| Fair quality older photo of the cobra hooded Boston & Maine 2-8-4 Berkshire #4001. Built by the Lima Locomotive Works in May of 1928, this class of Berkshires had the curved Coffin feedwater heater which was labeled a "cobra-hood." B&M had problems with their trailing trucks and articulated "wiggling" that caused leakages around the firebox. During the closing months of World War II, the western railroads were in dire need of motive power to handle the shift in material and personnel from the European front to the war in the Pacific. The Boston & Maine was never really satisfied with its Lima built "Berkshires" and jumped at the chance to help the war effort and to unload its "lemons". The B&M sold ten "Berkshires" to the Southern Pacific and seven to the Santa Fe. This loco was sold in July of 1945 to ATSF and renumbered ATSF 4193 (ATSF class 4193). The loco was sold for scrap on 11/11/1949 to the Purdy Co. Specs - serial #7278, class T-1-a, 63" drivers, impressive 240 psi boiler pressure, 28x30" cylinders, engine weight of 393,000 lb, tractive effort of 66,550 lb. No date or location was given for this photo so an approximate was used. Unknown photographer |