Pennsylvania Railroad class R1

what is it?

The Pennsylvania Railroad's class R1 comprised a single prototype electric locomotive constructed in 1934 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, with the electrical equipment by Westinghouse. It was built as a competitor to the GG1 design, but after trials the GG1 was selected for volume production on the basis of its superior tracking and riding qualities; the R1 prototype, however, remained in service. It was numbered 4800 originally, swapped numbers with the victorious GG1 prototype to #4899, but was moved in May 1940 to #4999 to make room for the expanding GG1 fleet.

who runs it

Pennsylvania Railroad

base stats

• speed 161 km/htop speed
• power 3.7 MWpower output
• weight 182 tin working order
• built 1made 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 92 years ago, in 1934.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• ⏱️At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 15 minutes.
• 🚗3.7 MW is about 44 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
• 🐘Weighs about as much as 30 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 📏19.5 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
• ⌛Served for 25 years (1934–1959).

electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.

spec sheet

built

1934

in service from

1934

retired

1959

status

retired

number built

1

kind

Electric

traction

electric

origin

🇺🇸 United States

builders

Baldwin Locomotive Works, Westinghouse Electric Corporation

operators

Pennsylvania Railroad

top speed

161 km/h

power

3.7 MW

electric system

11 kV AC @ 25 Hz

wheel arrangement

4-8-4

length

19.5 m

weight

182 t

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