Class (locomotive) - Class Names

Class Names

Most locomotives were given simple codes, but some classes were named, formally or not.

  • The Union Pacific Big Boy class was said to have been given that name when it was scrawled on the smokebox of one at the factory.
  • The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad P-7 class was referred to as the "President" class because initially each locomotive had the name of a U.S. President on the cab.
  • Also on the B&O, the S and S-1 classes were referred to as "Big Sixes" because the road numbers began with 6.

Read more about this topic:  Class (locomotive)

Famous quotes containing the words class and/or names:

    The Americans never use the word peasant, because they have no idea of the class which that term denotes; the ignorance of more remote ages, the simplicity of rural life, and the rusticity of the villager have not been preserved among them; and they are alike unacquainted with the virtues, the vices, the coarse habits, and the simple graces of an early stage of civilization.
    Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)

    It is a sad truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things. Names are everything. I never quarrel with actions. My one quarrel is with words.... The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he is fit for.
    Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)