Boston & Maine Steam Roster (Post 1900)

Last revised: September 18, 2026

Boston & Maine steam is remembered for 137 Moguls that could go anywhere on the railroad. The heavy power was later: Lima 2-8-4s the company called Limas, not Berkshires; Baldwin 4-8-2s with 73-inch drivers; ten named Lima Pacifics with 80-inch drivers. George H. Drury, in Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, is the book for how that fleet sat on one roster. The table below is his post-1900 class grid.

Steam operation ended in 1956. The last engines in regular use were Moguls and P-2 Pacifics. P-4-a 3713, The Constitution, made a ceremonial last run, the Steam Safari, Boston to Portland on April 22, 1956. Everyday steam lasted until July 23, 1956, when P-2s 3654 and 3662 tied up at Boston. 3713 is at Steamtown. The diesels that replaced this fleet are the diesel roster.

Boston and Maine 2-6-0 1495 in local passenger service at Weston, MA in 1955

One of the Boston & Maine's trusty 2-6-0s, #1495, is seen here in local passenger service - her typical assignment - on the Central Massachusetts Division at Weston, Massachusetts on a February morning in 1955. The train is about to cross the Fitchburg Division main line. This was one of four remaining moguls working morning and even local service; they were finally retired by diesels in April, 1956. Skipper Clark photo.

On this page: At a glance · Moguls, Consolidations, Limas, Mountains · Americans, Atlantics, Pacifics · Switchers and oddities · April 22 and July 23, 1956 · All-time roster (built since 1900)

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Boston & Maine. Mark BM. Company Boston & Maine
This roster	Classes built since 1900, after Drury, pages 84–86. Photo: B-15b #1402 Peterborough
Map	Boston–Portland; Fitchburg to Mechanicville through the Hoosac Tunnel; Connecticut River toward Montreal. Largest engines restricted to about 40 percent of the mileage
Everyday freight	137 B-15 Moguls, 1903–10, 63-inch drivers, a little over 70 tons. 135 K-8 Consolidations, 1911–16, 221,200 lb, 63-inch, 24 × 28
Super Power	25 Lima T-1 2-8-4s, 1928–29, called Limas. Coffin heater on the smokebox. 10 to SP, 7 to Santa Fe, 1945. 18 Baldwin R-1 4-8-2s, 1935–41; first 13 to B&O, 1947
Pacifics	70 P-2s, 1911–16. Ten P-4s, Lima 1934 and 1937, 80-inch drivers, 339,200 lb, named. Four P-5-a from DL&W, 1943
Last steam	Ceremonial: P-4-a 3713, Steam Safari, Boston–Portland, April 22, 1956. Everyday: P-2s 3654 and 3662, Boston, July 23, 1956
Survivor	P-4-a 3713 The Constitution, Steamtown National Historic Site. Restoration in progress
Shops	Billerica, Massachusetts

Class table follows Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives (revised edition), pages 84–86. Last everyday date follows Lloyd Stagner via Classic Trains. Information compiled September 18, 2026.

137 Moguls, then K-8s, then Limas that were never quite right

Drury’s freight chapter opens on the B-15s. Manchester and Schenectady built 137 of them between 1903 and 1910. Sixty-three-inch drivers, a little over 70 tons, which meant they could go anywhere on a railroad full of light-rail branches. Many received superheaters and piston valves and lasted into the 1950s on branches and commuters. Number 1402 at Peterborough in January 1956 is that class six months from the end.

Primary freight power for the first two decades of the century was the Consolidation. The largest were class K-8, 221,200 pounds, 63-inch drivers, 24 × 28 cylinders. Baldwin, Schenectady, and Brooks built 135 of them in 1911–16, after the road had already turned to trailing-truck engines for mainline passenger work. The K-7s ahead of them were 170,000-pound 2-8-0s of 1905–10; most went in the 1930s, a few lasted into the 1950s on commuters, others to Vermont short lines. Two K-8s went to the Bangor & Aroostook in 1946. K-8-b 2648 carried a McClellon watertube boiler from 1913 to 1920.

The drag-freight idea continued with twenty 2-10-2s in 1920 and ten more in 1923. B&M skipped the Mikado in its own development; in World War II it briefly leased 2-8-2s from Erie, Lackawanna, and Maine Central. The Santa Fes were fat, ponderous machines with inboard-bearing trailing trucks. They needed a program of bridge work and clearance widening. Eleven S-1-a engines were rebuilt as S-1-c in 1940 for light branches. Eight went to Maine Central.

B&M watched Lima’s A-1 on the Boston & Albany in 1925, then bought 25 2-8-4s of its own in 1928 and 1929, nearly copies of the B&A engines except for 240-pound boiler pressure, 27½ × 30 cylinders, and a Coffin heater on the smokebox front instead of an Elesco. Classed T-1-a and T-1-b, they were known as Limas, not Berkshires. They weighed 406,800 pounds, more than the 2-10-2s, and needed another round of bridges. They were slippery. The Coffin sat where the headlight usually did, so the light went on a platform above the pilot deck; the boiler filled the clearance diagram, and the bell went on the pilot deck too. After the war B&M sold ten to Southern Pacific and seven to Santa Fe. The type encyclopedia is the 2-8-4 page.

