My dad worked for the PRR for 44 years, from 1920 to 1964. He started as an unpaid kid sweeping up and doing odd jobs at Union Station about 1910 just because he wanted to be around the excitement of the station and the incredible locomotives of that era. He was officially hired by the PRR as a brakeman in 1920 and by the '30s had worked his way up to engineer. When I now think about the things he must have seen and done, there are a lot of questions I'd like to ask him.
My grandfather was a machinist in the Altoona shops from the time he returned from WWI until he passed away in the 1950’s. Sadly I only got to know him through my dad.
The narrator was right when he said that some of the Pennsy locomotives are preserved in the Strasburg museum. I've been there a couple of times (my grandmother lives about half an hour from there), and the place is HUGE. I'm such a train nut, I'm even a member of the "Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania"!
@@divox9pqr Unfortunately, there is no Big Boy locomotive in Strasburg, but there is one (#4012) on static display at Steamtown. I also remember hearing that there was a Nickel Plate Road Berkshire locomotive (#757) at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, though I believe they moved it to another location.
@@b3j8 That's a shame. I've seen pictures of those magnificent locomotives, and some of my friends at my local model railroad club run HO scale J1s and T1s.
i grew up going to SRR since birth. all thru the 90s to now. its changed A L O T. I would love to see true PRR Steamers there instead of the engines they have no. no offense to 475 90 and 89
Ah, the glory days of rail, when you’d frequently see these majestic, powerful machines thundering across our Republic, hauling people and goods to every corner of the country. We have lost so much of the spirit of the nation in allowing rail travel to become so diminished. Travel by car or truck or van or bus just doesn't cut it like taking a train.
This is narrated by the late Bill Warrick news reporter from WSBT TV channel 22 South Bend Indiana. He was a big rail buff in his day. He did many of these Short Historic films about The Railroad
The PRR had an impressive and interesting variety of steam power, I really liked the J1 class 2-10-4 type locomotives of the Pennsylvania rr and it's disappointing that not a single J1 class locomotive was preserved for public display observation at some type of museum or park.
Unfortunately the PRR was the classic example of what happens when a corporations fails to innovate and invest: by 1954, east of Harrisburg, moving “fast freight” less than car load lots regularly took 3 or more days to travel less than 100 miles. Combine this with passenger speed averages falling 3-6% per year just as they needed to be increasing, particularly on short runs such as Philadelphia-New York or Pittsburgh Cleveland, and you had a sad spiral to the end. In 1950, the PRR was the most highly capitalized, most profitable corporation in the world. In less than 20 years it was gone.
I believe it might be. My grandmother lives about half an hour away from Strasburg, and it certainly looks like the rolling fields of Lancaster County. If you pause the video at 1:00 and look closely, you'll see "Strasburg Railroad" underneath the numbers on PRR #1223.
The tender they are buying is from a scrap yard I believe. From what I heard it was never torn apart at the scrapyard. The rrmpa isn’t going to be selling anything anytime.
This never gets old. The President of my model railroad club actually used to work on the Pennsy as a dispatcher. Honestly the PRR has a neat history both on and off the track. A shame they had to go, but it's still very cool to learn about. My favorites of the Pennsy would have to be the Q2s, the I1s, and the L1 class.
RaritanRiverRailroadFan4 Ohio/Michigan pyrotechnics True that. As someone who falls asleep with visions of GG1's dancing in my head, it is nevertheless undeniable that by the 1960's, PRR's management culture was one of entrenched stodginess, dominated by curmudgeons who had forgotten how to run a railroad (if some of them ever even knew in the first place - PRR had become infected by pure "numbers" people by that time.)
I noticed the steam/diesel doubleheader at 8:00… can anyone tell me if there would have ever been an instance of the PRR running a steam/electric doubleheader?
I was told by my grandma her father left Chester, PA around 1912 because he didn't want to be a farmer like his forefathers. He applied to be the coal tender on a steam locomotive in his early 20's. The story goes he was told to load the coal as fast as necessary to build the steam, then they let it out, to see if he'd quit. He made it to Chicago and then on to Montana where he married and started his family.
