Pennsylvania Railroad class K4

what is it?

The Pennsylvania Railroad K4s was a class of 425 4-6-2 steam locomotives built between 1914 and 1928 for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), where they served as the primary mainline passenger steam locomotives on the entire PRR system until late 1957. Attempts were made to replace the K4s, including the 4-6-2 K5 (which had more power but the same number of drivers) and the 4-4-4-4 T1 duplex locomotive (which had both more power and more drivers). However, the low factor-of-adhesion of K5 meant that they were limited in their pulling power, while the T1's suffered from greater maintenance costs, wheel slip due to poor springing, and inexperienced crews.

who runs it

Pennsylvania Railroad

base stats

• speed 140 km/htop speed
• power 2.5 MWpower output
• weight 138 tin working order
• built 425made in total

Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.

fun facts

• 🎂First built 112 years ago, in 1914.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗2.5 MW is about 29 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
• 🐘Weighs about as much as 23 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 📏25.3 m long: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
• ⌛Served for 46 years (1914–1960).

steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.

spec sheet

built

1914–1928

in service from

1914

retired

1960

status

preserved

number built

425

kind

Steam

traction

steam

origin

🇺🇸 United States

builders

Baldwin Locomotive Works, Altoona Works

designer

James T. Wallis, Alfred W. Gibbs, and Axel Vogt

operators

Pennsylvania Railroad

top speed

140 km/h

power

2.5 MW

gauge

1,435 mm standard gauge

wheel arrangement

4-6-2

length

25.3 m

weight

138 t

From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.