Milwaukee Road Steam Roster (All-Time): Post-1900

Last revised: October 26, 2026

The Milwaukee Road’s steam was a prairie railroad that also had to live beside an electrified mountain line. East of Harlowton the grain, the Indiana coal, and the Upper Michigan ore moved behind Prairies and Mikados, and after 1935 the Hiawatha ran behind the fastest Atlantics and Hudsons the Midwest owned. West of Three Forks the steam that remained burned oil, because the two electric districts, Harlowton to Avery and Othello to the coast, took the mountain work other western roads assigned to articulateds.

American Locomotive builder photograph of Milwaukee Road 4-6-4 100, class F7, at Schenectady in August 1938

An American Locomotive builder’s photo featuring recently-completed Milwaukee Road 4-6-4 #100 (F-7) at the company’s plant in Schenectady, New York during August of 1938. Yes, the caption is correct (“Speed in excess of 120 mph”); these things could fly!

On this page: At a glance · Switchers · Prairies and Mikados · Articulateds · 4-8-4s · Passenger power · The last steam · Roster

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Milwaukee Road. Company history
This table	Steam locomotives built since 1900. A rebuild that was given a new class is listed again
Quantity column	1,974
Locomotives	1,951, after the second listings are taken out once
Switchers	The I5 0-6-0 became the standard. Milwaukee Shops built 161 of them in 1900–1913
Freight	195 class K1 Prairies. 100 United States Railroad Administration heavy 2-8-2s, class L3, the largest such assignment to any railroad
Articulateds	The N-class 2-6-6-2s only. Seventeen N1s were simpled as N3s in 1929–1931
Dual service	One Baldwin 4-8-4 in April 1930, a second from the shops in February 1938, forty S2s, and ten S3s
Last official steam trip	January 4, 1955. Local freight 91, La Crosse to St. Paul, behind an S2
Last steam operation	Ten-Wheeler 1004, trains 158 and 157, Austin, Minnesota, to La Crosse, the night of March 15–16, 1957
Preserved	S3 261, with the Friends of the 261

Switchers

Letter classes were in use by 1892, and a letter plus a numeral by 1899. The big switcher class was the I5 0-6-0. Milwaukee Shops built 161 of them between 1900 and 1913, and the I5 became the standard yard engine, at 23,800 pounds of tractive effort. The later I6s were the last of the six-wheel switchers built new. Two Baldwin 0-8-0s, class D1, came with the Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern. A few small Shays and a pair of Moguls, class NM2, worked the steep industrial tracks and are in the freight table with the other oddities.

Prairies and Mikados

The numerous twentieth-century freight engine, before the Mikados, was the class K1 Prairie. There were 195 of them, with 63-inch drivers, sized for the trains that ran from the Twin Cities to Harlowton. In practice the 2-6-2s worked as far west as Alberton and needed helpers on the grades. Lignite from Roundup, Montana, asked for a large firebox, which is why the Prairie wheel arrangement was chosen. One more, class K1a, was the former Peoria & Eastern 102.

During the First World War the railroad received 100 United States Railroad Administration heavy 2-8-2s, class L3. Fifty came from Brooks in 1918 and fifty from Schenectady in 1919. Tractive effort was nearly 63,000 pounds, and no other railroad was assigned so many of the heavy Mikes. They worked Minneapolis to Harlowton, the Indiana coal, and the Upper Michigan ore. The L1s and L2s were the railroad’s own Mikados, built at Milwaukee and by Alco and Baldwin across a decade, and they were the freight engine of the 1920s and 1930s on the eastern lines.

Oil firing arrived with the Idaho forest fires of 1910. After the Rocky Mountain electrification, every steam locomotive west of Three Forks burned oil. The Hiawatha, in May 1935, is what brought oil-fired power to the east.

Articulateds

The only articulateds were 2-6-6-2s. Class N1 was twenty-five compound engines from Schenectady in 1910 and 1911, numbers 5000–5024 and later 9500–9524, with 57-inch drivers, 70,396 pounds of tractive effort, and oil fuel, for the Bitter Roots. Class N2 was sixteen superheated engines in 1912. Between 1929 and 1931 the shops simpled seventeen of the N1s and reclassed them N3, numbers 50–66. The two electric districts meant the railroad never went on to the articulateds the other western roads built. The N3s were retired from 1950 through 1954.

