Union Station Centennial With "Blackjack"

This shiny beauty, PRR GG1 #4935 will be at Washington Union Station this weekend, October 4-5, 2008 as part of the station's centennial celebration. Known by railfans around the world as "Blackjack" (add up the road number digits), it is part of the collection at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, PA.

A New Class of Freight Locomotive

Coming up in October: Transportation Policy. Question #5: Should foreign licensed trucks and drivers be permitted on US highways?
One of the oldest surviving Pennsylvania Railroad locomotives, #1187 class H3 2-8-0 was built in 1888. First known as class R, it was reclassified in 1897 when the Pennsy revised its locomotive classification system. H3 was the first engine type to use the "square-shouldered" Belpaire firebox that became the Pennsy hallmark. Now at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, No. 1187 was restored in 1939 to its class R appearance following 3 decades at hard labor in a stone quarry. In 1940 No. 1187 headed the vintage passenger train in Railroads On Parade at the New York World's Fair. The passenger cars from that train can also be viewed at the museum.

Pennsy Gets The Trains Under The River

Coming up in October: Transportation policy. Question #4: What is the NAFTA Superhighway. Why is it an issue?
The 2-B+B-2 wheel arrangement of Pennsylvania Railroad's DD1 class engines carried the power of two 2,000 horsepower motors to pull passenger trains between Pennsylvania Station, New York City and Manhattan Transfer in New Jersey, 8.8 miles away after burrowing under the Hudson River. The 1.93% grades in the tunnels challenged the power to reliably haul 1,000 ton trains at speed. Power came from 600 volt DC third rail. Mated units 3936-3937 are the sole remaining class DD1 electrics, and can be seen at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

A Nice Museum Visitor

See a few photos of Norfolk Southern Railroad's business train from its visit to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania the weekend of September 27, 2008.

The Reading's Last Class I Steam Engine

Coming up in October: Transportation policy. Question #3: can Amtrak realistically be self-supporting as some of its critics would like?
When The Reading Company's #1251 dropped its fire for the last time on Feb. 9, 1963 it was the last steam locomotive in daily service with an American Class I road. A 2-6-0T saddle tank switcher, #1251 had been rebuilt from a class I-8 2-8-0 by the Philadelphia & Reading in Sept., 1918 for the purpose of serving as The Goat at the P&R shops in Reading, PA. Its large weight spread over a short length allowed it to move dead locomotives at the locomotive shops and roundhouse. After a few years of excursion train service it became part of the collection of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in 1972.

Pennsy GG1 Where it Made History

Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 #4859 is seen on exhibit at Pennsylvania Station, Harrisburg, PA. One of a batch of 5 built in 1937, #4859 pulled the first electric-powered train from Harrisburg to Philadelphia in January, 1938 from this very station. In 1938 the PRR had 2,677 miles of electrified track, 41 percent of the standard gauge electrified rails in the United States.

Engine Goes From Philly to Strasburg Via Hawaii

Once used by the Waimanolo Sugar Company in Hawaii, No. 3 Olomana is a 0-4-2T built in 1883 by Baldwin in Philadelphia. Representing the hundreds of little giants built in Pennsylvania. Olomana is on long-term loan from the Smithsonian's Museum of American History to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The former plantation engine was brought from Hawaii to the backyard Grizzly Flats Railroad of pioneer Disney animator Ward Kimball and his wife Betty in San Gabriel, California. The Kimballs had America's first full-size home steam railroad. They were instrumental in supporting the railroad interests of Ward's boss, Walt Disney and his own home railroad Carolwood Pacific, and eventually the steam railroads and their 18 locomotives seen at Disney theme parks around the world.

The Birth of Pennsy's GG1 Class Electrics

Coming up in October: daily posts about local and national transportation policy. Question #2: can we afford rail passenger transportation?

