The Class M-3, 2-10-2 types were built by the Brooks Works in 1919, and followed the USRA standards for locomotive design. Their general appearance and construction details were similar to the O-4 Mikados, except that Southern valve gear was employed. The M-3 engines were assigned to the road as No. 6300-6309. They operated on a boiler pressure of 190 psi, weighed in at 293,000 pounds on drivers, and exerted a tractive force of 73,800 pounds. Their cylinder dimensions (30X32) were identical the the class M-2 and M-2a engines. The M-3 locomotives saw most of their service on Colorado and Southern tracks, as they were leased to this subsidiary by the parent Burlington. All of the engines were equipped with Worthington feedwater heaters except No. 6303 and 6308, which were fitted with Elesco systems. A comment prompted the following paragraph:

During World War One the production of locomotives was taken over by the United States Railroad Adminstration amid much controversy by the railroads. The goal was to rationalize production and conserve materials. Although the war lasted from 1914 to 1918, the actual USRA production began in mid-1918, four months before the end of the war. The reason for the U.S. on the tender was that locomotives were built in batches under USRA design specifications, then allocated to railroads based on need. Of the 175 USRA Heavy 2-10-2's built between 1918 and 1920 (end of USRA's reign), ten were allocated to the CB&Q (#6300-6309). Since the builder had no way of knowing which railroad would receive the locomotives built, all 175 received U.S. on the tenders, and upon allocation by the USRA, were finished with road name and number before delivery, as seen in the photograph.

The following is from Hol Wagner: It's my understanding that the NC&StL canceled their order while the locomotives were being built and the USRA looked for another road that would take them. The Q took them since it couldn't get 2-10-2s of its own design (though the USRA did allow it and the FW&D to purchase more Pacifics of Q design, thus the second order for S-3s, 2960-2974, in 1918 and for FW&D F-3A1's 551-555 in 1920). The USRA heavy 2-10-2s were a successful design, but the Burlington didn't like them. Their 63" drivers (3" larger than those of the M-2s) made them slippery on even the mildest grades and they had trouble starting long coal trains on the Beardstown Division where they were based. So as soon as the first batch of 10 M-4s arrived to replace them in 1927, the Q sent them west to the C&S, which badly needed additional heavy power and had no choice but to accept them. The Q logically believed that because the C&S already had five USRA heavy 2-10-2s of its own, the entire group of 15 could more efficiently be grouped together, maintained at the C&S Denver roundhouse and shopped at the four-year-old Joint Shops in Denver. And because the C&S couldn't afford to purchase the 10 M-3s, the Q exacted a daily rental fee from the C&S for their use -- a fee that over the 25+ years it was collected, would have more than paid for the purchase of the lot. So the C&S, which of course had much more of a roller coaster profile than did the Q, ended up with 15 virtually identical locomotives (yes, they were outfitted with two different feedwater heating systems), but of two different classes: E-5B for C&S 905-909 ad M-3 for Q 6300-6309. Like the Q, the C&S preferred the Burlington design 2-10-2s to the USRA design, but had no choice but to put them to the best possible use over its lines.

In the latter part of 1927, the Burlington received from the Baldwin Locomotive Works 12 locomotives of the 2-10-4 wheel arrangement, commonly called the Texas type after the design's origin on the Texas & Pacific in 1925. Numbered 6310-6321 and classed M-4, the Burlington engines (known on the Q as the Colorado types) were the largest and most powerful two-cylinder locomotives built up to that time. They were designed to replace 2-10-2's on southern Illinois coal drags over the Beardstown Division and in doing so to increase tonnage per train, obtain the greatest fuel economy possible and reduce the amount of overtime paid to crews on the slower 2-10-2's.

The boilers of the M-4's were of the radial stay, inverted wagon-top design, 92 inches in diameter at the first stay ring, and 104 inches across at the throat. The barrel contained 87 2½-inch firetubes and 222 3½-inch superheater tubes. The large firebox, carried above the trailing truck, was 150 inches long by 102 inches wide inside the sheets, giving it a grate area of 106.5 square feet. It was equipped with a combustion chamber and arch tubes. Southern Illinois bituminous coal was the locomotives intended fuel, and it was supplied to the firebox by a Duplex stoker. A low steam dome was centrally located on the boiler barrel, and was flanked fore and aft by large sand domes. Engines 6310-6315 were equipped with Elesco feedwater heaters, while engines 6316-6321 had Worthington BL heaters. All 12 locomotives were outfitted with Strombos quadruplex air whistles (actually horns) mounted atop the boiler just ahead of the front sand dome. These air horns were in vogue for a brief period of time during the late Twenties and were applied to a number of Burlington locomotives.

The head-end crew, including a number of Mechanical Department officials, posed with the still-new 6318 as the M-4 was recorded by a Baldwin photographer on one of its break-in runs in coal train service on the Beardstown Division late in 1927. Note the air horns behind the stack and white flag. Note too the single-chime whistle mounted on the large live steam line, just ahead of the rear sand dome. The air horns won't last more than a few months, and the whistle would be moved forward, adjacent to the horns' former position. I count nine people in this photo, possibly a crowded cab on this date.

The ( 1927 ) M-4's quickly proved their superior abilities, and in 1929 six additional locomotives of the class were purchased - engines 6322-6327. They were identical to the first group except for a few small details. They had more modern sloping-front cabs, while the original group had vertical-front rectangular cabs, and the new engines had traditional steam whistles mounted on the large outside steam pipe on the left side of the boiler, just ahead of the forward sand dome ( however, in this photo, the whistle is just ahead of the rear sand dome ). The air horns of the earlier M-4's were soon replaced with steam whistles too. Finally, all six of the new locomotives were equipped with Worthington BL feedwater heaters.