4-8-4s

Class S1 began as a single Baldwin 4-8-4, built in April 1930 and numbered 9700. It had 74-inch drivers and 62,136 pounds of tractive effort, and it was assigned the 915 miles from Minneapolis to Harlowton. The railroad called it a Modified Mountain. It was later numbered 250. The second S1, No. 251, was the last steam locomotive Milwaukee Shops built, in February 1938. It burned oil and went to the Idaho Division. Both S1s were in passenger service during the Second World War.

Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 208, class S2, northbound at Techny, Illinois, in December 1946

Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 #208 (S-2) is working freight service as the big Northern steams northbound at Techny, Illinois on a December evening in 1946. Photographer unknown.

Class S2 was the main Northern fleet: thirty from Baldwin in 1937 and 1938, and ten more in the spring of 1940, forty engines, 1938 numbers 200–240. They had 74-inch drivers, 26×32-inch cylinders, 285 pounds of boiler pressure, and 70,816 pounds of tractive effort. Their work was the time freights, Bensenville to St. Paul and Bensenville to Council Bluffs, and later as far as Harlowton. Clearance and weight kept them out of Chicago Union Station. The only passenger job was the Olympian west of Minneapolis, when the consist ran past twelve cars. In 1950 four were converted to oil and sent to the Idaho Division, including assignments on the Olympian Hiawatha. No. 200 was later numbered 230. It is the same locomotive, and it is one row in the table.

Class S3 was ten Alco 4-8-4s of July and September 1944, numbers 260–269, a wartime design that mixed Delaware & Hudson, Rock Island, and Union Pacific tender practice. They had 74-inch drivers, 26×32-inch cylinders, 250 pounds of pressure, and 62,119 pounds of tractive effort, and they were true dual-service engines. Four were oil-fired and sent to Idaho in 1950. No. 261 is the survivor, kept by the Friends of the 261.

Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 208 at Rondout IL in 1946

Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 #208 steams across the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern diamond at Rondout, Illinois in June, 1946. Photographer unknown.

Passenger power

The Hiawatha engines are the ones people remember. Four Class A 4-4-2s, numbers 1–4, came from Alco in 1935, 1936, and 1937. The cars were built at Milwaukee Shops. The engines were not. Their page is the Class A. When the trains grew heavier, Alco built six Class F7 4-6-4s in 1938, numbers 100–105. Both classes were timed for running above 100 miles an hour on the prairie racetrack between Chicago and the Twin Cities. The signs along that line read “Reduce to 90.”

Two Ten-Wheelers, 2765 and 2769, built in 1925 and 1926 and otherwise class G6, were streamlined in 1936 and 1937 for the North Woods Hiawatha. The shrouding came off in 1945, and in 1948 they were numbered 1111 and 1112. They are listed again, once in the passenger table and once inside the G6 row. Pacifics 6157 and 6160, built as F3s, were given Hudson-style shrouds at the shops in the summer of 1941 for the Chippewa-Hiawatha. F5s 810 and 812 were shrouded the same summer for the Manilla–Sioux Falls section of the Midwest Hiawatha. The earlier F6 Hudsons, Baldwin engines of 1930 and 1931, numbers 125–146 in the 1938 list, were the passenger power the F7s outgrew.

The last steam

Major steam repairs stopped in 1953. The official last steam trip was January 4, 1955, local freight 91 from La Crosse to St. Paul behind an S2 4-8-4. The last steam operation that has been confirmed was later, and smaller: Ten-Wheeler 1004 on passenger trains 158 and 157, between Austin, Minnesota, and La Crosse, on the night of March 15–16, 1957. The electric locomotives were still running. They ran until June 1974. Steam preserved from this roster is S3 261.

Roster

The quantity column adds to 1,974. Twenty-three listings are the same frames a second time: Pacifics 6157 and 6160, also inside the F3s; Pacifics 6301 and 6320, also inside the F5s; the seventeen N3s rebuilt from N1s; and the two streamlined G engines, 2765 and 2769, also inside class G6. Counted once, the locomotives are 1,951. A Ten-Wheeler rebuilt from a compound and given a G class stays in both rows. The quantities do not match one for one, and both rows are how the railroad listed them. Where a 1938 number series is shorter or longer than the quantity, the quantity is the figure in the table.

