Oil burning #2542 is a Consolidation type (2-8-0) locomotive built as Class 15 #208 in 1911 at Alco’s Pittsburgh, PA, Works for the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway. It was sold to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway as Class 2535 #2542 when the AT&SF leased the KCM&O along with the fourteen other Class 15 Consolidations in 1928.
The engine weighs 223,000 lbs, 197,000 lbs on its 55” drivers. The driver wheelbase is 15’ and the engine wheelbase 24’. It is equipped with Walschaert valve gear and has 23” x 30” cylinders. The grate is 53.2 sq ft and the 310 sq ft firebox includes two thermic syphons totalling 59 sq ft. With a total heating surface of 3,223 sq ft including 607 sq ft
superheating, it operated at a boiler pressure of 205 psi delivering 50,279 lbs tractive effort. The tender weighed 223,000 lbs and had a capacity of 8,000 gallons of water and 3,657 gallons of oil.
#2546 was donated to Arkansas City, KS, in 1955. It is on display in Wilson Park. You can see the only other surviving ATSF 2535 Class locomotive on the ATSF #2546 page of this
website.
