheel arrangement. It was devised by Frederick Methvan Whyte, and came into use in the early twenti ...

, or 1′D1′ in

UIC classification The UIC classification of locomotive axle arrangements, sometimes known as the German classification''The Railway Data File''. Leicester: Silverdale, 2000. p. 52. . or German system,Kalla-Bishop P.M. & Greggio, Luciano, ''Steam Locomotives'', Cr ...

. These locomotives were designed for 16° operating curvature. The first examples of this very successful class were built for the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...

in 1913. Major purchases of the class continued through 1924. Sub-classes S-3 and S-4 employed higher pressure boilers with smaller diameter cylinders to achieve similar tractive effort with higher efficiency. The class remained in freight service until the final replacement of steam with diesel-electric locomotives. 53 were renumbered between 4045 and 4097 in 1956.

Sub-classes

The S-1-g/h classes were rebuilt by the GTW as 0-8-2 locomotives, making them capable transfer and switching engines while also hosting an improved ride quality due to the trailing truck. Their ride quality was so good that crews would come to nickname them "the Queen Mary". They also had their valve gear swapped, the "g" and "h" subclasses receiving

Baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient histo ...

and Young valve gear respectively.https://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=Canada&wheel=0-8-2&railroad=cnr#16314

Preservation

Number 3239 was preserved by the Canadian Railway Historical Association. Number 3254 was saved by W.F. Barron of

Ashland, Pennsylvania Ashland is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Schuylkill and Columbia County, Pennsylvania, Columbia counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, northwest of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Pottsville. It is part of ...

. No. 3254 first operated in

excursion An excursion is a trip, usually made for leisure, education, or Physical exercise, physical purposes. It is often an adjunct to a longer journey or visit to a place, sometimes for other (typically work-related) purposes. Public transportatio ...

service at the Gettysburg Railroad in Gettysburg and Mount Holly Springs from 1985 until being put into storage again in 1986, it was then sold to

Steamtown National Historic Site Steamtown National Historic Site (NHS) is a List of railway museums, railroad museum and Heritage railway, heritage railroad located on in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and ...

Scranton Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...

were it ran from 1987 to 2012 when it was taken out of service indefinitely due to severe

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

issues. No. 3377 was first owned by the

Edaville Railroad Edaville Railroad (also branded Edaville USA and Edaville Family Theme Park) was a heritage railroad and amusement park in South Carver, Massachusetts. Originally opened in 1947, it was one of the oldest heritage railroad operations in the Un ...

, but soon moved to Steamtown, and eventually became a source of spare parts for No. 3254. Number 3734 (renumbered 4070) is now owned by the Midwestern Railway Preservation Society in ex

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...

roundhouse in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canadian National Railway S 2-8-2 locomotives 1′D1′ steam locomotives Baldwin locomotives ALCO locomotives MLW locomotives CLC locomotives S Freight locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1913 Steam locomotives of Canada