Switchers

Wheel Arrangement	Class	1912 Road Number(s)	1938 Road Number(s)	Quantity	Builder	Completion Date(s)	Retirement	Notes
0-6-0	I4a	1137-1159	—	23	CM&StP	1900-1902	1926-1930	—
0-6-0	I5	1160-1165	—	6	CM&StP	1902-1903	1931-1934	—
0-6-0	I5a	1166-1296, 4500-4534	1400-1522	166	CM&StP	1903-1913	1933-1955	—
0-6-0	I6s	1297-1306	1525-1534	10	CM&StP	1913-1914	1948-1956	—
0-8-0	D1	1400-1401	1550-1551	2	Baldwin	1913	1952	ex-Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern Railway
0-6-0	I5b	1535-1536	—	2	Baldwin	1907-1910	1934	ex-Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary Railway

Dual service

Wheel Arrangement	Class	1912 Road Number(s)	1938 Road Number(s)	Quantity	Builder	Completion Date(s)	Retirement	Notes
4-8-4	S2	—	200-240	40	Baldwin	1937-1940	1954-1956	#200 later renumbered 230.
4-8-4	S3	—	260-269	10	Alco	1944	1954, 1956	—
4-4-0	H7	731-732	—	2	Baldwin	1901	1928	ex-Davenport, Rock Island & Northwestern
4-4-0	H8	900-904	40-42	5	Rogers (Alco)	1904	1934-1951	ex-Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern Railway (CTH&SE)
4-4-0	H8	905-908	—	4	Rogers (Alco)	1905	1934	ex-CTH&SE
4-6-0	G6	2300-2332	—	33	CM&StP	1905-1907	1931-1948	—
4-6-0	G6	2334-2336	—	3	Baldwin	1904-1906	1926, 1932	Acquired via acquisition of Tacoma Eastern Railroad in 1909; #2334 sold in 1926.
4-6-0	G6	2337-2340	—	4	Rogers (Alco)	1905	1934	ex-CTH&SE
4-6-0	G6	2350-2368	1140-1160	22	CMStP&P	1914-1918	1932-1954	Rebuilt from Class B2.
4-6-0	G6	2372-2393	1161-1182	22	CMStP&P	1921-1928	1941-1955	Rebuilt from Class B2.
4-6-0	G7	2400-2455	1090-1093	56	CM&StP	1904-1906	1928-1939	—
4-6-0	G6	2700-2712	1123-1133	13	Brooks (Alco)	1909	1930-1948	—
4-6-0	G6	2713-2717	—	5	Baldwin	1907-1908	1935	ex-Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad
4-6-0	G6	2751-2775	1100-1122	25	Baldwin	1915-1927	1940-1954	Rebuilt from Class B3.
4-6-0	G7	2800-2824	1094-1097	25	CM&StP	1909	1929-1940	—
4-6-0	G7	2852-2865	1075-1084	10	CM&StP	1921	1940-1954	Rebuilt from Class B4.
4-6-0	G7	2867-2890	1050-1073	24	CM&StP	1915-1920	1948-1954	Rebuilt from Class B4.
4-6-0	B2	4137-4143	—	7	Baldwin	1900	ca. 1951	A compound design, later simpled and given Class G6.
4-6-0	B3	4201-4225	—	25	Baldwin	1900	ca. 1955	A compound design, later simpled and given Class G6.
4-6-0	B4	4301-4382	—	82	Baldwin	1900-1903	ca. 1955	A compound design, later simpled and given Class G7 and G8.
4-8-4	S1	9700	250	1	Baldwin	1930	1954	Built in April 1930. Later numbered 250.
4-8-4	S1	9701	251	1	CM&StP	1938	1954	—

