PD-4501 Scenicruiser
The GMC PD-4501 Scenicruiser, manufactured by General Motors for The Greyhound Corporation, was a three-axle monocoque two-level coach used by Greyhound from July 1954 into the mid-70's. 1,001 were made between 1954 and 1956. The Scenicruiser became an icon of the American way of life due to its presence throughout the USA in cities and along highways and popularity with the traveling public; the name was a portmanteau of the words "scenic" and "cruiser". The high-level design concept of Scenicruiser resembles some of the rolling stock of the passenger-carrying railroads of the United States and Canada their popular stainless steel dome cars; this type of two-level motorcoach body was common in the late forties in Western Europe, including Great Britain where it was known as Observation coach. The concept of two-level monocoque body had been used earlier in the Spanish Pegaso Z-403 two-axle coach, designed in 1949 and entered production in 1951; the Model PD-4501 as GMC called it was the most distinctive American parlor bus design of the modern era.
It was the result of seven years of effort by Coach Division. The first GX1 prototype was based on a design by Raymond Loewy as U. S. Patent 2,563,917. Conceived as a 35-foot bus, Greyhound used a tandem-axle 40-foot prototype by Loewy called the GX-2 to lobby for the lifting of length restrictions of buses longer than 35 feet in most states at the time. Power for the production models was provided by a pair of GM Diesel 4-71 four cylinder engines of 160 HP each connected by a fluid coupling. Two engines were necessary because GM had never seen the need for a V8 version of its Series 71 diesel engine; each coach had a single three-speed manual transmission with a two-speed clutch for six forward speeds. There were some problems when the coaches were new because all of Greyhound's other models had four-speed manual transmissions that shifted differently than those in the Scenicruiser; this meant additional training for drivers, who disliked the new system. This installation proved to be less than successful, the 979 buses remaining in 1961-62 were rebuilt with 8V-71 engines and four-speed manual Spicer transmissions by the Marmon-Herrington Company.
The first design prototype for the Scenicruiser, the GX1, was a double decker with access from the lower deck and the driver seated on the upper deck. It was soon decided that a split-level design would be better because the GX1 was too tall for many Greyhound garages and lacked luggage space for 50 people; the GX-2 had a lower level containing the driver's area and entrance with ten seats plus a restroom on the passenger's side and an upper level with 33 more seats. This arrangement allowed a large baggage compartment underneath the second level; this design was called the GX-2. Both the GX1 and GX-2 were built by Greyhound from 1947 to 1949 with help from GMC. In late 1951, GMC started work on its first prototype, called the EXP 331, it had some unique features that were not used on the production versions. After the last PD 4501 prototype was built, it was rebuilt as a production model with serial number PD 4501-1001; the Scenicruiser was equipped with air-ride air conditioning. The coaches were unusual in having ten wheels.
Each of the two rear axles had four wheels but only the forward axle was powered. The Scenicruiser's popularity with the public inspired GM's PD 4107 and PD 4903 Buffalo bus 35- and 40-foot models, which arrived nearly a decade later, they had a less obvious "second level" which ran most of the length of the coach, side windows from GMC's line of transit coaches and a smaller upper windshield in the front because the driver and first passenger seats were positioned higher. Unlike the Scenicruiser, these models were available for sale to all operators; the Scenicruiser caused GMC's top competitors and Beck, to bring out similar offerings. Flxible introduced the semi deck and a half Vista-Liner 100, a 35 foot coach and Beck produced three similar 35 foot coach models for a total of 29 coaches. Beck built twelve 40 foot Scenicruiser lookalikes in 1955 powered by the 300 HP Cummins NHRBS diesel engine, they were Beck's model DH1040 and some were delivered new to Queen City Trailways. Most of Beck's 40 foot coaches were sold to operators in Mexico.
