The Pennsylvania Railroad, legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its peak in 1882, the Pennsylvania Railroad was the largest railroad, the largest transportation enterprise, and the largest corporation in the world, on par with the London & North Western Railway.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-10-4 locomotive has two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a Bissel truck, ten coupled driving wheels on five axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles, usually in a bogie. These were referred to as the Texas type in most of the United States, the Colorado type on the Burlington Route, and the Selkirk type in Canada.
John Bull is a historic British-built railroad steam locomotive that operated in the United States. It was operated for the first time on September 15, 1831, and became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution ran it under its own steam in 1981. Built by Robert Stephenson and Company, it was initially purchased by and operated for the Camden and Amboy Railroad, the first railroad in New Jersey, which gave it the number 1 and its first name, "Stevens". The C&A used it heavily from 1833 until 1866, when it was removed from active service and placed in storage.
Locomotive classification on the Pennsylvania Railroad took several forms. Early on, steam locomotives were given single-letter classes. As the 26 letters were quickly assigned, that scheme was abandoned for a more complex system. This was used for all of the PRR's steam locomotives, and — with the exception of the final type bought — all electric locomotives also used this scheme.
The M1 was a class of steam locomotive of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). It was a class of heavy mixed-traffic locomotives of the 4-8-2 "Mountain" arrangement, which uses four pairs of driving wheels with a four-wheel guiding truck in front for stability at speed and a two-wheel trailing truck to support the large firebox needed for sustained power. Although built for both passenger and freight work, they spent most of their service lives hauling heavy high-speed freight trains. Many PRR men counted the M1 class locomotives as the best steam locomotives the railroad ever owned.
The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) class T1 duplex-drive 4-4-4-4 steam locomotives, introduced in 1942 with two prototypes and later in 1945-1946 with 50 production examples, were the last steam locomotives built for the PRR and arguably its most controversial. They were ambitious, technologically sophisticated, powerful, fast and distinctively streamlined by Raymond Loewy. However, they were also prone to wheelslip both when starting and at speed, in addition to being complicated to maintain and expensive to run. The PRR decided in 1948 to place diesel locomotives on all express passenger trains, leaving unanswered questions as to whether the T1's flaws were solvable, especially taking into account that the two prototypes did not have the problems inherent to the production units.
In the Whyte notation for classifying the wheel arrangement of steam locomotives, an 0-8-8-0 is a locomotive with two sets of eight driving wheels and neither leading wheels nor trailing wheels. Two sets of driving wheels would give far too long a wheelbase to be mounted in a fixed locomotive frame, so all 0-8-8-0s have been articulated locomotives of the Mallet type, whether simple or compound. In the UIC classification, this arrangement would be, refined to Mallet locomotives, (D)D. The type was sometimes called Angus in North America.
A 4-4-4-4 steam locomotive, in the Whyte notation for describing locomotive wheel arrangements, has a four-wheel leading truck, two sets of four driving wheels, and a four-wheel trailing truck. While it would be possible to make an articulated locomotive of this arrangement, the only 4-4-4-4s ever built were duplex locomotives—with two sets of cylinders driving two sets of driven wheels in one rigid frame, essentially a 4-8-4 with divided drive.
The Pennsylvania Railroad's class H8, H9s and H10s steam locomotives were of the 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type, the last three classes of such built by the railroad. The three classes differed only in cylinder diameter and thus tractive effort, each subsequent class increasing that measurement by an inch. The first H8 was built in 1907 and the last H10 in 1916; within a few years they were replaced on heavy freight assignments by 2-8-2s and 2-10-0. They became the railroad's standard light freight locomotive, replacing all other class H 2-8-0s, and a number remained in service until the end of PRR steam locomotive operation in 1957. 968 class H8 of various subclasses were constructed, along with 274 class H9s and 273 class H10s. A number of H8 locomotives were rebuilt to H9s specification.
The Pennsylvania Railroad's class B6 was its most successful class of switcher locomotive, or as the PRR termed them "shifter". The PRR preferred the 0-6-0 wheel arrangement for larger switchers, whereas on other railroads the 0-8-0 gained preference. The PRR generally used 2-8-0s when larger power was required.
