Monon Steam Roster (Built Since 1900)

Published: October 28, 2026

By 1900 the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville had already reached the shape people meant when they said the Monon Route. Two main lines crossed at Monon, Indiana, and the branches ran off toward coal and limestone. The locomotive that set this railroad apart was not a Mikado or a Pacific. It was the Twelve-Wheeler. Twenty-two of them arrived between 1898 and 1903, and the quantity column on the post-1900 list is 148, across 22 rows. The numbers are the 1911 numbers.

Monon Railroad 2-8-0 271 at Lafayette IN circa 1940

Monon 2-8-0 #271 (a Class H-5 built by the Brooks Locomotive Works in 1906) is seen here in Lafayette, Indiana, circa 1940. Photogrpaher unknown.

On this page: At a glance · Twelve-Wheelers and Consolidations · Mikados · Passenger locomotives · Switchers · Roster

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville, the Monon. Company history
This table	Steam locomotives in the 1911 numbers, the chapter’s since-1900 list
Six-wheel switchers	13. B-7, B-8, and B-9. The railroad’s only switchers
Consolidations	21. H-3 through H-6. The class numbers are not in the order they were built
Mikados	55. J-1 through J-4. All of them had 63-inch drivers
Santa Fe type	8. Class L-1, the largest engines the railroad owned
Atlantics	2. Class I-1, Brooks, 1901
Ten-Wheelers	2. Class G-6, Brooks, 1900
Pacifics	25. K-1 through K-6. Light engines, except the three K-6s
Twelve-Wheelers	22. E-1 and E-2. The E-1 row is dated 1898–1900 and stays on this list
Quantity column	148
Last new steam	J-4 Mikados, Schenectady, 1929. The retired cell says Sold
Last fire	0-6-0 No. 95, New Albany, June 29, 1949

Twelve-Wheelers and Consolidations

The Monon’s real departure from the usual freight locomotive was the 4-8-0. Twenty-two of them came from Brooks between 1898 and 1903. Both classes had 21-by-26-inch cylinders and were built as simple engines with inboard piston valves. The E-1s had 55-inch drivers. The E-2s had 57-inch drivers. A Twelve-Wheeler was not rare at the turn of the century, but it was often a cross-compound. These were not.

The E-1s, numbers 220–231, were rebuilt in the 1920s with outboard piston valves and Walschaerts valve gear, and they lasted until the diesels. No. 205 of 1899 is the example. It became 225 in the 1911 renumbering, and in 1926 the shops gave it a wide radial-stay firebox over the drivers and a longer smokebox. The E-2s, 240–249, were scrapped in 1936 and 1937 without that rebuild. The E-1 row is dated 1898–1900. Those earliest engines stay inside the 148 because that is how the row is printed.

The Consolidations that followed were modest 2-8-0s, mostly with 57-inch drivers and weights from 194,000 to 216,000 pounds. The class letters do not follow the calendar. The H-3s were built in 1910, after the H-5s and before the H-6s, and they were the ones with 63-inch drivers. The H-4s of 1904 and 1905 and the H-5s of 1906 were the older, smaller engines. The H-6s of 1911 closed the type. None of these classes was large. Twenty-one Consolidations is the whole post-1900 total.

Mikados

Every Monon 2-8-2 had 63-inch drivers. The J-1s, Brooks, 1912 through 1923, numbers 500–533, were slightly lighter than a United States Railroad Administration light Mikado and had 28-by-30-inch cylinders, which gave them a little more tractive effort. There was a 1912 batch, a 1918 batch, and a return to the railroad’s own design for the engines of 1923. All 34 sit on one row.

Five USRA light Mikados arrived just after that 1918 batch. They are class J-2, numbers 550–554, Schenectady, 1918. The note on the row is USRA. The J-3s of 1926, Richmond, numbers 560–565, were heavier copies of the same design, with 27-by-32-inch cylinders. The chapter puts them 31,000 pounds above the light USRA engine. The J-4s, Schenectady, 1929, numbers 570–579, shared those dimensions and were heavier still. They were the last steam locomotives the Monon bought. The retired cell says Sold.

Eight 2-10-2s were the largest engines on the roster, class L-1, numbers 600–607. Five came from Schenectady in 1914 and three from Brooks in 1916. The builder cell is the two works together. The decline of the 1930s and early 1940s left the railroad with power other lines would still buy. Two of the 2-10-2s went to the Tennessee Railroad, one in 1942 and one in 1945. In 1941 and 1942 the Soo Line took eight J-1s. Other J-1s went to the Tennessee Railroad and the Pittsburgh & West Virginia. One of the Soo Line engines was Monon 504, the Mikado displayed at Thief River Falls, Minnesota. The J-4s were sold at dieselization, eight to the Pittsburg & Shawmut and two to the Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia.

