#2454
Chesapeake and Ohio Greenbrier
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Lima Locomotive Works· from 1935· class of 12 American 4-8-4 locomotives
what is it?
The Chesapeake and Ohio Greenbrier was a class of twelve 4-8-4 steam locomotives built by the Lima Locomotive Works between 1935 and 1948 and operated by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O). The C&O did not name their 4-8-4s "Northerns", and instead chosen the name "Greenbrier" after the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, which was owned by the C&O, and served as a major destination on the C&O mainline. They were built with the primary purpose of hauling heavy express passenger trains for the C&O Railway, such as the George Washington and the Fast Flying Virginian.
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 91 years ago, in 1935.
- Top speed is 1.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 15 minutes.
- 2.6 MW is about 30 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 36 African elephants (~6 t each).
- Served for 20 years (1935–1955).
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1935–1948
- in service from
- 1935
- retired
- 1955
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 12
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Lima Locomotive Works
- operators
- Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
- top speed
- 161 km/h
- power
- 2.6 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 4-8-4
- weight
- 216 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q107440068, Wikipedia: Chesapeake and Ohio Greenbrier (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.