The birth of the PRR GG1 class electric locomotives is a long story, but it started with this engine, known as Old Rivets. During the Depression of the 1930's the Pennsylvania Railroad looked for an upgrade to its electric locomotive fleet as the electrified network expanded Southward to Washington DC and Westward to Harrisburg PA. The specifications were simple: 100 mph running, 4500 horsepower, maximum 55,000 Lbs. on each driver, a centered cab, and prsent a pleasing appearance. Two prototypes resulted: R1 #4800 and GG1 #4899. When the GG1 won the competition it was renumbered #4800.

Old Rivets is seen today in the railyard at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

Vulcan Built Railroad Locomotives Too

Coming up in October: A look at current conditions affecting US local and national transportation policy. Question #1: will global petroleum reserves start declining soon?

This little 8 ton industrial locomotive was a 2007 gift from Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton, PA to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania . Built by Vulcan Iron Works in 1930 as a gasoline powered shop switcher there are plans to return the little engine to that use in Strasburg.

Big PRR Mikado Goes Boom

On the morning of November 14, 1942, PRR L1s class #520 had a boiler explosion while hauling a freight train at 15-18 miles per hour near Cresson, PA. The engineer, fireman and brakeman were killed, and the conductor and an occupant of a nearby house were seriously injured. The ICC investigation found that the explosion was caused by overheating the crown sheet due to low water in the boiler. The force of the explosion was estimated at over three million pounds per square inch. The downward force hurled the 150 ton locomotive end over end for 131 feet.
Today #520 sits at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania without a trace of the explosion to be seen. You can only see the absence of boiler sheathing due to asbestos lagging remediation. No. 520 is the sole survivor of a fleet of 574 identical locomotives, remarkable given her near-destruction in 1942.

You Have to Turn Them Some Way

Railroads used turntables to turn steam locomotives and to serve as hubs of locomotive servicing facilities: roundhouses. The 100 foot long turntable at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania started its life at the Reading Company's Mine Hill & Schuylkill Haven roundhouse at West Cressona, PA. Designed to accommodate the railroad's long 2-8-8-2 Mallet locomotives, the turntable was formed by two joined 100 Ft. steel girders riding on a circle of 130 Lb. rail and powered by a 25 horsepower electric motor. The turntable's 327.5 ton capacity can handle anything currently on the museum site or likely to come. Following a 1991 refurbishment the turntable is used to turn museum rolling stock as needed, run weekend demonstrations, and turn locomotives for the neighboring Strasburg Railroad company.

The Train That Beat The Plane

PRR #460 is a 4-4-2 Atlantic type class E6a built by the PRR Juniata Shops in Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1914. This resident of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania got its reputation as The Lindbergh Engine by carrying newsreel film of Colonel Charles Lindbergh being made a Colonel by president Calvin Coolidge on June 11, 1927. The International News Service decided to send its film to New York and process it on board the train en route. Following a motive power change to DD-1 electrics at Manhattan Transfer NJ, the film boxes were rushed by taxi from Penn Station to movie theaters, thereby beating rival companies who had flown their film to New York.

Start of American Steam's Golden Age

Tahoe, Virginia & Truckee Railroad #20, an 1875 Baldwin 2-6-0 Mogul did all of its work in Nevada and California, but stands proudly in the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The oldest locomotive in the museum's collection it represents an important Pennsylvania locomotive builder and the peak of wood burning locomotive technology. Tahoe was converted to burn coal in 1907 and converted to oil firing in 1911. After arriving back in Pennsylvania in 1968 it was restored as closely as possible to its 1875 appearance by the Strasburg Railroad company.

Classic PRR Consolidation

At the close of the 19th Century the PRR needed a larger locomotive to handle increased freight tonnages. PRR #2846 a class H6sb Consolidation 2-8-0 represents the new engines of the 20th Century. Built by Baldwin in 1905 #2846 last saw service on the line between Newark and Marion, NY. It made the last H6sb run in 1955. It came to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in 1969 as part of the Pennsylvania Railroad Historical Collection.

MA & PA Diesel

Maryland and Pennsylvania #81 is a General Motors EMD NW-2 switcher built in 1946. The engine was donated to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in 1997 by its last owner: The P.H. Glatfelter Paper Co. of Spring Grove, PA.

