The American Locomotive Company's Schenectady plant erected the vast majority of the system's fleet of 4-6-4 or Hudson type locomotives. However, in 1931 the Boston & Albany took delivery of ten class J2c Hudsons from Lima Locomotive Works, completing its small fleet of 4-6-4s. (Note the diamond-shaped Lima builder's plate above the cylinder on No. 617.) The J2s resembled the New York Central's J1 class, with the same 25x28-inch cylinder dimensions, but had smaller 76-inch drivers and carried a higher 240-pound boiler pressure. They had shorter eight-wheeled tenders because distances between terminals on the B&A were not as great as on the lines outside New England.

The J2c group weighed 356,500 pounds and had a tractive effort of 44,210 pounds, augmented by 10,520 pounds from their boosters. Their grate area totaled 81.5 square feet, their evaporative heating surface 4484 square feet, and their superheating surface 1951 square feet. Sometime after delivery the J2s were rebuilt with the square sand dome as shown here. John F. Boose of La Grange, Illinois, took this photo on August 7, 1938 at West Springfield, Massachusetts. With dieselization of the B&A the J2 Hudsons were transferred to suburban service in the New York City area, and renumbered in sequence after the systemn's J3 class (see the photos of Nos. 5469 and 5474, above). This locomotive became No. 5472, and was scrapped in 1952.