C&O 2755

Chesapeake & Ohio 2755
Power type	Steam
Reference [1][2]
Builder	Lima Locomotive Works
Build date	1947
Total produced	10
Configuration	2-8-4
Gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Driver diameter	69 in (1,753 mm)
Length	105.2 ft (32.1 m)
Weight on drivers	293,100 lb (133 t)
Locomotive weight	469,680 lb (213 t)
Tender weight	394,100 lb (179 t)
Locomotive & tender combined weight	863,780 lb (392 t)
Tender type	21-RG
Fuel type	Coal
Water capacity	21,000 US gal (79,494 l)
Tender capacity	30 short tons (27 t)
Boiler pressure	245 psi (2 MPa)
Feedwater heater	Worthington Type 5½ SSA
Firegrate area	90 sq ft (8 m2)
Heating surface: Total	4,714 sq ft (438 m2)
Superheater type	Elesco Type E
Cylinders	2
Cylinder size	26 × 34 in (660 × 864 mm)
Valve gear	Baker
Tractive effort	69,350 lbf (308 kN)
Factor of adhesion	4.23
Class	K-4
Number in class	90
Number	2755
Retired	late 1956
Current owner	West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Disposition	Static display
Chesapeake and Ohio 2755 Steam Locomotive
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city:	Henlawson, West Virginia
Coordinates:	37°53′34″N 82°0′34″W / 37.89278°N 82.00944°W / 37.89278; -82.00944Coordinates: 37°53′34″N 82°0′34″W / 37.89278°N 82.00944°W / 37.89278; -82.00944
Area:	0.2 acres (0.081 ha)
Built:	1947
Architect:	Lima Locomotive Works
Architectural style:	K-4 Class Locomotive
Governing body:	State
NRHP Reference#:	06000900[3]
Added to NRHP:	September 28, 2006

Chesapeake & Ohio Railway 2755 is a standard gauge steam railway locomotive of the 2-8-4 type, called "Berkshire" by most US railroads, but "Kanawha" by the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O). It is one of a total of ninety built by Alco (which built seventy) and Lima (which built the remaining twenty, including 2755) between 1943 and 1947.

A Berkshire type was the first of the Lima Super Power locomotives in 1925 and these followed in that tradition, with all the latest equipment -- Schmidt superheater, Elesco feedwater heater, booster on the trailing truck, roller bearings, and so forth. They carried Baker valve gear, which the C&O preferred to the simpler and much more widely used Walschaerts valve gear.

It spent its nine year working life hauling coal on the various mine branches out of Logan, West Virginia, usually to the Ohio River at Russell, Kentucky. Its last known run was from Handley, West Virginia, to Russell on January 18, 1956.

After refurbishing at the Huntington, West Virginia, shops in the fall of 1960, it was delivered to its present location in Chief Logan State Park in March 1961. It was seriously vandalized in the late 1970s or early 1980s, with the glass broken and gauges stolen or destroyed. It has been repaired and fenced for protection. The Island Creek Model Railroad Club acts as curators.

The locomotive was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 as Chesapeake and Ohio 2755 Steam Locomotive.^[3]

References

1. ^ "Chesapeake & Ohio Kanawha Type Locomotives". Steam Locomotive dot com. http://www.steamlocomotive.com/berkshire/co.shtml. Retrieved 29 January 2010. 
2. ^ "NRHP Registration Form: Chesapeake and Ohio 2755 Steam Locomotive". West Virginia Division of Culture and History. http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/logan/06000900.pdf. Retrieved 29 January 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.