The Chessie's Famous "Big Mike"

On the eve of the diesel era, No. 2705 stood as an excellent example of "superpower" locomotive design, capable of producing high horsepower at sustained speed without running out of steam. Big but flexible, it and eighty-nine identical C&O 2-8-4 locomotives handled coal drags, merchandisers, and main line passenger trains. C&O's modern fleet of 2-8-4s was built to carry booming wartime traffic and replace obsolescent 2-8-2 Mikados. These locomotives were based on almost identical powerful, high-speed freight engines of the Nickel Plate Road and the Pere Marquette, two other C&O affiliates. Known elsewhere as Berkshires, the large 2-8-4s were called Kanawhas on the C&O, after the West Virginia river that winds through its territory, though their crews affectionately called them "Big Mikes."

Baltimore, Maryland · United States