The 4-8-2 type was first used on the Chesapeake & Ohio to haul heavy passenger trains through the Allegheny Mountains, and was usually known as the Mountain type. The New York Central, however, was proud of its famous "Water Level Route" between New York and Chicago, via the Hudson and Mohawk valleys and through the Great Lakes region. When it took delivery of its first 4-8-2s it chose to call them Mohawks instead of Mountains. Eventually the New York Central ordered 600 Mohawk type locomotives in classes L-1 through L-4. Some of the earlier ones were retired before the last group was delivered in 1944, but at that time there were still 121 members of class L-1 on the roster. No. 2501 of class L-1a, shown here at an undisclosed location sometime before 1940, was the second Mohawk delivered to the Central, arriving from ALCo's Schenectady Works in 1916; she was sold for scrap in 1950. Her specifications were nearly identical to those of the L-1b class given for Nos. 2545 and 2560 following. Originally both the L-1a and L-1b classes mustered a boiler pressure of 190 p.s.i, but it was raised to 200 p.s.i. producing additional tractive effort. The image comes from Jack May's collection.