L11 Class

The L11 Class is a class of Cab-Forward locomotives designed by Conan Diedrich at the Eastern & Atlantic's Richmond works.

History
After the war, the Eastern & Atlantic looked for many experimental designs in order to improve the steam locomotive, to keep it up to date. One of the main complaints received was poor visibility, so the E&A tried to come up with a viable cab-forward locomotive that could run on coal, which was not possible with the cab-forward locomotives used by, for example, the Southern Pacific railroad in the West. The solution was to have two cabs, connected by a telephone system.

The L11 Class was thus conceived, and the plans were quickly drawn up. The locomotive had a cab forward and a cab at the rear for the fireman. The driver and the fireman communicated via a telephone system, and the front brakeman rode in the rear cab. This type was found to be very useful in both freight and passenger work, and was very successful, having 220 locomotives built between 1947 and 1951.