Wisconsin Central Steam Roster (Built Since 1900)

Published: November 1, 2026

The Wisconsin Central’s modern steam was numbered where a trackside observer could tell it from a Soo Line engine. Locomotives from 2000 up were Wisconsin Central property. Soo engines stayed in three digits, with two exceptions that this page leaves on the Soo roster: Mountains 4000–4003, and the four Lima 4-8-4s of 1938, 5000–5003, which the Soo bought for its own Chicago–Twin Cities freights. The quantity column here is 156. It is the Wisconsin Central share of George H. Drury’s combined list since 1900. The full Soo-and-Wisconsin Central quantity is 422, and that figure stays on the Soo page. A complete roster of the 1871–1899 engines is not in the sources this table uses. One passenger group from 1898 is named below and is kept out of the 156.

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Wisconsin Central. Company history
This table	Steam locomotives built since 1900 and numbered 2000 and above, except Soo Mountains 4000–4003
Quantity column	156, across 18 rows
Switchers	12. B-22 and B-23, all Brooks, 51-inch drivers on the Soo switcher list
Consolidations	50. F-20 through F-23
Mikados	12. L-20, 3000–3011, Brooks, 1920
Atlantics	15. Class K, 2900–2914, ex-Wisconsin Central 257–271
Ten-Wheelers	26. E-22, E-24, and E-25
Pacifics	24. H-20 through H-23
Mountains	17. N-20, 4004–4009, 4010–4017, and 4018–4020
Left on the Soo roster	Mountains 4000–4003. Lima 4-8-4s 5000–5003, class O-20, 1938

How the engines were used

The freight engine of the early years was a Consolidation, and the Wisconsin Central’s were lighter than the Soo’s own. Twenty-five of them, later 2400–2424, class F-20, were built from 1903 to 1907 as Wisconsin Central 160–184. They had 63-inch drivers, 21-by-26-inch cylinders, and weighed 163,400 pounds. Four more, 2425–2428, class F-21, came from Schenectady in 1909. Between 1910 and 1913 Schenectady added a heavier simple Consolidation, 63-inch drivers and 225,000 pounds, and the Wisconsin Central’s share was 2429–2449. Class F-22 is 2429–2443, dated 1911. Class F-23, the last six, 2444–2449, is dated 1914.

The road engine after that was the Mikado. In 1920 Brooks delivered twenty-five engines of one set of dimensions, a bit heavier than the Soo’s 1913 Mikados: 63-inch drivers, 28-by-30-inch cylinders, and 170 pounds of boiler pressure. Thirteen were Soo 1011–1023. Twelve were Wisconsin Central 3000–3011, class L-20.

Passenger power started with Ten-Wheelers and Atlantics. The Ten-Wheelers on this list are E-22, 2629–2639, ex-Wisconsin Central 231–241, with 63-inch drivers, and E-24 and E-25, 2640–2654, ex-Wisconsin Central 242–256, with 57-inch drivers. Brooks built them. The table dates the group 1900. The railroad bought the small drivers for tractive effort. Two earlier passenger Ten-Wheelers sit outside the table: Wisconsin Central 227–230, later 2625–2628, class E-23, Brooks, 1898. They are the one pre-1900 group the Soo chapter names as Wisconsin Central engines. They are not added to the 156.

The fifteen Atlantics, class K, 2900–2914, were Brooks engines of 1902–1905, former Wisconsin Central 257–271. Their 79-inch drivers were the tallest on the combined railroad. Most of them were off the roster by 1940.

The Pacifics are classes H-20 through H-23. The H-20s, 2700–2703, Schenectady, 1909, shared the light passenger dimensions of the Soo H-1s: 69-inch drivers, 20-by-26-inch cylinders, and a weight between 202,000 and 206,000 pounds. The H-21s, 2704–2713, had 75-inch drivers and 25-by-26-inch cylinders, weighed 258,000 pounds, and were built in 1911 and 1913. The H-22s, 2714–2717, were 6,000 pounds heavier. The H-23s, 2718–2723, built in 1923, weighed 271,000 pounds, somewhat lighter than a United States Railroad Administration light Pacific.

In 1926 the 4-8-2 was assigned to freight and to the heavier passenger trains. Brooks delivered ten class N-20 Mountains that year, updated versions of the government light 4-8-2. They weighed 344,500 pounds. Trailing-truck boosters gave them 64,620 pounds of starting tractive effort. The first four, 4000–4003, were Soo engines and are not in this table. Nos. 4004–4009 were Wisconsin Central power. The later Mountains fall on this side of the numbering rule as well. Schenectady built 4010–4017 in 1928. The Soo Line shops at Shoreham erected 4018–4020 in 1930, on Alco boilers, and the Soo chapter gives those three a weight of 338,700 pounds.

Switchers close the list. Class B-22, 2317–2320, is four Brooks engines of 1900. Class B-23, 2321–2328, is eight Brooks engines of 1899–1908, built as cross-compounds. The row reaches back into 1899. The quantity is the eight engines the table lists, and they stay inside the 156.

The quantity column adds to 156. Where a number series on the combined Soo sheet was longer than the Wisconsin Central share, this table prints only the Wisconsin Central numbers. Mountains 4000–4009 were ten engines in the Soo book. Four of them were Soo. This page lists 4004–4009, quantity 6.

Roster

Type	Class	Numbers	Qty	Builder	Built	Notes
0-6-0	B-22	2317–2320	4	Brooks	1900
0-6-0	B-23	2321–2328	8	Brooks	1899–1908	Built as cross-compound
2-8-0	F-20	2400–2424	25	Schenectady	1903–1907	Ex-WC 160–184
2-8-0	F-21	2425–2428	4	Schenectady	1909
2-8-0	F-22	2429–2443	15	Schenectady	1911
2-8-0	F-23	2444–2449	6	Schenectady	1914
2-8-2	L-20	3000–3011	12	Brooks	1920
4-4-2	K	2900–2914	15	Brooks	1902–1905	Ex-WC 257–271
4-6-0	E-22	2629–2639	11	Brooks	1900	Ex-WC 231–241. 63-inch drivers
4-6-0	E-24	2640–2644	5	Brooks	1900	Ex-WC 242–246. 57-inch drivers
4-6-0	E-25	2645–2654	10	Brooks	1900	Ex-WC 247–256. 57-inch drivers
4-6-2	H-20	2700–2703	4	Schenectady	1909
4-6-2	H-21	2704–2713	10	Schenectady	1911–1913
4-6-2	H-22	2714–2717	4	Schenectady	1914
4-6-2	H-23	2718–2723	6	Schenectady	1923
4-8-2	N-20	4004–4009	6	Brooks	1926	4000–4003 were Soo engines
4-8-2	N-20	4010–4017	8	Schenectady	1928
4-8-2	N-20	4018–4020	3	Soo Line	1930	Erected at Shoreham, Alco boilers

Sources

George H. Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition. Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie chapter, including the Wisconsin Central, pp. 212–214. The table is “Soo Line and Wisconsin Central steam locomotives since 1900.” Read from the same chapter used for the Soo steam roster.
Roster notices named in that chapter: Railroad magazine, February 1934, p. 130; June 1947, p. 124; May 1953, p. 106. Trains, December 1958, p. 23. Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin No. 54, p. 150, the Wisconsin Central.

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Wisconsin Central Steam Roster (Built Since 1900)

At a glance

How the engines were used

Roster

Related Reading

Sources