Beck had to repossess several of them and they returned to the United States and were resold as used buses. A number of Vista-Liner 100's and at least one of the Becks have been converted to motorhomes and are still on the road. Mack Truck and Bus produced a single model MV-620-D prototype in 1957, 40 feet long but it found no takers though Greyhound leased it for several months; this coach still exists in private hands in Ohio. Other two-level models introduced after the Scenicruiser were the Western Flyer T-36-2L,and the impressive four-axle twin-steer Sultana Crucero Imperial; as introduced, the Scenicruiser had some significant problems the drivetrain and cracking of the frame structure around the side windows in the rear quarter of the coach. GMC was not about to put a non-GM engine into its flagship coach nor was it willing to create a V8 version of its Series 71 diesel engine at the time though it had the resources to do so; that meant. Maintenance on the Scenicruiser was a constant headache – because of the complicated nature of some of the new systems because some of the components were too new and unimproved because the di
Trans World Airlines
Trans World Airlines was a major American airline that existed from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, other stops, with Ford Trimotors. With American and Eastern, it was one of the "Big Four" domestic airlines in the United States formed by the Spoils Conference of 1930. Howard Hughes acquired control of TWA in 1939, after World War II led the expansion of the airline to serve Europe, the Middle East, Asia, making TWA a second unofficial flag carrier of the United States after Pan Am. Hughes gave up control in the 1960s, the new management of TWA acquired Hilton International and Century 21 in an attempt to diversify the company's business; as the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 led to a wave of airline failures, start-ups, takeovers in the United States, TWA was spun off from its holding company in 1984. Carl Icahn acquired control of TWA and took the company private in a leveraged buyout in 1988.
TWA became saddled with debt, sold its London routes, underwent Chapter 11 restructuring in 1992 and 1995, was further stressed by the explosion of TWA Flight 800 in 1996. In 2001, TWA was acquired by American Airlines. American laid off many former TWA employees in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and closed its St. Louis hub in 2003. TWA was headquartered at one time in Kansas City and planned to make Kansas City International Airport its main domestic and international hub, but abandoned this plan in the 1970s; the airline developed its largest hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, its main transatlantic hub was the TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, an architectural icon designed by Eero Saarinen, completed in 1962. TWA's corporate history dates from the July 16, 1930, the forced merger of Transcontinental Air Transport, Western Air Express, Maddux Air Lines and Pittsburgh Aviation Industries Corporation to form Transcontinental & Western Air on 1 Oct. 1930.
The companies merged at the urging of Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown, looking for bigger airlines to give airmail contracts to. The airline brought high-profile aviation pioneers who would give the airline the panache of being called "The Airman's Airline". TAT had the marquee expertise of Charles Lindbergh and was offering a 48-hour combination of plane and train trip across the United States. WAE had the expertise of Jack Frye. TWA became known as "The Lindbergh Line", with the "Shortest Route Coast to Coast". On October 25, 1930, the airline offered one of the first all-plane scheduled service from coast to coast; the route took 36 hours. In summer 1931, TWA moved its headquarters from New York to Missouri. On 31 March 1931, the airline suffered after the 1931 Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F-10 crash near Matfield Green, Kansas; the crash killed all eight including University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. The cause of the crash was linked to the wooden wings; as a consequence, all of the airline's Fokker F.10s were grounded, destroyed.
TWA needed a replacement aircraft. TWA was forced to sponsor the development of a new airplane design. Specifications included the ability to fly the high altitude route between Winslow and Albuquerque, New Mexico with one engine inoperative. Other specifications included the capacity to carry 12 passengers, an 1080 mile range. On September 20, 1932, the development contract was signed with Douglas Aircraft Company and the DC-1 was delivered to TWA in December 1933, the sole example of its type; this was followed by the delivery of 32 Douglas DC-2s that started operations in May 1934 on its Columbus-Pittsburgh-Newark route. Most were phased out by 1937 as the DC-3 started service, but several DC-2s would be operational through the early years of World War II. Throughout 1934, Tommy Tomlinson set load and distance records with the DC-1. TWA used their Northrop Gamma as an "experimental Overweather Laboratory", in a desire to fly at altitudes above the weather. On 18 February 1934, Frye and Eastern Air Lines Eddie Rickenbacker, flew a DC-1 from Glendale, California, to Newark, New Jersey, setting a transcontinental record of 13 hours and 4 minutes.
