Anyone who knows anything about the Chesapeake & Ohio regards it as a coal-hauling railroad that lent the world its famous “Chessie” kitten image and the “C” to CSX. But for decades, the locomotives that hauled the coal were un-kitten-like beasts of burden.
In a 96-page soft-cover volume, Karen Parker describes C&O’s classes of 2-6-6-2 mallet steam locomotive draft horses. Black-and-white images show how they lugged loads over steep inclines and earned their place in history: the last revenue run of a C&O steam locomotive, in fact, was by a 2-6-6-2.
Locomotive diagram cutaways help explain differences between classes while other tables show builder’s information, division assignments, and changes by year. Those details will help modelers and historians, but the prize here are the detailed captions on dozens of quality images reproduced on heavy paper. These offer the who, what, where, when, how, and why that add life and context to the historical facts.
Steam fans should also consider the book essential research before visiting the only “living” 2-6-6-2 in Cumberland, Maryland, former C&O No. 1309.
Author: Karen Parker
Pages: 96