USRA 2-8-8-2

The USRA 2-8-8-2 was a USRA standard class of steam locomotive designed under the control of the United States Railroad Administration, the nationalized railroad system in the United States during World War I. These locomotives were of 2-8-8-2 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, or (1'D)'D1' in UIC classification. A total of 106 locomotives were built to this plan for the USRA; postwar, it became a de facto standard design.
==History==
While the 2-8-8-2 had been built in the United States since 1909, most development work had gone into making subsequent locomotives larger and heavier. The Norfolk and Western Railway however, had taken development in a different direction. By using smaller cylinders and higher boiler pressure, the result was a locomotive capable of powerful performance, and a turn of speed higher than the 20 mph (32 km/h) maximum of the ‘traditional’ designs.
The USRA 2-8-8-2 drew heavily on the Norfolk and Western Railway’s Y-2 class locomotive design, as their delegate to the 2-8-8-2 design committee had brought a full set of blueprints.
==Original owners==
===USRA originals===
Railroad 	Quantity	Class	Road numbers	Notes
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad	26 	 	7145–7170 	rebuilt to EL-5 class 2-8-8-0
Clinchfield Railroad 	10 	L-2 	725-734 	
Norfolk and Western Railway	45 	Y-3 	2005-2049 	
Virginian Railway 	5 	— 	900-904 	Refused, to Norfolk & Western 2000–2004
Virginian Railway 	20 	USA 	701–720 	
Total 	106 	 	 	
===Copies===
Railroad 	Quantity	Class 	Road numbers	Notes
Clinchfield Railroad 	10 	L-3 	745-744 	-
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad	10 	L-107 	3500-3509 	-
Interstate Railway 	2 	Class 20	20-21 	-
Norfolk and Western Railway 	30 	Y-3a 	2050-2079 	-
Norfolk and Western Railway 	45 	Y-3b 	2080-2089 	Later re-classed as Y-4
Northern Pacific Railway 	4 	Z-4 	4500-4503 	-
Virginian Railway 	15 	USB 	721-735 	
Total 	116 	 	 	
==Survivor==
Although no original USRA 2-8-8-2 survives, one of the copies does. Norfolk & Western 2050, a 1923 ALCO product of N&W's Y-3a class, is on display at the Illinois Railway Museum.
==External links==
*https://archive.org/stream/railwayage64newy#page/1038/mode/2up
*https://archive.org/stream/railwayage66newy#page/576/mode/2up
Category:Locomotive Designs that were used by Multiple Railways
Category:USRA locomotives
Category:2-8-8-2 locomotives
Category:ALCO locomotives
Category:Baldwin locomotives
Category:Freight locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives of the United States
Category:United States Railroad Administration
Category:USRA locomotives
Category:2-8-8-2 steam locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:2-8-8-2 locomotives
Category:Steam locomotives