Chicago & North Western Class E-4: Streamlined 4-6-4 Hudsons

Published: October 22, 2026

The Chicago & North Western’s last new steam locomotives were nine streamlined 4-6-4s. Class E-4, numbers 4001–4009, came from Alco’s Schenectady works in March and April 1938. They had 84-inch drivers, 25-by-29-inch cylinders, and a shroud with a sloping nose that left the running gear in the open. The railroad painted them dark olive green with gold striping. In most dimensions they were similar to the Milwaukee Road’s class F-7 Hudsons, steam 4-6-4s which Alco built the same year with 23½-by-30-inch cylinders.

George H. Drury assigns the E-4s to conventional trains between Chicago and Omaha. They were not the power of the 400s. The company history is the Chicago & North Western. The post-1900 class grid is the steam roster. This page is the nine engines. Number 4009, below, was still on the road at Council Bluffs on June 23, 1953.

Chicago and North Western Class E-4 4-6-4 4009 at Council Bluffs, Iowa, on June 23, 1953, with what appears to be a mail train

Chicago & North Western Class E-4 4-6-4 #4009 at Council Bluffs, Iowa, on June 23, 1953. The consist appears to be a mail train. Photographer unknown. American-Rails.com collection.

On this page: At a glance · Schenectady, 1938 · Eight tubes and 196 flues · Chicago to Omaha · Coal, then oil · Specifications · Roster · 1953 to 1956

At a glance

Item	Detail
What they are	Nine streamlined 4-6-4s, class E-4, numbers 4001–4009. The North Western’s last new steam
Builder	Alco, Schenectady. Works 68982–68987 in March 1938. Works 68988, 68989, and 69028 in April 1938
Drivers, cylinders, pressure	84 in. 25 × 29 in. 300 psi. Starting tractive effort 55,022 lb. Baker valve gear
Weight	Engine 412,000 lb. On drivers 216,000 lb. Coal tender 360,000 lb. Engine and tender 772,000 lb
Paint and shroud	Dark olive green with gold striping. Sloping nose. Running gear left in the open
Assignment	Conventional trains between Chicago and Omaha. They were not the power of the 400s
Fuel	Built as coal burners, 25 tons, with 20,000 gallons of water. Converted to oil in 1947 and 1948
Retired	1953–1956. None of the nine was preserved

Dimensions follow Steve Llanso, Locobase 180, from the 1947 Locomotive Cyclopedia and the Chicago & North Western diagram book of October 1952. The assignment, the olive paint, the cylinder comparison, and the oil years 1947 and 1948 are George H. Drury. Information compiled October 22, 2026.

Schenectady, 1938

Alco delivered the class in two calendar months. Works 68982–68987 left Schenectady in March 1938, six engines. Works 68988, 68989, and 69028 followed in April, the last of them on a works number that sits apart from the first eight. The road numbers were 4001–4009. The published lists give those works numbers as a block. They do not pair each works number with a road number.

Drury’s comparison with the Milwaukee Road is the cylinder. The E-4s used 25-by-29-inch cylinders. The F-7s used 23½-by-30-inch cylinders. Both classes had 84-inch drivers, and both came from the same builder in the same year. The North Western engines were streamlined in a shroud with a sloping nose and an open view of the running gear, and they were painted dark olive green with gold striping. The photograph of 4009 shows that finish still on the engine in 1953: gold lines on a dark shell, drivers and rods uncovered, the number in the headlight board.

Two class E Pacifics, 1617 and 1620, were streamlined in 1941 for the Minnesota 400. Their casings followed this Hudson contour and were painted yellow and green. Crews called that pair Yellow Jackets. They were Pacifics. The olive engines with the gold striping were these nine Hudsons.

Eight tubes and 196 flues

The boiler is the part of the design that does not match a usual passenger engine of the period. Locobase, working from the 1947 cyclopedia tables and the October 1952 diagrams, records eight tubes of 2-inch diameter and 196 flues of 3.5-inch diameter, in a tube length of 19 feet. Steve Llanso’s comparison with the Milwaukee F-7s puts the same surface in a more usual mix on those engines: 60 tubes of 2¼ inches and 164 flues of 3½ inches, and about 220 more square feet of that surface. The E-4 put almost all of the tube bank into the flues.

The firebox heating surface was 507 square feet, and 140 square feet of that figure sat in two thermic syphons (119) and two arch tubes (21). Grate area was 90.70 square feet. Evaporative heating surface was 3,958 square feet. The superheater contributed 1,884, and the combined heating surface was 5,842. Boiler pressure was 300 pounds. With 84-inch drivers and the 25-by-29-inch cylinders, the starting tractive effort was 55,022 pounds. Weight on the drivers was 216,000 pounds, and the factor of adhesion was 3.93.

Valve gear was Baker. Piston valves were 12 inches in diameter on seven of the engines and 14 inches on the other two. The account does not say which two carried the larger valves. Driver wheelbase was 14.67 feet. Engine wheelbase was 42.33 feet. Engine and tender together, the wheelbase was 88.98 feet.

Chicago to Omaha

Railway Mechanical Engineer for August 1938, in the account Llanso uses, treats the design as a Chicago–Minneapolis locomotive: 400 miles in 400 minutes, set against the Milwaukee Road’s Hiawatha. The Twin Cities 400 was already running by then. It had opened on January 2, 1935, and Electro-Motive took that train in 1939. Drury’s assignment for the Hudsons is the one the railroad ran. They worked conventional trains between Chicago and Omaha. They were not the power of the 400s.

