The Berkshire, or 2-8-4, type took its name from the New England mountain chain traversed by the Boston & Albany, since the B&A was the first railroad to order locomotives of this type. In 1925 Lima Locomotive Works demonstrated its pilot model of the "super-power" locomotive, featuring a large firebox requiring a four-wheel trailing truck for support. The railroad, impressed by how Lima's No. 1 vastly outperformed the H-10 2-8-2 — itself an improved steamer over previous Mikados — quickly ordered 25 near-duplicates delivered in 1926 which became its class A-1a. They had 63-inch driving wheels and 28x30-inch cylinders, and sustained 240 p.s.i. of boiler pressure. Other specifications are given in the commentaries for Nos. 1410 and 1441. No. 1408 appears here at Selkirk Yard on May 4, 1946 in an image contributed by Carl Weber, cameraman unknown. While many of the B&A Berkshires were transferred to other parts of the NYC system in the 1940s, apparently No. 1408 was not one of them. It was consigned to the scrapyard in 1949.