Louisville and Nashville Class M-1

The Louisville and Nashville bought a total of forty-two Class M-1 2-8-4 Berkshires, nicknamed the "Big Emmas". Three batches produced some of the most expensive Berkshire type locomotives.
== History ==
The L&N received its first order of Berkshires in 1942 from Baldwin and were numbered 1950-1963. 1950-1959 were placed into freight service while 1960-1963 were placed into passenger service.
After the engines showing their worth during WWII, the L&N bought another six engines from Baldwin in 1944. This group was numbered 1964-1969 and had upgraded features unlike their older batch.
The last batch went to Lima for twenty-two more and were delivered in 1949. These engines were numbered 1970-1991. This last batch had the most modern upgrades to the date of their building.
The locomotives earned the nickname "Big Emmas" by their crews. The Big Emmas worked everywhere on the L&N system before dieselization. These engines would be the second to last steam order for Lima before they began building diesels.
L&N was one of several railroads that began rapid diselization, dieselizing on November 6, 1956. Most of the Big Emmas from the first two orders were all scrapped in 1956.
Only 10+2 of the "Big Emmas" locomotives survived, but two tenders were saved. A tender from 1966 survives at the Southeastern Railway Museum while a tender from 1984 survives at the Kentucky Railway Museum. However the ghost of the Big Emma would come back 60 years later, in the summer of 2016, for C&O Kanawha No. 2716 was temporarily disguised as L&N 1992.
== Gallery ==
File:Big Emma.jpg
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:2-8-4 steam locomotives
Category:Eight-coupled locomotives
Category:2-8-4 locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:Baldwin locomotives
Category:Louisville and Nashville locomotives
Category:Scrapped locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Passenger locomotives
Category:Freight locomotives