Around the turn of the century, the Norfolk and Western was seeking faster passenger motive power. The engines in service were several classes of Americans, along with the V and A class Ten Wheelers. In 1903, the railroad purchased a group of six Atlantics, which were assigned numbers 600 to 605 and class J. These Atlantics introduced the N&W to the wide firebox over a trailing truck, which would be employed on many future locomotives. In addition, the class J employed the largest driving wheels that would ever be used on the N&W. In December 1904, the class grew to seven locomotives with the addition of engine 606.
The Atlantic type, while very popular at the turn of the century, quickly fell out of favor due a lack of tractive effort. Only fifty-one percent of the locomotive's weight was on the drivers. The large drivers made the problem worse. As trains grew longer and cars became heavier, most railroads replaced their Atlantics with Pacifics, downgrading Atlantics to local or commuter service. Even though the Pacific type was introduced to the N&W in 1905, the J class continued to operate expresses on the level sections of the system for years, until the introduction of the E3 class Pacifics in the early 1930s. The final J was retired in 1935.
Just as the retirement of a group of 1870s vintage Americans left class J open for the Atlantics, the retirement of the Atlantics left the class designation open for a group of streamlined Northerns put into service between 1941 and 1950.
Тип: traincar