Pennsylvania Railroad 5550
Pennsylvania Railroad 5550 is a mainline duplex drive steam locomotive under construction in the United States. With an estimated completion by 2030, the locomotive will become the 53rd example of the Pennsylvania Railroad's T1 steam locomotive class and the only operational locomotive of its type, as well as the largest steam locomotive built in the United States since 1952. The estimated cost of PRR 5550 was originally $10 million, but an updated projected cost of $7 million was released with the acquisition of an existing long-haul tender from the Western New York Railway Historical Society in August 2017. Construction began in 2014 with the casting of the locomotive's keystone-shaped number plate. As of February 2024 the locomotive was 43% complete.
Artist's rendition of PRR 5550 when finished
PRR 6110, one of two prototypes of the T1 class built for the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1942. The 50 production locomotives entered service in 1945 and 1946.
PRR 5549, a production series T1. 5549 was the last of the 27 T1s constructed by Baldwin.
USATC 611, a USATC S160 Class steam locomotive, is currently the only surviving engine to be fitted with Franklin Type D Rotary Cam poppet valve, similar to what will be on PRR 5550. Note the large eccentric gear above the first two driving wheel sets, iconic to the Type B valve.
A duplex locomotive is a steam locomotive that divides the driving force on its wheels by using two pairs of cylinders rigidly mounted to a single locomotive frame; it is not an articulated locomotive. The concept was first used in France in 1863, but was particularly developed in the early 1930s by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the largest commercial builder of steam locomotives in North America, under the supervision of its then chief engineer, Ralph P. Johnson.
Closeup of the second set of cylinders on the Pennsylvania Railroad class S1.
0-6-6-0T duplex locomotive built by Jules Petiet in 1863
The sole example of the N-1 class.
The S1 at the 1939 New York World's Fair.