In 1928 the railroad wanted a pair of helpers for the grade north out of the Wabash River valley at Lafayette. Baldwin proposed a 4-10-4 of about 475,000 pounds, as heavy as a medium 2-10-4. The bridges and the track would have had to be rebuilt wherever it ran. The J-4s were the wiser purchase. Lima offered a light 2-6-6-6 in 1936 and a 2-6-6-4 in 1940. The mechanical department kept files on the Delaware & Hudson and Clinchfield 4-6-6-4s. Finances ended the conversation, and the F3s did the job those articulateds were supposed to do. None of the proposals is in the 148.

Passenger locomotives

Two Atlantics arrived from Brooks in 1901, class I-1, numbers 390 and 391. They were ordinary Brooks 4-4-2s of that moment: 73-inch drivers, inboard piston valves, and a trailing truck with inboard bearings. In the 1920s they were rebuilt with outboard piston valves, Baker valve gear, and cast trailing trucks. They were too light for steel passenger cars and were scrapped in 1936.

The two G-6 Ten-Wheelers of 1900, numbers 140 and 141, had 69-inch drivers and were meant for passenger trains. In the early 1920s they were rebuilt, with a number of older 4-6-0s, into branch-line engines with 51-inch drivers. The retired cell is 1942 and 1948, one engine in each year.

Most of the Pacifics were light. Total weight ran from 209,000 to 227,000 pounds, against 277,000 pounds for a USRA light Pacific. The K-1s and K-2s, built from 1905 through 1907, differed by half an inch of cylinder diameter, and both had 69-inch drivers. Rebuilding erased the difference. As rebuilt, both classes had 21½-by-26-inch cylinders. The K-3s of 1909, the K-4s of 1911, and the K-5s of 1912 and 1923 had 73-inch drivers. The K-3s and K-4s were built with 22-by-28-inch cylinders. The K-5s were built with 23½-by-28-inch cylinders. In rebuilding, the K-4s and K-5s received 23-by-28-inch cylinders.

The heaviest Pacifics were the three K-6s of 1916, numbers 450–452. They weighed 285,000 pounds, with 26-by-28-inch cylinders and 73-inch drivers. They were too heavy for the bridges on the Indianapolis line and usually drew the Chicago–Louisville night trains.

Switchers

The only switchers were 0-6-0s. Three classes built after 1900 account for 13 of them: B-7 numbers 25–27, Brooks, 1902; B-8 numbers 30–36, Brooks, 1905–1907; and B-9 numbers 37–39, Brooks, 1923. The last steam locomotive in service was 0-6-0 No. 95, switching at New Albany. It had been B-8 No. 35 until the 1947 renumbering. It dropped its fire on June 29, 1949. The railroad retired No. 95 and 4-8-0 No. 229 on September 14, 1949. That was the end of the steam era on a railroad that had dieselized earlier than most of its neighbors.

Roster

Type	Class	Numbers	Qty	Builder	Built	Retired	Notes
0-6-0	B-7	25–27	3	Brooks	1902	1937
0-6-0	B-8	30–36	7	Brooks	1905–1907	1940–1949
0-6-0	B-9	37–39	3	Brooks	1923	1947
2-8-0	H-3	250–254	5	Brooks	1910	1936–1946
2-8-0	H-4	260–265	6	Brooks	1904–1905	1940
2-8-0	H-5	270–272	3	Brooks	1906	1940–1941
2-8-0	H-6	280–286	7	Brooks	1911	1941–1948
2-8-2	J-1	500–533	34	Brooks	1912–1923	1939–1948
2-8-2	J-2	550–554	5	Schenectady	1918	1947–1949	USRA
2-8-2	J-3	560–565	6	Richmond	1926	1947–1948
2-8-2	J-4	570–579	10	Schenectady	1929	Sold
2-10-2	L-1	600–607	8	Schenectady, Brooks	1914, 1916	1941–1947
4-4-2	I-1	390, 391	2	Brooks	1901	1936
4-6-0	G-6	140, 141	2	Brooks	1900	1942, 1948
4-6-2	K-1	400–403	4	Brooks	1905	1939
4-6-2	K-2	410–415	6	Brooks	1906–1907	1939–1947
4-6-2	K-3	420–422	3	Brooks	1909	1941–1947
4-6-2	K-4	430–432	3	Brooks	1911	1947
4-6-2	K-5	440–445	6	Brooks	1912, 1923	1946–1948
4-6-2	K-6	450–452	3	Brooks	1916	1941–1947
4-8-0	E-1	220–231	12	Brooks	1898–1900	1946–1949
4-8-0	E-2	240–249	10	Brooks	1902–1903	1936–1937

Sources

George H. Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition. Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville chapter, pp. 131–132. The table uses the 1911 numbers.
Gary W. Dolzall and Stephen F. Dolzall, Monon: The Hoosier Line. The last engine in service, No. 95, and the September 14, 1949, retirement.

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