Freight service

Wheel Arrangement	Class	1912 Road Number(s)	1938 Road Number(s)	Quantity	Builder	Completion Date(s)	Retirement	Notes
Shay (37-ton, 2-Truck Class B)	X1	1	—	1	Lima	1907	1927	—
2-6-0	NM2	2, 3	—	2	Baldwin	1901, 1908	Sold in 1933.	—
Shay (70-ton, 3-Truck Class C)	X2	5-6	—	2	Lima	1907	1919	Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad
Shay (50-ton, 2-Truck Class B)	X1	25	—	1	Lima	1908	1927	—
4-6-0	G2c	2007	—	1	Baldwin	1904	1931	ex-Tacoma Eastern Railroad
4-6-0	G4g	2185	—	1	CMStP&P	1926	1930	Rebuilt from Class F1 #6000.
4-6-0	G5s	2250-2264	1185-1198	15	CMStP&P	1913-1915	1939-1945	Rebuilt from Class B1.
4-6-0	G5c	2265	—	1	Baldwin	1907	1927	ex-Bellingham Bay & British Columbia Railroad #32.
4-6-0	G5e	2266-2275	—	10	Baldwin	1903	1934	—
4-6-0	G8	2600-2641	1000-1041	42	CM&StP	1919-1925	1948-1957	Rebuilt from Class B4.
2-6-0	M1c	2956-2957	—	2	Baldwin	1901	1930	—
2-6-0	M1d	2958-2964	—	7	Rogers (Alco)	1904-1905	1930, 1934	—
2-6-0	M1e	2965-2968	—	4	Brooks (Alco)	1904-1905	1934	ex-Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary Railway
2-6-0	M2	2975-2978	—	4	Schenectady (Alco)	1905-1908	1927, 1934	ex-Chicago Junction Railway
2-6-2	K1	5000-5049	900-912	50	Brooks (Alco)	1907	1935-1955	—
2-6-2	K1	5500-5519	913-918	20	CM&StP	1908	1935-1954	—
2-6-2	K1	5520-5569	919-936, 955	50	Brooks (Alco)	1908	1935-1955	—
2-6-2	K1	5570-5619	938-950, 957-958	50	CM&StP	1908-1909	1935-1955	—
2-6-2	K1	5620-5644	951-960	25	Brooks (Alco)	1909	1935-1955	—
2-6-2	K1a	5100	—	1	Baldwin	1910	1927	Built as Peoria & Eastern Railway #102.
2-6-0	M1	6004-6005	—	2	Baldwin	1905	1925, 1927	ex-Montana Railroad
2-8-0	C1	7000-7064	1375-1395	65	CM&StP	1904-1907	1934-1949	—
2-8-0	C1	7065-7068	1396 (ex-7066)	4	Baldwin	1901	1934-1940	—
2-8-0	C1d	7069-7078	—	10	Rogers (Alco)	1908-1909	1934-1936	ex-Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern Railway
2-8-0	C1e	7079-7083	—	5	Brooks (Alco)	1905	1934	ex-Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary Railway
2-8-0	C1f	7084-7087	—	4	Baldwin	1907, 1910	1934	ex-Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary Railway
2-8-0	C2	7100-7149	1263-1331	50	Baldwin	1910	1936-1954	—
2-8-0	C5	7200-7204	1200-1204	5	CM&StP	1912	1951-1954	—
2-8-0	C5	7205-7239	1205-1239	35	Brooks (Alco)	1912	1945-1954	—
2-8-0	C5	7240-7249	1240-1249	10	CM&StP	1913	1945-1954	—
2-8-0	C4	7500	—	1	Baldwin	1904	1927	ex-Montana Railroad
2-8-0	C3b	7500-7554	1340-1344	5	Rogers (Alco)	1909	1945-1949	—
2-8-0	C3	7555-7560	1345-1347	6	Baldwin	1907, 1910-1911	1934-1951	ex-Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad
2-8-0	C9d	7564	—	1	Baldwin	1901	—	ex-Bellingham Bay & British Columbia Railroad. Sold in 1926.
2-8-0	C9e	7565	—	1	Baldwin	1906	1935	ex-Tacoma Eastern Railroad
2-8-0	C2	7600-7624	1250-1311	25	CM&StP	1909-1910	1939-1955	—
2-8-0	C7	7700-7716	1350-1366	17	Schenectady (Alco)	1910-1918	1950-1953	ex-Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern Railway
2-8-2	L2	8000-8039	600-682	40	CM&StP	1912-1913	1930-1955	—
2-8-2	L2	8040-8154	612-726	115	Brooks (Alco)	1912	1934-1954	—
2-8-2	L2	8155-8179	661-738	25	Schenectady (Alco)	1914	1935-1954	—
2-8-2	L2	8200-8299	500-598	100	Baldwin	1920-1921	1935-1954	—
2-8-2	L2	8300-8399	400-499	100	Baldwin	1922-1923	1950-1956	—
2-8-2	L1	8500-8519	750-769	20	CM&StP	1909	1940-1954	—
2-8-2	L3	8600-8649	300-353	50	Brooks (Alco)	1918	1938-1955	—
2-8-2	L3	8650-8699	311-399	50	Schenectady (Alco)	1919	1949-1956	—
2-6-6-2	N1	9500-9524	—	25	Schenectady (Alco)	1910-1911	1927-1935	17 rebuilt to Class N3.
2-6-6-2	N2	9100-9104, 9600-9610	90-92	16	Schenectady (Alco)	1912	1934-1935, 1949	—
2-6-6-2	N3	9300-9316	50-66	17	Schenectady (Alco)	1929-1931	1950-1954	Simpled and rebuilt from Class N1.