On 17 April Frye was elected president. TWA started using the DC-3 on 1 June 1937; the fleet included 8 day versions. In 1934, following charges of favoritism in the contracts, the Air Mail scandal erupted, leading to the Air Mail Act of 1934, which dissolved the forced Transcontinental/Western merger and ordered the United States Army Air Service to deliver the mail. However, Transcontinental opted to retain the T&WA name. With the company facing financial hardship, Lehman Brothers and John D. Hertz took over ownership of the company; the Army fliers had a series of crashes, it was decided to privatize the delivery with the provision that no former companies could bid on the contracts. T&WA added the suffix "Inc." to its name. It was awarded 60% of its old contracts back in May 1934, won back the rest within a few years. On 29 January 1937, TWA contracted with Boeing for five Boeing 307 Stratoliners, which included a pressurized cabin. However, the TWA board refused to authorize the expenditure.
Frye approached another flying enthusiast, Howard Hughes, to buy stock in 1937. Hughes Tool Company purchased 99,293 shares at $8.25 a share, giving Hughes control, Noah Dietrich was placed on the board. Hughes
Electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Electric locomotives with on-board fueled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas turbines, are classed as diesel-electric or gas turbine-electric and not as electric locomotives, because the electric generator/motor combination serves only as a power transmission system. Electric locomotives benefit from the high efficiency of electric motors above 90%. Additional efficiency can be gained from regenerative braking, which allows kinetic energy to be recovered during braking to put power back on the line. Newer electric locomotives use AC motor-inverter drive systems that provide for regenerative braking. Electric locomotives are quiet compared to diesel locomotives since there is no engine and exhaust noise and less mechanical noise; the lack of reciprocating parts means electric locomotives are easier on the track, reducing track maintenance.
Power plant capacity is far greater than any individual locomotive uses, so electric locomotives can have a higher power output than diesel locomotives and they can produce higher short-term surge power for fast acceleration. Electric locomotives are ideal for commuter rail service with frequent stops. Electric locomotives are used on freight routes with high traffic volumes, or in areas with advanced rail networks. Power plants if they burn fossil fuels, are far cleaner than mobile sources such as locomotive engines; the power can come from clean or renewable sources, including geothermal power, hydroelectric power, nuclear power, solar power and wind turbines. The chief disadvantage of electrification is the high cost for infrastructure: overhead lines or third rail and control systems. Public policy in the U. S. interferes with electrification: higher property taxes are imposed on owned rail facilities if they are electrified. The EPA regulates exhaust emissions on locomotive and marine engines, similar to regulations on car & freight truck emissions, in order to limit the amount of carbon monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbons, nitric oxides, soot output from these mobile power sources.
Because railroad infrastructure is owned in the U. S. railroads are unwilling to make the necessary investments for electrification. In Europe and elsewhere, railway networks are considered part of the national transport infrastructure, just like roads and waterways, so are financed by the state. Operators of the rolling stock pay fees according to rail use; this makes possible the large investments required for the technically and, in the long-term economically advantageous electrification. The first known electric locomotive was built in 1837 by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen, it was powered by galvanic cells. Davidson built a larger locomotive named Galvani, exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Arts Exhibition in 1841; the seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors, with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, simple commutators. It hauled a load of six tons at four miles per hour for a distance of one and a half miles, it was tested on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in September of the following year, but the limited power from batteries prevented its general use.
It was destroyed by railway workers. The first electric passenger train was presented by Werner von Siemens at Berlin in 1879; the locomotive was driven by a 2.2 kW, series-wound motor, the train, consisting of the locomotive and three cars, reached a speed of 13 km/h. During four months, the train carried 90,000 passengers on a 300-metre-long circular track; the electricity was supplied through a third insulated rail between the tracks. A contact roller was used to collect the electricity; the world's first electric tram line opened in Lichterfelde near Berlin, Germany, in 1881. It was built by Werner von Siemens. Volk's Electric Railway opened in 1883 in Brighton. In 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram opened near Vienna in Austria, it was the first in the world in regular service powered from an overhead line. Five years in the U. S. electric trolleys were pioneered in 1888 on the Richmond Union Passenger Railway, using equipment designed by Frank J. Sprague. Much of the early development of electric locomotion was driven by the increasing use of tunnels in urban areas.
