Chicago & Illinois Midland Steam Roster (Post 1900)

Published: October 20, 2026

The Chicago & Illinois Midland bought small locomotives for a short coal railroad, and then, once the line reached Pekin, it bought 2-10-2s. The table below is George H. Drury’s list of steam locomotives built since 1900, 57 engines. A renumber is the same engine. Eight-wheel switchers are 7. Consolidations are 13. Mikados are 8. Santa Fe types are 26. Americans are 3. The last steam-powered road train ran on November 22, 1955.

Chicago and Illinois Midland 2-8-2 552 at Pekin, Illinois, circa 1953

2-8-2 552 at Pekin, Illinois, circa 1953, late in its career. Class F-4, built by Lima in 1931, and sold for scrap in 1955. Fred Byerly photo. American-Rails.com collection.

On this page: At a glance · Switchers · Consolidations · Mikados · Santa Fe types · Americans · Roster

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Chicago & Illinois Midland. Mark CIM. Company history
This table	Steam locomotives built since 1900, in Drury’s class order. A renumber is the same engine
0-8-0	7. D-2 2, the last new steam, Lima 1937. D-3 2, from the Manufacturers Railway. D-4 3, from the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal
2-8-0	13. Brooks engines from 1902 to 1910, two from the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie, and seven from the Peoria & Eastern
2-8-2	8. E-1, E-2, and E-3, the 51-inch engines, and F-5, the two from the Lackawanna
2-10-2	26. Four built new for the grades, nine from the Wabash, four from Lima in 1931, and nine from the Atlantic Coast Line
4-4-0	3. Baldwin, 1927–1928, for the Springfield–Peoria passenger trains
Total	57
Last steam	Road train, November 22, 1955, five days after the first SD9. Switchers through December 5, 1955

Switchers

The last new steam on the railroad was a pair of Lima eight-wheel switchers, class D-2, numbers 540 and 541, built in 1937 for Springfield and Havana. They lasted until the diesels, and the table retires them in 1955.

Two more 0-8-0s, class D-3, numbers 545 and 546, were Baldwin engines of 1929 bought from the Manufacturers Railway. The table marks them Ex-MRS. Three Lima engines of 1926, class D-4, numbers 547–549, came from the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal, two in 1949 and a third in 1953. The eight-wheel switchers are 7.

Consolidations

In 1904 the Pawnee railroad bought a pair of Brooks 2-8-0s, numbers 2 and 3, to replace old Americans, and a third 2-8-0. Number 2 had been built for a Peabody subsidiary, assigned to this railroad, and it went to the Iron Mountain when that subsidiary was sold. The table retires 2 and 3 in 1910 and 1920. Number 504, class B-1, a Brooks engine of 1906, had been number 4 and was retired in 1939. Another Consolidation was sold to the Midland Terminal. Number 510, class C-1, was a Brooks engine of 1910 built for the Buffalo & Susquehanna and not delivered there.

The Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis purchase brought no locomotives. Its newest power, eleven Consolidations built in 1913, was fit only for scrap. The Chicago & Illinois Midland then bought secondhand 2-8-0s and leased a few engines from the Illinois Central and the Wabash. The leases are not rows.

Class D-1, numbers 519 and 520, were Pittsburgh engines of 1903 from the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie, retired in 1935. Classes F-1, F-2, and F-3, numbers 530–536, were Brooks engines of 1902 and 1903 from the Peoria & Eastern, retired in 1933. The Consolidations in this table are 13.

During the First World War, with the builders’ capacity in the hands of the United States Railroad Administration, the railroad bought a pair of 30-year-old Moguls from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and assigned them to passenger trains, which released Consolidations to freight.

Mikados

The home-road Mikados were low-drivered mine and road engines, with 51-inch drivers. Brooks built class E-1, numbers 521 and 522, in 1914. Two Consolidations went to passenger service in their place and released a pair of secondhand Americans whose earlier owners are uncertain. Class E-2, numbers 523 and 524, came from Brooks in 1918 to the same dimensions, with Southern valve gear instead of Walschaerts. Number 23 was renumbered 523. The table uses the later numbers and retires the pair in 1945 and 1944, in that order.

In 1934 the railroad bought a pair of 51-inch Mikados from the Chesapeake & Ohio, former Sewell Valley engines. They are class E-3, numbers 525 and 526, Lima engines built in 1922 and 1923, retired in 1948. In 1945 it bought two heavy Mikados from the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. They are class F-5, numbers 560 and 561, Schenectady engines built in 1922 and 1923, retired in 1951. The Mikados in the table are 8.

Lima also built 550 and 551 in 1928, with steam heat and signal lines, for the rare passenger train that was more than a 4-4-0 could handle, and a further Lima 2-8-2 in 1931. The photograph above is that 1931 engine, 552. The caption records it as class F-4.

Santa Fe types

The Springfield–Peoria line had heavy grades at the Sangamon River. With the 1927 Americans the railroad took a pair of Baldwin 2-10-2s, class G-1, numbers 600 and 601, instead of more Mikados. Class G-2, numbers 602 and 603, followed from Baldwin in 1929. All four lasted until 1955.

Beginning in 1940 the railroad bought former Wabash 2-10-2s on the used market, and it bought more through about 1950. The table holds them as one class, G-4, numbers 651–659, nine Brooks engines of 1917, retired from 1952 through 1955. Their small tenders were replaced with large New York Central tenders. When the Wabash engines were scrapped, those tenders replaced the Vanderbilt tenders on the Atlantic Coast Line engines.