Baldwin had offered a light 4-8-4 before the Limas; nothing came of it. In 1931 it offered a heavy 4-8-4; B&M did not want to upgrade the railroad again. Baldwin then proposed a 73-inch-driver 4-8-2 and delivered five, class R-1-a, in early 1935: 416,000 pounds, 79 square feet of grate, Coffin heater in the smokebox like the new P-4-as. Reorders brought the class to 18, last five in 1941, class R-1-d 4113–4117 with pedestal tenders. Names came from contest entries. The first 13, 4100–4112, went to the Baltimore & Ohio in 1947. B&M kept the five R-1-ds as a hedge against diesel shortages. Red-and-white italic lettering went on the R-1s, P-3s, P-4s, and P-5s in the 1940s.

Seventy P-2s, then ten named Limas

The last Americans were 77 A-41s, 1900–11. Atlantics, class J-1, reached 41 by 1909. The first Pacifics came in 1910. Seventy P-2s, Schenectady 1911–16, were the numerous class: 247,700 pounds, 73-inch drivers. Ten P-3-as of 1923 were heavier, still under a USRA light Pacific, with booster trailing trucks. They were the last steam on many commuter runs.

The P-4s were a jump. Baldwin had proposed a 4-6-4; Lima said a 4-6-2 could do it cheaper. Five P-4-as arrived in late 1934, five P-4-bs in early 1937. Weight on 80-inch drivers just short of 70,000 pounds; engine 339,200 pounds; trailer boosters 52,800 pounds starting tractive effort. The P-4-as had smoke lifters and a modest shroud from sand dome to cab. All ten were named. 3713 is The Constitution. They were meant for fast merchandise as well as passenger trains.

Four Lackawanna Pacifics arrived in 1943 and became P-5-a 3696–3699.

0-6-0s, USRA 0-8-0s, and a few oddities

Yard power was G-class 0-6-0s in quantity: G-10 200–309, 110 Manchester engines of 1903–10; G-11 400–429; G-11-b 430–452, Brooks 1916, among the last 0-6-0s. Heavier 0-8-0s were H-2-a 610–631, USRA copies, Schenectady 1922—four to BAR, one to Maine Central, in 1946—and H-3 640–654, Baldwin 1927 and 1929.

Four oil-burning 2-6-6-2s, M-1 3000–3003, were bought in 1910 for the 4¾-mile Hoosac Tunnel. Electrification opened within six months. B&M sold the Mallets to Maine Central in 1911–12. Two 0-8-0s, M-2-a 800–801, came from Schenectady in 1922 for the Mechanicville hump and went to Bingham & Garfield in Utah in 1929. The 1900 Fitchburg lease brought 18 new 4-8-0s, L-1-a and L-1-b, simpled in 1904, gone by 1926.

3713 to Portland, then two P-2s at Boston

The largest engines—P-4s, T-1s, R-1s—were restricted to the mains: Boston–Portland; Boston–White River Junction; Boston–Troy and Mechanicville; Worcester–Gardner; Worcester–Ayer–Lowell Junction; Springfield–White River Junction. Those lines were about 40 percent of the mileage and most of the traffic. Eastbound from Mechanicville the grade averaged about 0.5 percent for almost 50 miles to the summit in Hoosac Tunnel, then up to 1 percent from the Connecticut River to Gardner.

Drury puts steam operation ending in 1956, last regular engines Moguls and P-2s, ceremonial last run 3713 to Portland on April 22. Lloyd Stagner, via Classic Trains, names the last everyday steam: P-2s 3654 and 3662, Boston, July 23, 1956. That is the commuter date on the company page. 3713 was kept on standby at Boston Engine Terminal for snow-melter service that winter. F. Nelson Blount bought her in 1958. She is at Steamtown. The FTs, GP7s, and RS-3s that closed this roster are the diesel page.

All-time roster (built since 1900)

Drury’s grid is classes built from 1900 on. Quantities are his. Retirement years are the span he prints. Builder “Manchester,” “Schenectady,” “Brooks,” and “Rhode Island” are Alco works. B-15 is 137 engines from 1360 up, not a consecutive 1360–1499 block. Pre-1900 suburban tanks sit in the oddities paragraph, not in a second table.

