Big Four Class Ij 6949 at Cincinnati, OH on May 1919. Built by Alco in 1907, it was retired in November 1930. Jay Williams Collection.
Nice looking Atlantic. Retired after only 23 years which is not that old. Do you think it was because passenger trains had become longer, thus heavier?
She was a beauty. That, plus all steel car construction, which also added weight. Additionally, train speeds were increasing, and while Atlantics were considerably more powerful than 4-4-0 and 4-6-0 types with their wide fireboxes, they still weren't all that powerful. The Milwaukee would prove a few years later that Atlantics could have bigger fireboxes and more pressure, and haul as much train as they could lug into motion at triple-digit speeds. But those four were the only such 4-4-2s built. Railroads spent their money on Hudsons and Northerns, because they had Pacifics the same age as the Atlantics that had more power and could haul a short train faster. The Pacific may not have needed the extra axle and extra tractive effort to haul the short train faster. But it didn't do any harm. And a Pacific which was already in service, and had just been bumped from its assignment by a new Hudson type, was certainly cheaper than a brand new 4-4-2!
