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December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Locomotive over the ash pit at the roundhouse at a Chicago & North Western railyard." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size.
This type of locomotive was a small 0-8-0, m4 type, which C&NW used exclusively as yard switching locomotives.
C&NW's class M-4 locos were eight-coupled switchers (0-8-0) with 51-inch drivers, a 25x28 inch stroke, and a working pressure of 185 psi.
Note the great looking Stormy Kromer hat on the engineer.
George "Stormy" Kromer was a semi-pro baseball player and a locomotive engineer for the C&NW who all too often seemed to lose his hat when he stuck his head out of his locomotive cab window. He asked his wife Ida to sew an ear flap onto one of his baseball caps. The intent was to both keep his ears warm and to make the fit of his hat more snug. Fellow engineers and rail workers loved the idea so much that by 1903 the Kromer Cap Company had been formed.
"Fill 'er up with High Test, and check the oil and wipers please."
With all that ash and soot the colorized and original would probably look identical.
Small driving wheels means this locomotive didn't go very fast but undoubtedly had a lot of power.
The need for continuous maintenance including dumping ashes, cleaning out boilers and flues, adding water and fuel and lubricating the running gear is what ultimately doomed these machines. A diesel locomotive could run for weeks only stopping for fuel and some brief checks of oil and cooling water.
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