Forgot the N1 and sub classes -- N2 2-10-2 ... P company had 195 of the breed ( more of them than the J1 class ----- 125 J1 ) that hauled iron ore any where from Lake Erie down to Pittsburg ..
A great overview of Pennsy's stable of fine engines a great many of which were designed and built by them. The decapods were a great idea so as to maximize tractive effort but I heard there were some problems with derailments due to their long wheelbase.
Strasburg’s own Decapod number 90 detailed twice in its career on the Great Western of Colorado.(both after getting hit by a truck at a crossing) It’s stayed firmly on the tracks in Strasburg though.
They must not have had a lot of footage of Pennsylvania's class L Mikados because the locomotives shown from 6:27-6:41 & 6:45-7:05 are class M Mountains (if I'm not mistaken), which is interesting that they're showing Penny's Mountains before they even start talking about them.
Says K4’s were fast heavy haulers. *Plays Train Simulator 2015* Starts up the game on Horse Shoe Curve with K4 and 5 P70 Passenger Cars. K4 can’t even get up to 25 MPH.
@@09JDCTrainMan Yeah. IRL I believe that the PRR's K4 where suppose to be fast and be capable of handling at least 5 P70's but in TS it can't do either of those.
@@JustAGigolo1985 Cuz TS isn't the most realistic train game, they underpowered the K4s. I mean, the K4s aren't the strongest Pacifics, but stronger than how TS made them.
coal shoving actions at 0:33-0:36 reminds me of PRR 'What in Blazes' firefighting educational film "From the beginning, the heart of the locomotive was a roaring fire--harnesses the steam power"
I believe the locomotive at the beginning of the video is a M1b mountain, you can clearly see two air compressors on the firemans side of the locomotive.
Justin H T1s did not appear until after 1948. Even then they had teething trouble with constant road failures. There was a good Classic Trains Magazine article about it. It took time but eventually T1s hit their stride and lasted to the end of Pennsy steam.
3:03 - 3:34 Ocemy used that sound on their Trainz 2-8-4 Berkshires! Also hot damn, that J1's regulator must be through the roof with that kind of stack talk!
Ok, not entirely related to the prr, but something I thought of in this video. The coast to coast tender was massive, yet used on non-articulated locomotives. What if something like a big boy or y6b had the same tender to locomotive ratio in everyday service. I now in later years additional tenders where added, but they where temporary and could only hold water. I mean semi-permanently attached and accessible for storing coal in the second (section of the) tender.
@razgrizaceblaze259 No they are Mikados. Mountain have 4 leading wheels and the two mikados shown have just 2 leading wheels. Can get a little big confusing
@Bassfanatic94 Actually, if you look closely, the main and side rods connect at the second set of drivers, from the front, on the locomotives during the times I mentioned. Mikados have their main and side rods connect on the third set of drivers from the front, whereas mountains have their main and side rods connect on the second set of drivers from the front. Plus, the locomotive from 6:45-6:55 is #6940, which is a mountain.
They needed a LOT of coal. My dad once paid for his ticket by shoveling coal in a Decapod in Poland, and he said that he probably shoveled at least a ton.
+M Kefer Strasburg is a very special place for me, as it likely is for many other railroad buffs. My grandmother used to live in Lancaster County, and when I was very little, she would take me on a train ride on my birthday. I credit her, and that little railroad, for engendering a passionate love of trains in me.
It's hard to believe that we have gone from horse-and-buggy in the 1700s, to the canal-barges of the 1800s, to the steam engines of the 1900s, then to the electric-diesel locomotives that we have now. Whatever happened to those nuclear-powered locomotives were we supposed to be developing by now?
Bill Salvey Simple statistics most likely... only one example (#6200) and it had some of the lowest mileage of any engine in the history of the Company.
Who wants to hear music when you turn in watching a train a steam engine video who wants to hear music or even a guy talkin when you should be hearing the sound of the steam locomotive it's kind of stupid
Not stupid at all. That would in fact be Englewood NJ. Pennsy had a massive yard there once they got thru to Manhattan and Long Island on their way north.
@@BERPSU1 and Buixrule, that's not Englewood, NJ. That's the Englewood station in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. That station doesn't exist anymore, but the Pennsy did serve it.