Smoke from steam locomotives was noxious and municipalities were inclined to prohibit their use within their limits. The first electrically-worked underground line was the City and South London Railway, prompted by a clause in its enabling act prohibiting the use of steam power, it opened in 1890, using electric locomotives built by Platt. Electricity became the power supply of choice for subways, abetted by the Sprague's invention of multiple-unit train control in 1897. Surface and elevated rapid transit systems used steam until forced to convert by ordinance; the first use of electrification on a main line was on a four-mile stretch of the Baltimore Belt Line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1895 connecting the main portion of the B&O to the new line to New York through a series of tunnels around the edges of Baltimore's downtown. Parallel tracks on the Pennsylvania Railroad had shown that coal smoke from steam locomotives would be a major operating issue and a public nuisance. Three Bo+Bo units were used, at the south end of the electrified section.
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc. shortened to Greyhound, is an intercity bus common carrier serving over 3,800 destinations across North America. The company's first route began in Hibbing, Minnesota in 1914, the company adopted the Greyhound name in 1929. Since October 2007, Greyhound has been a subsidiary of British transportation company FirstGroup, but continues to be based in Dallas, where it has been headquartered since 1987. Greyhound and its sister companies in FirstGroup America are the largest motorcoach operators in the United States and Canada. Carl Eric Wickman was born in Sweden in 1887. In 1905, he moved to the United States where he worked as a drill operator at a mine in Alice, until he was laid off in 1914; that same year, he became a Hupmobile salesman in Minnesota. Although unsuccessful as a car salesman, Wickman used a 7-passenger car to begin a bus service with Andy "Bus Andy" Anderson and C. A. A. "Arvid" Heed in 1914. The fledgling company transported iron ore miners from Hibbing to Alice at 15 cents a ride.
In 1915, Wickman joined forces with Ralph Bogan, running a similar service from Hibbing to Duluth, Minnesota, to form the Mesaba Transportation Company. The company made $8,000 in profit in its first year. By the end of World War I in 1918, Wickman owned 18 buses and was making an annual profit of $40,000. In 1922, Wickman joined forces with the owner of Superior White Bus Lines. Four years Wickman purchased two West Coast operations, the Pioneer Yelloway System and the Pickwick Lines, creating a national intercity bus company; the Greyhound name had its origins in the inaugural run of a route from Superior, Wisconsin to Wausau, Wisconsin. While passing through a small town, Ed Stone, the route's operator, saw the reflection of his 1920s era bus in a store window; the reflection reminded him of a greyhound dog, he adopted that name for that segment of the Blue Goose Lines. The Greyhound name became popular and applied to the entire bus network. Stone became General Sales Manager of Yellow Truck and Coach, a division of General Motors, which built Greyhound buses.
As president of the company, Wickman continued to expand it so that by 1927, his buses were making transcontinental trips from California to New York. In 1928, Greyhound had a gross annual income of $6 million. In 1929, Greyhound acquired additional interests in the Gray Line and part of the Colonial Motor Coach Company to form Eastern Greyhound Lines. Greyhound acquired an interest in Northland Transportation Company and renamed it Northland Greyhound Lines. By 1930, more than 100 bus lines had been consolidated into what was called the Motor Transit Company. Recognizing the need for a more memorable name, the partners of the Motor Transit Company changed its name to The Greyhound Corporation after the Greyhound name used by earlier bus lines. Wickman's business suffered during the Great Depression, by 1931 was over $1 million in debt; as the 1930s progressed and the economy improved, Greyhound began to prosper again. In 1934, intercity bus lines carried 400,000,000 passengers—nearly as many passengers as the Class I railroads.
The film It Happened One Night — about an heiress traveling by Greyhound bus with a reporter — is credited by the company for spurring bus travel nationwide. In 1935, national intercity bus ridership climbed 50% to 651,999,000 passengers, surpassing the volume of passengers carried by the Class I railroads for the first time. In 1935 Wickman was able to announce record profits of $8 million. In 1936 the largest bus carrier in the United States, Greyhound began taking delivery of 306 new buses. To accommodate the rapid growth in bus travel, Greyhound built many new stations in the period between 1937 and 1945. To unify its brand image, it procured both buses and bus stations in the late Art Deco style known as Streamline Moderne starting in 1937. For terminals, Greyhound retained such architects as W. S. Arrasmith and George D. Brown. Notable examples of Streamline Moderne stations have been preserved in Blytheville, Cleveland, Columbia, South Carolina, Washington, D. C. Greyhound worked with the Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company for its streamlined Series 700 buses, first for Series 719 prototypes in 1934, from 1937 as the exclusive customer for Yellow's Series 743 bus.
