Subscribe to download
C&O F19 Pack

An icon of the C&O now has made it into Rolling Line!

The F19s were the final class of 5 Pacifics ordered by the C&O, numbered 490-494 and built by Alco as their predecessors had been. Delivered between February 22 and 26, 1926, they weighed 331,500 pounds, could produce almost 47,000 pounds of tractive effort, and had 74 inch drivers. Also, being late Pacifics, the F19s were equipped with some of the most modern technology for the time like Elesco Feedwater heaters and roller bearings. With the longest wheelbase of any C&O Pacific at over 36 feet. The high-mounted feedwater heaters and front mounted air pumps would become a staple of C&O steam for the rest of their existence.

However, all of the F19s would be rebuilt into the weirdly shrouded L1 class 4-6-4s between 1947 and 1948, removing a staple of the C&O from the roster. While initially planned for use on "The Chessie," a proposed train to run between Washington D.C and Cincinnati, OH, the train would never come to fruition and the L1s would find other work.

As all 5 of the F19s were rebuilt into L1s, none would survive in their original form. However, one L1 would find its way out of the scrapper's torch and wound up at the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Museum in Baltimore, MD. I actually saw 490 on a vacation to D.C a few years ago; if I can find it I'll show a picture. While 490 is likely to never run again, 2 other C&O steamers would have second lives as excursion stars, AKA C&O 614 and 2716.

CREDITS:
Model by CygnusOX
Edits by me