For use in front of fast freight trains, the Pere Marquette also chose the 2-8-4 “Berkshire” wheel arrangement in the late 1930s. It was able to develop great power at speeds of up to 70 mph thanks to the large firebox above the bogie. Of a total of 466 square feet in the firebox, 122 were made up of thermosiphons and water pipes. This allowed 26 by 34 inch cylinders to be operated with 69 inch wheels.

The first delivery from 1937 included 15 class N locomotives. The last five of these had a booster in the bogie. In the years 1941 and 1944 twelve more N1 and N2 each followed. When the Pere Marquette was merged into the Chesapeake & Ohio in 1947, the N1 and N2 classes became the N-1 and N-2 and the N class became the N-3. The two newer series, which had not yet been paid for by the C&O, kept the color scheme and the old numbers.

From 1951 the locomotives were also used on routes other than those originally operated by the Pere Marquette. The first series was scrapped by 1954. The use of the newer machines ended in 1958 and a total of 13 units were stored until 1961, as payments were still outstanding.

Numbers 1223 and 1225 are still preserved today, both of which belong to class N1. The 1225 is the only still functional Pere Marquette locomotive today. It has been used intermittently since 1985 and formed the basis for the locomotive in the book and film “The Polar Express”. Today it is used almost every year around Christmas time on the “North Pole Express” in Michigan.