Pennsylvania Railroad class T1

what is it?

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.

who runs it

Pennsylvania Railroad

base stats

• speed 193 km/htop speed
• power 4.8 MWpower output
• weight 228 tin working order
• built 52made 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 84 years ago, in 1942.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• ⏱️At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 12 minutes.
• 🚗4.8 MW is about 57 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
• 🐘Weighs about as much as 38 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 📏37.2 m long: about 8 cars parked nose to tail.
• ⌛Served for 11 years (1942–1953).

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

spec sheet

built

1942–2014

in service from

1942

retired

1953

status

retired

number built

52

kind

Steam

traction

steam

origin

🇺🇸 United States

builders

Baldwin Locomotive Works, Pennsylvania Railroad 5550, Altoona Works

designer

Ralph P. Johnson, Raymond Loewy

operators

Pennsylvania Railroad

top speed

193 km/h

power

4.8 MW

gauge

1,435 mm standard gauge

wheel arrangement

4-4-4-4

length

37.2 m

weight

228 t

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