Four 2-10-2s came from Lima in 1931, class H-1, numbers 700–703, retired in 1955. The same year produced the extra Mikado in the photograph, which is not a fifth H-1. In 1951 the railroad bought two 2-10-2s from the Atlantic Coast Line and went straight back for more. The table’s count is nine, class H-2, numbers 751–759, Baldwin engines of 1925 and 1926, retired in 1955. The Santa Fe types are 26.

Chicago and Illinois Midland 2-10-2 751 at Springfield, Illinois, circa 1953

2-10-2 751 at Springfield, Illinois, circa 1953. One of nine, 751–759, acquired from the Atlantic Coast Line in 1951. The fleet was retired and scrapped in 1955. Fred Byerly photo. American-Rails.com collection.

On the Hill north of Petersburg a single 2-10-2 took a running start and then cut a 60-car train into pieces of about 20. That was still steam practice when Trains rode the railroad in 1955. Electro-Motive had loaned a pair of Milwaukee Road SD9s. The first SD9 of the railroad’s own order was delivered on November 17, 1955. The last steam-powered road train ran on November 22. Steam switchers worked through December 5, 1955. The August 1955 issue put the steam still on the property, the engines those eleven diesels replaced, at 26.

Americans

Two Baldwin 4-4-0s came for the 1927 passenger trains, and a third in 1928 as a spare. They are class A-1, numbers 500–502, retired from 1950 through 1953. A light American was enough for two- and three-car trains. By the late 1940s the service was one weekday round trip. Number 501 was sold for scrap once two engines were enough. The last passenger train ran on May 8, 1953, at Kilbourne, and the other two Americans were scrapped soon afterward.

Roster

The quantity column sums to 57. Where the photographed cell gives two years separated by a comma, that is the cell below. A span is printed as a span. A blank class cell is an em dash. MRS in the D-3 note is the Manufacturers Railway.

Type	Class	Numbers	Qty	Builder	Built	Retired	Notes
0-8-0	D-2	540, 541	2	Lima	1937	1955
0-8-0	D-3	545, 546	2	Baldwin	1929	1955	Ex-MRS
0-8-0	D-4	547–549	3	Lima	1926	1955	Ex-Kentucky & Indiana Terminal
2-8-0	—	2, 3	2	Brooks	1904	1910, 1920
2-8-0	B-1	504	1	Brooks	1906	1939	Originally no. 4
2-8-0	C-1	510	1	Brooks	1910	1938	Built for the Buffalo & Susquehanna
2-8-0	D-1	519, 520	2	Pittsburgh	1903	1935	Ex-Pittsburgh & Lake Erie
2-8-0	F-1	530	1	Brooks	1902	1933	Ex-Peoria & Eastern
2-8-0	F-2	531–533	3	Brooks	1902	1933	Ex-Peoria & Eastern
2-8-0	F-3	534–536	3	Brooks	1902–1903	1933	Ex-Peoria & Eastern
2-8-2	E-1	521, 522	2	Brooks	1914	1940
2-8-2	E-2	523, 524	2	Brooks	1918	1945, 1944
2-8-2	E-3	525, 526	2	Lima	1922, 1923	1948
2-8-2	F-5	560, 561	2	Schenectady	1922, 1923	1951	Ex-Delaware, Lackawanna & Western
2-10-2	G-1	600, 601	2	Baldwin	1927	1955
2-10-2	G-2	602–603	2	Baldwin	1929	1955
2-10-2	G-4	651–659	9	Brooks	1917	1952–1955	Ex-Wabash
2-10-2	H-1	700–703	4	Lima	1931	1955
2-10-2	H-2	751–759	9	Baldwin	1925–1926	1955	Ex-Atlantic Coast Line
4-4-0	A-1	500–502	3	Baldwin	1927–1928	1950–1953

Sources

George H. Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, the Chicago & Illinois Midland chapter, pp. 116–117, and the table of steam locomotives built since 1900. The class grid above. The 1904 Brooks pair, number 2 and the Iron Mountain, 504 as the old number 4, 510 built for the Buffalo & Susquehanna, the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie and Peoria & Eastern Consolidations, and the Midland Terminal sale. The Manufacturers Railway 0-8-0s. The Kentucky & Indiana Terminal engines, two in 1949 and a third in 1953. The 51-inch Mikados, Southern valve gear on the E-2s, the 1934 Chesapeake & Ohio pair from the Sewell Valley, and the 1945 Lackawanna pair. Lima 550 and 551 in 1928, and the Lima 2-8-2 of 1931. The 1927 2-10-2s for the Sangamon grades, the Wabash engines and the New York Central tenders, the four Lima 2-10-2s of 1931, and the nine Atlantic Coast Line engines of 1951. Americans 500–502, 501 sold for scrap, and the last passenger run in 1953. Trains, August 1955, p. 26, and Railroad Magazine, July 1954, p. 80, are the rosters Drury cites. Drury’s recommended reading is Richard R. Wallin, Paul Stringham, and John Szwajkart, Chicago & Illinois Midland (Golden West Books, 1979).
J. P. Lamb Jr., “C&IM Revisited,” Trains, March 1960. The 1.64 percent grade north of Petersburg and cuts of about 20 cars on a train of about 60.
Trains, August 1955, “Oasis in Dieseldom,” David P. Morgan, photographs by Philip R. Hastings. The figure of 26 steam locomotives is the figure carried with that article. It is the fleet the eleven diesels of 1955 replaced. It is not the 57 in this table.
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Chronicling Illinois, item 29401. The final passenger train at Kilbourne on May 8, 1953.
The company page holds the February 1, 1906 takeover, the November 20, 1924 sale, and the certificate of February 13, 1926. The first SD9 on November 17, 1955, the last steam road train on November 22, and the last steam switchers on December 5, are Drury’s dates.

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