Greyhound bought a total of 1,256 buses between 1937 and 1939. By the outbreak of World War II, the company had nearly 10,000 employees. Wickman retired as president of the Greyhound Corporation in 1946 and was replaced by his long-time partner Orville S. Caesar. Wickman died at the age of 66 in 1954. Greyhound commissioned noted industrial designer Raymond Loewy and General Motors to design several distinctive buses from the 1930s through the 1950s. Loewy's first was the GM PD-3751, the Greyhound Silversides produced in 1940 - 1941. 1954 saw the debut of the first of Greyhound's distinctive hump-backed buses. In 1944 Loewy had produced drawings for the GM GX-1, a full double-decker parlor bus with the first prototype built in 1953; the Scenicruiser was designed Loewy and built by General Motors as model PD-4501. The front of the bus was distinctly lower than its rear section. After World War II, the building of the Interstate Highway System beginning in 1956, automobile travel became a preferred mode of travel in the United States.
This, combined with the increasing affordability of air travel, spelled trouble for Greyhound and other intercity bus carriers. In October 1953, Greyhound announced the acquisition of the Tennessee Coach Company's entire operation, the negotiations fo
Baldwin Locomotive Works
The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1956. Located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century; the company was for decades the world's largest producer of steam locomotives, but struggled to compete as demand switched to diesel locomotives. Baldwin produced the last of its 70,000-plus locomotives in 1956 and went out of business in 1972; the company has no relation to the E. M. Baldwin and Sons locomotive builder of Australia; the Baldwin Locomotive Works had a humble beginning. Matthias W. Baldwin, the founder, was a jeweller and whitesmith, who, in 1825, formed a partnership with a machinist, engaged in the manufacture of bookbinders' tools and cylinders for calico printing. Baldwin designed and constructed for his own use a small stationary engine, the workmanship of, so excellent and its efficiency so great that he was solicited to build others like it for various parties, thus led to turn his attention to steam engineering.
The original engine was in use and powered many departments of the works for well over 60 years, is on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. In 1831, at the request of the Philadelphia Museum, Baldwin built a miniature locomotive for exhibition, such a success that he received that year an order from a railway company for a locomotive to run on a short line to the suburbs of Philadelphia; the Camden and Amboy Railroad Company had shortly before imported a locomotive from England, stored in Bordentown, New Jersey. It had not yet been assembled by Isaac Dripps, he made notes of the principal dimensions. Aided by these figures, he commenced his task; the difficulties attending the execution of this first order were such that they are not understood by present-day mechanics. Modern machine tools did not exist, it was under such circumstances that his first locomotive, christened Old Ironsides, was completed and tried on the Philadelphia and Norristown Railroad on November 23, 1832.
It was at once put in active service, did duty for over 20 years. It was a four-wheeled engine; the wheels were of heavy cast iron hubs, with wooden spokes and rims, wrought iron tires, the frame was made of wood placed outside the wheels. It had a 30 inches diameter boiler. Top speed was 28 mph. Baldwin struggled to survive the Panic of 1837. Production fell from 40 locomotives in 1837 to just nine in 1840 and the company was in debt; as part of the survival strategy, Matthias Baldwin took on two partners, George Vail and George Hufty. Although the partnerships proved short-lived, they helped Baldwin pull through the economic hard times. Zerah Colburn was one of many engineers. Between 1854 and 1861, when Colburn went to work more or less permanently in London, the journalist was in frequent touch with M. W. Baldwin, as recorded in Zerah Colburn: The Spirit of Darkness. Colburn was full of praise for the quality of Baldwin's work. In the 1850s, railroad building became a national obsession, with many new carriers starting up in the Midwest and South.
