Louisville & Nashville Class M-1 2-8-4s: The Big Emmas

Last revised: October 16, 2026

The Louisville & Nashville class M-1 was 42 locomotives of the 2-8-4 type, numbers 1950–1991. They were the largest engines the railroad could turn and house. Baldwin built the first 20, numbers 1950–1969, in 1942 and 1944. Lima built the other 22, numbers 1970–1991, in 1949, at $268,464 each. The railroad’s name for the class was Big Emma. Cumberland was suggested and never caught on.

A Big Emma had 69-inch drivers, 25-by-32-inch cylinders, and 265 pounds of boiler pressure, for 65,290 pounds of tractive effort. A booster added 14,100 pounds for starting. On the Eastern Kentucky Division the class regularly rolled 9,500-ton coal trains, 124 cars, from Neon to DeCoursey. The engines were sidelined after 1956. By 1959 the last of them could be sold for scrap. No locomotive of the class survives.

Louisville and Nashville 2-8-4 No. 1950, class M-1 Big Emma, at the coal dock in the Corbin, Kentucky, yard on May 25, 1952

Class M-1 2-8-4 No. 1950, a Big Emma, at the coal dock in the Corbin, Kentucky, yard on May 25, 1952. No. 1950 is the first number of the class, from the Baldwin group. Bob Collins photo.

On this page: At a glance · The 1940 choice · Baldwin, then Lima · What the Lima engines cost · Neon to DeCoursey · The F3 test · Specifications · No locomotive saved

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Louisville & Nashville
Class	M-1
Name	Big Emma. Cumberland was suggested and never caught on
Wheel arrangement	2-8-4
Road numbers	1950–1991
Quantity	42
Baldwin	1950–1969. 20 engines. Built 1942 and 1944
Lima	1970–1991. 22 engines. Built 1949. $268,464 each. The order came to $5,906,208
Drivers	69 in
Cylinders	25 × 32 in
Boiler pressure	265 psi
Tractive effort	65,290 lb. Booster, 14,100 lb
Divisions	Kentucky, Cincinnati, Cumberland Valley, and Eastern Kentucky
Passenger	Four engines, Cincinnati–Corbin, during the war and just after
Disposition	Sidelined after 1956. Sold for scrap by 1959. No locomotive survives

The 1940 choice

In 1940 the railroad decided against a 4-8-4 for the passenger trains north of Mobile. The 4-8-2s were too heavy for the bridges west of Mobile, and a 4-8-4 would have been heavier. It bought 16 EMD E6s for that passenger work, and it ordered the first M-1s at the same time.

The heavy freight engine was still the Mikado. The post-1900 roster carried 165 heavy USRA 2-8-2s, classes J-4 and J-4A, numbers 1750–1914, and a long list of earlier 2-8-2s ahead of them. The M-1 was the one step past that boiler. A larger firebox sat over a four-wheel trailing truck. Cast-steel frames and cylinders, roller bearings, and 12-wheel tenders went with it, and the railroad counted a fuel saving of about 12 percent against the 2-8-2s. The engines remained small enough to turn and to house. The steam roster carried no ten-coupled engines and no articulateds.

Baldwin, then Lima

The steam roster prints the class as one row: type 2-8-4, class M-1, numbers 1950–1991, quantity 42, builders Baldwin and Lima, built 1942–1949. The notes on that row split the numbers. Numbers 1950–1969 are the 20 Baldwin engines of 1942 and 1944. Numbers 1970–1991 are Lima’s 22 of 1949. No. 1950, at the Corbin coal dock in the photograph, is the first number of the Baldwin group.

Numbers	Qty	Builder	Built
1950–1969	20	Baldwin	1942 and 1944
1970–1991	22	Lima	1949

The retirement cell on that roster row reads 1954–. The cell is printed that way. The service account is the one below: sidelined after 1956, and sold for scrap by 1959.

What the Lima engines cost

Each of Lima’s 22 engines, numbers 1970–1991, cost $268,464. Twenty-two at that price is $5,906,208 for the 1949 order. The figure is L&N historian Ron Flanary’s, reported by Kevin P. Keefe in Classic Trains on October 27, 2022. Keefe called the M-1s the most expensive 2-8-4s. His adjustment of that unit price, in the dollars of the 2022 article, was $3,320,094 a locomotive.

What the money bought was the fittings then available: roller bearings on all axles, cast-steel frames, 12-wheel tenders, lightweight rods, Hanna H-4 stokers, high-speed booster engines, multiple-bearing crosshead guides, and ball-and-socket spring rigging. The Lima engines were seven years old when the class was sidelined after 1956.

Neon to DeCoursey

The class worked mostly on the Kentucky, Cincinnati, Cumberland Valley, and Eastern Kentucky divisions. On the Eastern Kentucky the regular coal train was 9,500 tons, 124 cars, from Neon to DeCoursey, with helpers on the short grades at Jackson and Ravenna. On the Cumberland Valley the trains were 8,300 tons to DeCoursey, with helpers on two grades. DeCoursey was the north end of those coal runs.

During the war and just after it, four M-1s were assigned to passenger service between Cincinnati and Corbin. The May 25, 1952 photograph places No. 1950 at the coal dock in the Corbin yard, on the line of that Cincinnati–Corbin assignment, in the coal work the class was built to do.

The F3 test

In 1948 an M-1 was tested against a three-unit EMD F3 on the Cincinnati–Louisville line. The F3s won. In 1949 the railroad decided to dieselize everything but the coalfield freights. Lima delivered 1970–1991 in that same year. Passenger service was fully dieselized by 1954. The diesels are on the diesel roster.

The M-1s were sidelined after 1956. The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis merger of August 30, 1957, brought enough diesels that by 1959 the last 2-8-4s could be sold for scrap. The last steam operation on the Louisville & Nashville was January 1957, class J-4 Mikado No. 1882, leased to the subsidiary Carrollton Railroad in northern Kentucky.

Specifications

Item	Class M-1
Wheel arrangement	2-8-4
Road numbers	1950–1991. 42 engines
Builders	Baldwin, 1950–1969, in 1942 and 1944. Lima, 1970–1991, in 1949
Drivers	69 in
Cylinders	25 × 32 in
Boiler pressure	265 psi
Tractive effort	65,290 lb
Booster	14,100 lb, for starting
Frames and cylinders	Cast steel
Bearings	Roller bearings
Tender	12-wheel
Fuel	About 12 percent less than the 2-8-2s

The card is the class account on the steam roster, from Charles B. Castner’s chapter in George H. Drury’s Guide to North American Steam Locomotives.

No locomotive saved

No M-1 was saved. The Louisville & Nashville steam locomotive that survives is K-1 Pacific No. 152, in operating condition at the Kentucky Railway Museum. The Big Emmas were scrapped.

Sources

George H. Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, Louisville & Nashville, pp. 201–204. Chapter by Charles B. Castner. Class, specifications, divisions, and the service account
Charles B. Castner, “Big Emma,” Trains, December 1972, p. 22
Kevin P. Keefe, “Most expensive 2-8-4s: L&N’s ‘Big Emma’ M-1s,” Classic Trains, October 27, 2022. Ron Flanary’s price of $268,464 for each engine in the 1949 Lima batch, the inflation figure of $3,320,094 as of that article, and the list of fittings
Richard E. Prince, Louisville & Nashville Steam Locomotives (1968). Recommended roster

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