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Chicago Great Western Railway Steam Locomotives

The classifications given by railroads to their steam locomotive fleets were as varied as the machines themselves with several different designations within a particular class! The Chicago Great Western Railway steam locomotives were likewise characterized by a wide range of classes ranging from B to T. In any event, the information here is most certainly not a complete, all-time listing of CGW's steam fleet and also is merely meant to list the general types of steam locomotives operated by the railroad.

The Chicago Great Western is one of the lesser-recognized fallen flags because of its small size and the fact that among most of the other granger roads it was a David among Goliaths. Altogether the railroad consisted of less than 1,500 miles of trackage serving Chicago and points northwest and southwest including St. Paul/Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. However, what the railroad lacked in size it more than made up for in customer service. Always the innovator the CGW was constantly looking to streamline operations and not only find new customers but also retain the ones it already served. Alas, however, the railroad would succumb to the economics of a region so overpopulated with railroad tracks that by the 1960s demand was no longer able to support supply and the CGW merged with the Chicago and North Western in the late 1960s to save itself from a gloomy fate, such as what would happen with neighbor Rock Island roughly ten years later.

While the Chicago Great Western was one of the smaller of the famed "granger" lines it operated some impressive steam locomotives including 2-10-4 Texas Types, 2-10-2 Santa Fes, and massive 2-6-6-2 Mallets. Unfortunately today none of these large steamers or any of the CGW fleet is known to exist today.

Class B

The CGW's Class B included its fleet of 0-6-0 switchers.

Class C

The CGW's Class C included its fleet of 4-4-0 Americans.

Class D

The CGW's Class D included its fleet of 2-6-0 Moguls.

Class E

The CGW's Class E included its fleet of 4-6-0 Ten-Wheelers and ranged from Class E-1 to E-7.

Class F

The CGW's Class F included its fleet of 2-6-2 Prairies.

Class G

The CGW's Class G included its fleet of 2-8-0 Consolidations ranging from Class G-1 to G-4.

Class H-1

The CGW's Class H-1 was its only roster of 2-6-6-2 heavy articulateds.

Class J

The CGW's Class J included its fleet of 0-8-0 switchers.

Class K

The CGW's Class K included its fleet of 4-6-2 Pacifics ranging from Class K-1 to K-6.

Class L

The CGW's Class L included its fleet of 2-8-2 Mikados.

Class M-1

The CGW's Class M-1 included its only roster of 2-10-2 Santa Fes.

Class T

The CGW's Class T included its fleet of 2-10-4 Texas Types.

For complete roster information regarding Chicago Great Western Railway steam locomotives please click here.

For more reading and history on the Great Western you might want to consider The Corn Belt Route: A History of the Chicago Great Western Railroad Company, which gives an excellent and quite detailed history of the railroad. If you are a fan or historian of the CGW, or simply would just like to learn more about it, you will very likely enjoy this book. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing this book please visit The Railroad Diamond by clicking the tab in the menu to your left marked "TRD Store".

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