At the Chesapeake & Ohio, the wheel arrangement 4-8-4 was not being called “Northern”, but “Greenbrier” after the hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia that was a famous destination of the C&O. For heavy express trains, the C&O operated a total of twelve locomotives of this wheel arrangement which were delivered in three batches between 1935 and 1948. These Greenbriers were built by Lima and formed the class J-3. They hauled famous trains like the George Washington, the Sportsman and the Fast Flying Virginian, but were sometimes also used for freight and pusher service, especially in war times.
The first batch, numbered 600 to 604, was built in 1935 and named after Virginia statesmen. They had a large modern boiler with a Worthington feed water heater, thermic syphons, arch tubes and a combustion chamber. Pressure was initially 250 psi, but later raised to 255 psi. Built with Walschaerts valve gear, they later received Baker valve gear. In addition to the 67,000 pounds of tractive effort provided by the four driving axles, a trailing truck booster raised the total to 81,000 pounds.
Numbers 605 and 606 were built in 1942 and also named after Virginia statesmen. They got a pressure of 255 psi and Baker valve gear from the start and had roller bearings on all four truck axles. Since most high-strength steel was needed for the war efforts, Lima had to use more conventional steel, what increased the weight of the locomotives by 15 tons. After the introduction of the J-3a, these were called J-3b due to the changes compared to the first batch.
As the last 4-8-4 locomotives built for an American railroad, Lima built the last five Greenbriers in 1948. They only carried the numbers 610 to 614 and no names and due to several improvements, they became class J-3a. The driving wheels were now of the Boxpok type and had a diameter of 74 instead of 72 inches. Also the older locomotives now got 74 inch drivers. Roller bearings were now on all axles and on all other rotating parts of the running gear. The firebox lost its thermic syphons and arch types, but now had circulators, a larger combustion chamber and the flues in the boiler had an increased diameter. Instead of the Worthington feed water heater, they now had an Hancock exhaust steam injector.
These locomotives delivered around 3,500 hp on the drawbar and had a top speed of 100 mph or 161 km/h. After all had been retired between 1953 and 1957, 614 was the only survivor. It was restored in 1980 and used as a testbed for Ross Rowland's ACE 3000 Project for a modern coal-burning steam locomotive to counter the rising oil costs. It was placed on static display at Clifton Forge, Virginia in 2012 after it had been used for excursion service. In June 2025 it was brought to the Strasburg Rail Road for an additional restoration into working order.