The Pennsylvania Railroad's S2 class was a steam turbine locomotive designed and built in a collaborative effort by Baldwin Locomotive Works and Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, as an attempt to prolong the dominance of the steam locomotive by adapting technology that had been widely accepted in the marine industry. One was built, #6200, delivered in September 1944. The S2 was the sole example of the 6-8-6 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, with a six-wheel leading truck keeping the locomotive stable at speed, eight powered and coupled driving wheels, and a six-wheel trailing truck supporting the large firebox. The S2 used a direct-drive steam turbine provided by the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, geared to the center pair of axles with the outer two axles connected by side rods; the fixed gear ratio was 18.5:1. Such design was to prevent energy loss and S2 achieved a mechanical efficiency of 97% which means only 3% of steam energy was lost within the propulsion equipment. The disadvantage of a direct-drive steam turbine was that the turbine could not operate at optimal speeds over the locomotive's entire speed range. The S2 was the largest, heaviest and fastest direct-drive turbine locomotive design ever built.
The Manhattan Transfer station was a passenger transfer station in Harrison, New Jersey, east of Newark, 8.8 miles (14.2 km) west of New York Penn Station on the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) main line, now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. It operated from 1910 to 1937 and consisted of two 1,100 feet (340 m) car-floor-level platforms, one on each side of the PRR line. It was also served by the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad. There were no pedestrian entrances or exits to the station, as its sole purpose was for passengers to change trains, or for trains to have their locomotives changed.
The PRR S1 class steam locomotive was a single experimental duplex locomotive of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was designed to demonstrate the advantages of duplex drives espoused by Baldwin Chief Engineer Ralph P. Johnson. The S1 class was the largest rigid frame passenger steam locomotive ever built. The streamlined Art Deco styled shell of the locomotive was designed by Raymond Loewy.
The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) class CC1s consisted of a single experimental 0-8-8-0 steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1912. It was assigned road number #3397 and placed in service at the PRR Pitcairn yard in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. A subsequent class, the CC2s, was constructed after the tests conducted with this locomotive. Finding little advantage to articulated steam locomotives, the PRR scrapped it in 1932.
The PRR C1 was the Pennsylvania Railroad's class of 0-8-0 steam locomotive, used in switching service. The locomotive type was built at the railroad's Juniata shops in Altoona, Pennsylvania and introduced in 1925. The 0-8-0 was common on most railroads, but not on PRR; when the railroad needed bigger motive power, they used the 2-8-0 "Consolidation". The PRR wanted the best motive power to handle the switching chores at rail yards and interchanges, and the C1 class was the heaviest two-cylinder 0-8-0 switcher ever produced. Calculated tractive effort was 76,154 lb, based on 78% MEP with 60% maximum cutoff. All C1s were retired between 1948 and 1953, none being preserved.
The Pennsylvania Railroad's class H6, H6a, and H6b steam locomotives were of the 2-8-0 "Consolidation" freight type, the most numerous class on the railroad with 1,707 units and the second most prolific 2-8-0 class in North America, with the USATC S160 class rostering 88 units more. The three subclasses differed as follows:
Pennsylvania Railroad 4859 is a GG1-class electric locomotive located in the Harrisburg Transportation Center in Harrisburg, the capitol of Pennsylvania. It was operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad and its successors, Penn Central and Conrail. 4859 pulled the first electrically powered train from Philadelphia to Harrisburg on January 15, 1938. It was used in various freight and passenger service until November 22, 1979, when it pulled the last GG1-powered freight train on November 22, 1979. Originally located in Strasburg, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and was moved to its current location in 1986. It was designated the state electric locomotive of Pennsylvania in 1987 by the Pennsylvania General Assembly and was re-listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The Pennsylvania Railroad's class A5s was the most powerful class of 0-4-0 steam locomotives. The Pennsylvania Railroad built 47 in its Juniata Shops between 1916–1924. They were all retired by 1957. One is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.
A duplex locomotive is a steam locomotive that divides the driving force on its wheels by using two pairs of cylinders rigidly mounted to a single locomotive frame; it is not an articulated locomotive. The concept was first used in France in 1863, but was particularly developed in the early 1930s by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the largest commercial builder of steam locomotives in North America, under the supervision of its then chief engineer, Ralph P. Johnson.
The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) A3 was a class of 0-4-0 steam locomotives built at Altoona Works between 1895 until 1905. The A3s were used as switchers for railroad cars at various PRR yards. Later, some A3s were converted to A3a, which had saddle tanks instead of tenders. The A3s were retired by 1920s, when the railroad introduced the much stronger class A5s. All members of the A3 class were scrapped.