PRR Steam Switcher From The City Streets

Most railroads did not have 0-4-0 switchers on their rosters, but the Pennsylvania Railroad was an exception. These mighty midgets, with their weight on four driving wheels, were used on sharply curved industrial siding, narrow streets, and wharves in the Philadelphia area.
No. 94 A5s served the PRR from 1917, when it came out of the Juniata Shops, until 1954. Now on track 1A at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, No. 94 is the last of its type in existence.

Reading Passenger Diesels Still Running

These two F9P beauties are veterans of Reading Company service, now visiting the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Owned by the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society (902) and the Philadelphia Chapter NRHS (903), they are equipped for use over Amtrak and other class I rails, and they are expected to be in excursion use later in 2008.

PRR Steam Switcher B6sb

Switchers or Shifters, as they were known in the Pennsylvania Railroad, worked in cities and yard all over America. The PRR class B6 0-6-0 shifter was the most common style of switching locomotive in the United States.
No. 1670 was one of the first B6sb locomotives to be built at Pennsy's Juniata Shops in Altoona, Pennslvania in 1916. Juniata turned out 238 of this class between 1916 and 1926. No. 1670 outlived many modern locomotives and is now on track 2 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

Shay 3-Truck Logger

Nineteenth Century Michigan Lumberman Ephraim Shay had a needed a locomotive to run on the light, uneven track found in logging operations. After several years of experimentation Shay took his ideas to the Lima Locomotive & Machine Co. of Lima, Ohio. In 1880 Lima built the first Shay geared locomotive.
This 3-truck Shay represents Pennsylvania logging users of the Shay as Leetonia Railway No. 1 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. It was built in 1906. In a Shay all wheels are driven including those under the integrated tender. To offset the weight of the cylinders and driveshafts the Shay's boiler is offset to the left.

Mack Brill Rail Bus Doodlebug

Built by J.G. Brill of Philadelphia in 1921 this Mack powered rail bus is a rarity that operated on the Lewisburg, Milton & Watsontown Railroad. Shown above at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and below right at the Strasburg Railroad, it was a gift of the Strasburg in 2001. Although my 1976 photo clearly shows No. 21 in the Strasburg's red paint, no signs of that paint can be seen on the car today.

Amtrak's First Electric Engine

Amtrak class E60 was designed and built by General Electric in Erie, Pennsylvania to replace Amtrak's aging fleet of GG-1 engines on the Northeast Corridor. Like Amtrak's first diesels this powerful electric designed was based on existing freight locomotives. At 183 tons it was very heavy for passenger use and contributed to poor running during tests. The locomotive had a tendency to yaw during acceleration leading to the Federal Railroad Adminsitration limiting them to 100 MPH maximum speeds rather than the intended 120 MPH. No. 603 was delivered to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in June, 2004.

Fireless Locomotive is a Steelworker

Built in 1941 by the Heisler locomotive Works for Bethlehem Steel who donated it to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in 1972.

The Biggest of the Fireless Locomotives

P.P.& L. No. 4094 is the largest of the "fireless cooker" locomotives built. The locomotive was built by Heisler locomotive Works, Erik, PA in 1939 and exhibited at the New York World's Fair. After a life of work at Pennsylvania Power & Light's Hauto, PA steam plant it was donated to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in 1970.

The length of time a charge of steam would last was determined by the demands placed upon the locomotive. A full charge of steam usually allowed about four hours of operation. Fireless locomotives produced no smoke, fumes or sparks, and very little noise. They were able to operate indoors and were especially useful in plants that made flammable products, for instance paint and munitions. Fireless locomotives could even be used to put out fires, discharging water through the charging hose with help of a full head of steam. Even so, "fireless cookers" were replaced by diesel-electric locomotives.

Strasburg RR Out The Window

Lots of things to see out the window of Strasburg Railroad's steam trains on the 9 mile run from Strasburg to Paradise and back. This video includes the line famous "Ghost Whistle"