#1557
Southern Pacific class MC-4
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Baldwin Locomotive Works· from 1911· class of 12 American 2-8-8-2 Mallet cab forward locomotives all rebuilt as SP AC-2 class
what is it?
Southern Pacific Railroad's MC-4 class of steam locomotive was the second class ordered and built as cab forward locomotives. Southern Pacific (SP) found the MC-2 class sufficient for a proof-of-concept for cab forward locomotives and sought to continue with now tested designs. In service, SP found that the locomotives were a little too slow for the traffic needs.
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 115 years ago, in 1911.
- Weighs about as much as 33 African elephants (~6 t each).
- Served for 9 years (1911–1920).
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1911
- in service from
- 1911
- retired
- 1920
- status
- retired
- number built
- 12
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Baldwin Locomotive Works
- operators
- Southern Pacific Transportation Company
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 2-8-8-2
- weight
- 196 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7570313, Wikipedia: Southern Pacific class MC-4 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.