| According to Steamlocomotive.com, "When Revelle W. Brown became president of the Reading Company he wanted to speed up freight service. To that end he ordered the company's superintendent of motive power and rolling equipment, E. Paul Gangewere, to get together with the design engineers at the Baldwin Locomotive Works to develop a plan to convert 30 of the railroad's I-10a 2-8-0 Consolidations to new 4-8-4 Northerns. These 30 steam locomotives (road numbers 2100 -2129) were rebuilt in the railroad's own shops in Reading, PA, beginning in 1945 with the project completed by 1947. The conversions were made with several reclaimed parts from the I-10a Consolidations (road numbers 2020-2049) and new parts furnished from Baldwin and other vendors." Max Miller photo |