Type	Class	Numbers	Qty	Builder	Built	Retired	Notes
0-6-0	G-9-b	160–185	18	Manchester	1899–1901	1926–1927	Not sequential
0-6-0	G-10	200–309	110	Manchester	1903–1910	1927–1949
0-6-0	G-9-c	190–199	10	Baldwin	1902–1903	1926–1928
0-6-0	G-11	400–429	30	Manchester	1911, 1913	1947–1953
0-6-0	G-11-b	430–452	23	Brooks	1916	1953–1955
0-6-0	G-11-c	830–832	4	Schenectady	1917–1920	1952–1953	Portland Terminal, 1951
0-8-0	H-1-a	600, 601	2	Schenectady	1916	—	To Portland Terminal, 1935
0-8-0	H-2-a	610–631	22	Schenectady	1922	1946–1955	USRA copies. 4 to BAR, 1 to MEC, 1946
0-8-0	H-3	640–654	15	Baldwin	1927, 1929	1951–1953
0-8-0	M-2-a	800, 801	2	Schenectady	1922	—	Mechanicville hump. To Bingham & Garfield, 1929
2-6-0	B-15	1360– (various)	137	Manchester, Schenectady	1903–1910	1927–1955	63-inch drivers, ~70 tons. Photo: #1495 Weston, MA
2-8-0	K-5	2310–2343	34	Schenectady	1901–1902	1926–1936
2-8-0	K-6	2350–2359	10	Schenectady	1901–1902	1928–1936	Cross-compounds simpled at Billerica, 1910–19
2-8-0	K-7	2360–2429	66	Schenectady	1905–1911	1928–1955	170,000 lb
2-8-0	K-8	2600–2734	135	Baldwin, Schenectady, Brooks	1911–1916	1937–1954	221,200 lb, 63-inch, 24 × 28. 2 to BAR, 1946. 2648 McClellon boiler 1913–20
2-8-4	T-1	4000–4024	25	Lima	1928–1929	1948–1955	Limas, not Berkshires. Coffin on smokebox. 406,800 lb. 10 to SP, 7 to Santa Fe, 1945
2-10-2	S-1-a	3000–3019	20	Schenectady	1920	1946–1949	11 rebuilt S-1-c, 1940. 8 to MEC, 1936–47
2-10-2	S-1-b	3020–3029	10	Schenectady	1923	1940–1948
2-6-6-2	M-1	3000–3003	4	Schenectady	1910	—	Oil burners for Hoosac. To MEC 1911–12 after electrification
4-4-0	A-40-b	944–949	6	Manchester	1900	1926–1927	Ex-Fitchburg
4-4-0	A-41	950–1029	77	Manchester, Baldwin	1900–1911	1926–1947	Last Americans
4-4-0	A-45	1133–1136	4	Schenectady	1900	1926–1935	Ex-Fitchburg
4-4-0	A-46	1170–1173	4	Baldwin	1900	1926–1929
4-4-2	J-1	3204–3244	41	Schenectady, Manchester	1902–1909	1927–1952
4-6-0	C-15-c	2020–2025	6	Rhode Island	1900	1927–1928
4-6-0	C-17	2060–2064	5	Rhode Island	1900	1927–1928
4-6-0	C-20	1057–1060	4	Baldwin	1900	1928	Ex-Fitchburg. Also numbered 2076–2079
4-6-0	C-21	2100–2129	26	Schenectady	1904–1906	1935–1937	Not sequential
4-6-2	P-1	3600–3611	12	Schenectady	1910	1938–1952	236,700 lb
4-6-2	P-2	3620–3689	70	Schenectady	1911–1916	1956	247,700 lb, 73-inch. Last everyday steam 3654 and 3662, July 23, 1956
4-6-2	P-3-a	3700–3709	10	Schenectady	1923	1952–1955	267,800 lb. Booster
4-6-2	P-4	3710–3719	10	Lima	1934, 1937	1953–1954	80-inch, 339,200 lb. Named. 3713 The Constitution, Steamtown; ceremonial last run April 22, 1956
4-6-2	P-5-a	3696–3699	4	Brooks	1924	1951–1952	Ex-DL&W, 1943
4-8-0	L-1-a	2900–2909	10	Schenectady	1899	1926	Ex-Fitchburg. Simpled 1904
4-8-0	L-1-b	2910–2917	8	Rhode Island	1900	1926	Ex-Fitchburg. Simpled 1904
4-8-2	R-1	4100–4117	18	Baldwin	1935–1941	1955–1956	73-inch. 4100–4112 to B&O, 1947. R-1-d 4113–4117 pedestal tenders

Sources

Drury, George H. Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, pp. 84–86. Post-1900 class table; 137 B-15 Moguls; K-8 weight; T-1s as Limas; R-1 to B&O 1947; P-4 dimensions and names; ceremonial last run 3713 April 22, 1956; recommended Frye, Minuteman Steam
Frye, Harry A. Minuteman Steam. Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society, 1982. ISBN 0-916578-05-4
Stagner, Lloyd. American Steam Finale, 1954–1970. South Platte Press, 2001. Last everyday steam July 23, 1956, P-2s 3654 and 3662, Boston
Classic Trains. “Remembering the Boston & Maine Railroad.” Last steam in commuter service July 23, 1956; 109 RDCs
Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society. bmrrhs.org. Drury’s historical society note
Railroad magazine. Published B&M rosters: April 1933, p. 88; January 1946, p. 100; October 1956, p. 54
American-Rails.com, Boston & Maine. Last commuter steam July 23, 1956; P-4 3713 The Constitution
American-Rails.com, B&M diesel roster. FTs, GP7s, and RS-3s that closed steam

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