#2727
St. Louis–San Francisco class 4500
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Baldwin Locomotive Works· from 1942· class of American steam locomotives
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Frisco Railway steam locomotive 4-8-4 Train 4503: Frisco Railroad· Public domain
what is it?
The St. Louis–San Francisco class 4500 was a class of 25 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotives built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works between 1942-1943 and operated by the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway.
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 84 years ago, in 1942.
- Top speed is 1.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- 4.2 MW is about 49 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 35 African elephants (~6 t each).
- Served for 14 years (1942–1956).
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1942–1943
- in service from
- 1942
- retired
- 1956
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 25
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Baldwin Locomotive Works
- operators
- St. Louis–San Francisco Railway
- top speed
- 145 km/h
- power
- 4.2 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 4-8-4
- weight
- 211 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q104858286, Wikipedia: St. Louis–San Francisco class 4500 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.