Classification of LV T-class Wyomings.

[scottychaos]

Hey everyone,
im working on the "LV all time roster" and I have come to the last class! The 4-8-4 Wyomings.
(I will post a new thread for the roster when its finished..meanwhile, anyone want to take a guess at the TOTAL amount
of all-time steam locomotives on the LV roster! I now have that number!)

But about the 4-8-4's..they arrived in this order:

T-1 class, Baldwin, LV 5100-5110, built 1931 and 1932.
T-2 class, Alco, LV 5200 - 5210, built 1931 and 1932.

LV ordered one of each, from both Baldwin and Alco in 1931.
Then ordered an additional ten from each builder in 1932.

T-3 class, Baldwin, LV 5125 - 5129, 1934 and 1935.

Up to this point the classifications were straight forward, T1, T2 and T3 classes, easy and uncomplicated!
then it got more complicated!

In 1943 LV needed more 4-8-4's for increased WWII traffic..
but war restrictions meant newer designs could not be offered, the LV got ten more Alco 4-8-4's
which were virtually identical to the original T-2 class of ten years earlier!
LV called them class T-2b, since they were very similar to the original T-2 class, just ten years newer:

T-2b class, Alco, LV 5211 - 5220, built 1943.

I have actual LV steam roster lists, compiled and kept by the LV itself in the 1940's..
They *only* list those four classes, T-1, T-2, T-2b, and T-3.
I also found a locomotive photo that is supposed to be a T-2b clearly labeled T-2 on the cab!
thats a strange anomaly, because I am quite certain the T-2b class did exist.

So that gives us, in order:

T-1 - 1931/1932
T-2 - 1931/1932
T-3 - 1934/1935
T-2b - 1943

But now for the complicated bits..im not sure what is true and accurate, and what might be historically questionable.

There are on-line rosters and lists: http://www.steamlocomotive.com/northern/?page=lv" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
that say:
T-1a
T-2a
T-2b
T-3

T-2a and T-2b makes some sense..perhaps when the 2-Tb's arrived the LV reclassified the original T-2's into T-2a's?
maybe..but that seems unlikely..It seems far more likely the LV simply kept the original T-2's as T-2's, did *not* reclassify them into a new T-2a class,
and simply classed the new T2-b's as T-2b's..So im not convinced that a T-2a class ever actually existed. Also, T-1a makes no sense..unless there was a T-1b.

A second list, here: http://www.anthraciterailroads.org/stag ... comotives/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
has an even different listing:

T-1
T-1b
T-2
T-2b
T-3

They also have the T-2b, (which im confidant existed), they do *not* have the T-2a listed,
but they also add a T-1b class, saying the "b" was for "booster" in that case..that perhaps some of the T-1's were re-classified
as T-1b when they received tender boosters..again, I am not convinced that the T-1b class ever actually existed.
The boosters were, I believe, only experimental..I dont think their addition would have warranted a re-classification of the locomotives..
but maybe it did! I am not certain.

I personally believe, right now, that the four classes were only ever:

T-1
T-2
T-2b
T-3

Can anyone make a case for the existence of a T-1a, T-1b or T-2a class?

thanks,
Scot

[TB Diamond]

RLHS Bulletin No. 126 lists the T-1, T-1B, T-2, T-2B and the T-3.