Passenger service

Wheel Arrangement	Class	1912 Road Number(s)	1938 Road Number(s)	Quantity	Builder	Completion Date(s)	Retirement	Notes
4-4-2	A	1-4	—	4	Alco	1935-1937	1949, 1951	Streamlined for the "Morning" and "Afternoon Hiawatha."
4-6-4	F7	100-105	—	6	Alco	1938	1949-1951	Streamlined for the "Morning" and "Afternoon Hiawatha."
4-6-0	G	2769, 2765	10-11	2	—	1925-1926	1951	Streamlined in 1936 and 1937, and listed as Class G6, for the "North Woods Hiawatha." The streamlining was removed in 1945 and the engines renumbered 1111-1112 in 1948.
4-4-2	A1	3013-3017	28-29	5	Baldwin	1903	1934-1940	—
4-4-2	A2	3100-3127	—	28	Baldwin	1901-1903	1926-1929	A compound design.
4-4-2	A2b	3128-3132	—	5	CM&StP	1907-1908	1927-1929	A compound design.
4-4-2	A4as	3135	32	1	Baldwin	1909	1951	Later classed as B4as.
4-4-2	A4s	3133-3134	30-31	2	Baldwin	1907	1951	Later classed as B4s.
4-4-2	A2c	3500-3511	—	12	Baldwin	1908-1909	1928-1930	A compound design.
4-6-2	F2	6050	—	1	CM&StP	1905	1929	—
4-6-2	F3	6100-6169	150-198	70	Brooks (Alco)	1910	1929-1954	—
4-6-2	F1	6157, 6160	151, 152	2	Brooks (Alco)	1910	1954	Built as F3a. Given Hudson-styled streamlining in the summer of 1941 at the Milwaukee Shops for the "Chippewa Hiawatha."
4-6-2	F4	6200-6219	875-890	20	CM&StP	1910	1934-1954	—
4-6-2	F5	6300-6349	800-846	50	Brooks	1912	1935-1954	#810 and #812 given Hudson-styled streamlining in the summer of 1941 at the Milwaukee Shops for the "Midwest Hiawatha" Manilla, Iowa - Sioux Falls, SD section.
4-6-2	F2	6301, 6320	801, 812	2	Brooks (Alco)	1912	1950	Built as F5.
4-6-2	F5	6350-6354	825-857	15	CM&StP	1911-1912	1934-1954	—
4-6-2	F5	6365-6370	832-855	6	CM&StP	1914-1926	1935-1954	Rebuilt from F4.
4-6-4	F6	6400-6413	125-138	14	Baldwin	1930	1952-1954	—
4-6-4	F6a	6414-6421	139-146	8	Baldwin	1931	1952, 1954	—

Sources

Drury, George H., ed. Guide to North American Steam Locomotives. Revised edition. Waukesha: Kalmbach Books, 2015. The Milwaukee Road chapter is by Jim Scribbins.
Scribbins, Jim. The Hiawatha Story. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007.
Scribbins, Jim. Milwaukee Road Remembered. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, second edition, 2008.

Facebook X Pinterest Tumblr Reddit WhatsApp Messenger

Milwaukee Road Steam Roster (All-Time): Post-1900

At a glance

Switchers

Prairies and Mikados

Articulateds

4-8-4s

Passenger power

The last steam

Roster

Switchers

Dual service

Freight service

Passenger service

Related reading on American-Rails.com

Sources