Hello and good morning, steam fans! Arnold, your B&O steamer is, indeed, “Royal”!
New York Central’s Mohawks were the “backbone” of the system, with 600 built between 1916 and 1943. They were excellent freight engines, but the first 485 were not as useful for passenger service because their speed was limited to 60 mph.
NYC developed the L3A class to turn the Mohawk into a true dual service locomotive. Changes, starting with no. 3000, included increased cylinder size, boiler pressure and an increase in driver size from 69” to 72”. Note NYC was the only road to call engines with a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement “Mohawks”. Other roads called them “Mountains”, but NYC didn’t think that name was appropriate for their flat, “Water Level Route”.
I posted a video of my Lionel model of no. 3000, pulling a passenger train, a couple of weeks ago. Today you’ll see she is equally adept at hauling freight.
John
