#2596
Milwaukee Road class F7
🇺🇸 United States ·built by American Locomotive Company· from 1938· class of 6 streamlined 4-6-4 steam locomotives
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Kuhler-Hiaw: Otto Kuhler photo· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The Milwaukee Road's class "F7" comprised six (#100–#105) high-speed, streamlined 4-6-4 "Baltic" (Hudson) type steam locomotives built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1937–38 to haul the Milwaukee's Hiawatha express passenger trains. Following on from the success of the road's class "A" 4-4-2s, the F7s allowed the road to haul heavier trains on the popular Chicago–Twin Cities routes. The F7s are major contenders for the fastest steam locomotives ever built, as they ran at over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) daily.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 88 years ago, in 1938.
- Top speed is 1.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 12 minutes.
- Weighs about as much as 31 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 30.5 m long: about 7 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 13 years (1938–1951).
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1938
- in service from
- 1938
- retired
- 1951
- status
- retired
- number built
- 6
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- American Locomotive Company
- operators
- Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
- top speed
- 193 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 4-6-4
- length
- 30.5 m
- weight
- 188 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q532826, Wikipedia: Milwaukee Road class F7 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.