Chesapeake and Ohio's "Second Merchant" 2-8-2 No. 2344 K-3a

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Chesapeake and Ohio's "Second Merchant" 2-8-2 No. 2344 K-3a built at Alco's Richmond Works at the Big Four, Erie Diamond at Marion Ohio Photo by H.W. Porter/Rail Photo Services.

The K-3a's were numbered 2300-2349; the new units, not considerably different from one another, slowly arrived on the C&O's property through 1926. According to Thomas Dixon, Jr.'s book, "Chesapeake & Ohio Railway: A Concise History And Fact Book," the new Mikados offered increased tractive efforts of 67,000 pounds, weighed considerably more (358,000 pounds), and their larger 63-inch drivers provided higher speeds. The arrival of these 2-8-2s proved to be some of the final non-articulated, non-Super Power designs the C&O purchased as the company opted for ever-larger, more powerful models to handle heavier trains.

[rrnut282]

I've always liked those Vanderbilt tenders.