I am curious if anyone has ever made a list of the biggest preserved steam by type in the United States. This list would be of observable existing steam. Big Boys, Alleghenies and ATSF 2900's are excluded, Let's see your lists!!! Biggest is by engine weight only.

https://www.steamlocomotive.com/ is a great place to start. That's what I use to find out similar bits of information, and it's usually kept up to date very well.

The post was meant to create some conversation amongst the group members, but alas, it didn't work.

I had difficulty responding to this post at first as my response would not post. My first thoughts would be DM & IR Yellowstones, SP Cab Forward 4294, B & LE 643, T & P 610, and the Santa Fe 5000's.

John

C&O 1601 (The Henry Ford)
C&O 1604 (B&O Museum)
Both are "Allegheny" class 2-6-6-6

I read the title of the post as being the most existing examples of a type of steam locomotive, not by size. Clearly there are more smaller locomotives in existence than larger ones. I just got back from two weeks "out West", and the couple of museums and tourist railroads I visited had more 4-4-0s, 2-6-0s and Ten Wheelers than anything else, counting the two Northerns in Portland and the Cab Forward at CSRM. In terms of raw numbers, there may in fact be more Shays of every class in existence than any other kind of steam locomotive. Remarkable for a builder that built just under 8,000 total locomotives, compared to Baldwin's nearly 80,000 total production.