Council Bluffs was the west end of that run, across the river from Omaha. The June 23, 1953, photograph shows 4009 there with a head-end consist that appears to be a mail train. The class spent its road career on that Chicago–Omaha passenger main. Drury does not give the individual train names.

Coal, then oil

The engines were built as coal burners. The cyclopedia figures Llanso prints are a 25-ton coal supply, 20,000 gallons of water, a tender of 360,000 pounds, an engine of 412,000 pounds, and a combined weight of 772,000 pounds. Drury dates the conversion to oil to 1947 and 1948. After the change, the tender still carried 20,000 gallons of water and took 6,000 gallons of oil. That oil-burning tender is given at 379,500 pounds, against 360,000 for the coal tender.

The 1953 view of 4009 is an oil-burning engine. The shroud and the gold striping were still on her. The class kept the streamlined shell through the years it was in road service.

Specifications

Figures in this table are the coal-burning engine in Locobase 180, except the oil tender, which is the later state in the same account. Drury supplies the cylinder comparison, the paint, the assignment, and the years of the oil conversion.

Item	Detail
Class / numbers	E-4. 4001–4009. Nine engines
Builder / date	Alco-Schenectady. March and April 1938
Works numbers	68982–68987, March 1938. 68988, 68989, and 69028, April 1938
Wheel arrangement	4-6-4. Driver diameter 84 in
Cylinders	Two, 25 × 29 in. Boiler pressure 300 psi
Tractive effort	55,022 lb. Factor of adhesion 3.93
Valve gear	Baker. Piston valves 12 in on seven engines, 14 in on two
Wheelbase	Drivers 14.67 ft. Engine 42.33 ft. Engine and tender 88.98 ft
Weight	On drivers 216,000 lb. Engine 412,000 lb. Coal tender 360,000 lb. Combined 772,000 lb
Tender, as built	Water 20,000 gal. Coal 25 tons
Tender, oil	Water 20,000 gal. Oil 6,000 gal. Tender weight 379,500 lb
Tubes and flues	8 tubes, 2 in diameter. 196 flues, 3.5 in diameter. Length 19 ft
Firebox / grate	Firebox 507 sq ft, including syphons 119 and arch tubes 21. Grate 90.70 sq ft
Heating surface	Evaporative 3,958 sq ft. Superheater 1,884 sq ft. Combined 5,842 sq ft

Roster

One class, nine locomotives, each frame once. The retired cell is Drury’s span for the class. The works numbers are the Schenectady block, not a road-number key.

Class	Numbers	Builder	Built	Qty	Retired	Notes
E-4	4001–4009	Alco-Schenectady	March–April 1938	9	1953–1956	Works 68982–68987 in March; 68988, 68989, and 69028 in April

1953 to 1956

Drury retires the class from 1953 through 1956. Number 4009 was still at work at Council Bluffs on June 23, 1953, so the span opens while at least one engine was on the road. None of the nine was preserved. They were the last steam locomotives the North Western bought new. They were not the last steam the railroad ran. That last regular steam assignment was a 4-6-2 on a commuter train, on May 10, 1956, and it belongs to the company history and the steam roster.

Sources

George H. Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, the Chicago & North Western chapter, pp. 119–121. Nine streamlined Hudsons from Alco in 1938, 84-inch drivers, cylinders 25 × 29 against 23½ × 30 on the Milwaukee Road engines, dark olive green with gold striping, conventional trains between Chicago and Omaha, oil in 1947 and 1948, and the railroad’s last new steam. The roster row on p. 120: class E-4, 4001–4009, quantity 9, Alco, 1938, retired 1953–1956, note blank. The same chapter’s note that class E Pacifics 1617 and 1620 were streamlined in 1941 for the Minnesota 400.
Steve Llanso, Locobase 180, “Class E-4,” steamlocomotive.com, read October 22, 2026. Data from tables in the 1947 Locomotive Cyclopedia, and from Chicago & North Western locomotive diagrams of October 1952 supplied in August 2013 by Allen Stanley. Works numbers 68982–68987 in March 1938 and 68988, 68989, and 69028 in April. The dimension table: 84-inch drivers, 25 × 29, 300 psi, 55,022 pounds, Baker valve gear, 216,000 and 412,000 and 360,000 and 772,000 pounds, 20,000 gallons and 25 tons, wheelbases 14.67, 42.33, and 88.98 feet, eight 2-inch tubes, 196 flues of 3.5 inches, 19-foot length, firebox 507 and grate 90.70, evaporative 3,958, superheater 1,884, combined 5,842, factor of adhesion 3.93. Firebox detail: 140 square feet in two thermic syphons (119) and two arch tubes (21). Piston valves 12 inches on seven engines and 14 inches on two. Oil tender: 20,000 gallons of water, 6,000 gallons of oil, 379,500 pounds. The shroud with a sloping nose and an open view of the running gear. The F-7 comparison of 60 tubes and 164 flues, and about 220 more square feet.
“Chicago & North Western Installs Heavy 4-6-4 Locomotives,” Railway Mechanical Engineer, August 1938, pp. 287–289, as cited by Llanso. The Chicago–Minneapolis development, 400 miles in 400 minutes, against the Milwaukee Road Hiawatha.
Jim Scribbins, The 400 Story. The casings on 1617 and 1620 followed the E-4 contour and were painted yellow and green, the account already used on the steam roster. The Twin Cities 400 date of January 2, 1935, is the company history.
“Chicago and North Western E-4 class,” Wikipedia, read October 22, 2026. Disposition: all scrapped. None of the nine was preserved.

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