While this helped drive up demand for Baldwin products, it increased competition as more companies entered the locomotive production field. Still, Baldwin had trouble keeping pace with orders and in the early 1850s began paying workers piece-rate pay. Taking advantage of human nature, this increased incentives and productivity. By 1857, the company employed 600 men, but another economic downturn, this time the Panic of 1857, cut into business again. Output fell by 50 percent in 1858; the Civil War at first appeared disastrous for Baldwin. According to John K. Brown in The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915: A Study in American Industrial Practice, at the start of the conflict Baldwin had a great dependence on Southern railways as its primary market. In 1860, nearly 80 percent of Baldwin's output went to carriers in states that would soon secede from the Union; as a result, Baldwin's production in 1861 fell more than 50 percent compared to the previous year. However, the loss in Southern sales was counterbalanced by purchases by the U.
S. Military Railroads and the Pennsylvania Railroad, which saw its traffic soar, as Baldwin produced more than 100 engines for carriers during the 1861–1865 war. By the time Matthias Baldwin died in 1866, his company was vying with Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works for the top spot among locomotive producers. By 1870 Baldwin had taken the lead and a decade it was producing 2½ times as many engines as its nearest competitor, according to the U. S. Manufacturing Census. In 1897 the Baldwin Locomotive Works was presented as one of the examples of successful shop management in a series of articles by Horace Lucian Arnold; the article described the Piece Rate System used in the shop management. Burton commented, that "in the Baldwin Locomotive Works... piecework rates are altered... Some rates have remained unchanged for the past twenty years, a workman is there more esteemed when
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, established in 1846 and was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was so named; the PRR was the largest railroad by traffic and revenue in the U. S. for the first half of the 20th century. Over the years, it acquired, merged with or owned part of at least 800 other rail lines and companies. At the end of 1925, it operated 10,515 miles of rail line, its only formidable rival was the New York Central, which carried around three-quarters of PRR's ton-miles. By 1882 it had become the largest railroad, the largest transportation enterprise, the largest corporation in the world. With 30,000 miles of track, it had longer mileage than any other country in the world, except Britain and France, its budget was second only to the U. S. government. The corporation still holds the record for the longest continuous dividend history: it paid out annual dividends to shareholders for more than 100 consecutive years. In 1968, PRR merged with rival NYC to form the Penn Central Transportation Company, which filed for bankruptcy within two years.
The viable parts were transferred in 1976 to Conrail, itself broken up in 1999, with 58 percent of the system going to the Norfolk Southern Railway, including nearly all of the former PRR. Amtrak received the electrified segment of the Main Line east of Harrisburg. With the opening of the Erie Canal and the beginnings of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Philadelphia business interests became concerned that the port of Philadelphia would lose traffic; the state legislature was pressed to build a canal across Pennsylvania and thus the Main Line of Public Works was commissioned in 1826. It soon became evident that a single canal would not be practical and a series of railroads, inclined planes, canals was proposed; the route consisted of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, canals up the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, an inclined plane railroad and tunnel across the Allegheny Mountains, canals down the Conemaugh and Allegheny rivers to Pittsburgh on the Ohio River. Because freight and passengers had to change cars several times along the route and canals froze in winter, it soon became apparent that the system was cumbersome and a better way was needed.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted a charter to the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1846 to build a private rail line that would connect Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. The Directors chose John Edgar Thomson, an engineer from the Georgia Railroad, to survey and construct the line, he chose a route that followed the west bank of the Susquehanna River northward to the confluence with the Juniata River, following its banks until the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains were reached at a point that would become Altoona, Pennsylvania. To traverse the mountains, the line climbed a moderate grade for 10 miles until it reached a split of two mountain ravines which were cleverly crossed by building a fill and having the tracks ascend a 220-degree curve known as Horseshoe Curve that limited the grade to less than 2 percent; the crest of the mountain was penetrated by the 3,612-foot Gallitzin Tunnels and descended by a more moderate grade to Johnstown. At the end of its first year of operation, it paid a dividend, continued the dividend without interruption until 1946.
The western end of the line was built from Pittsburgh east along the banks of the Allegheny and Conemaugh rivers to Johnstown. PRR was granted trackage rights over the Philadelphia and Columbia and gained control of the three short lines connecting Lancaster and Harrisburg, instituting an all-rail link between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh by 1854. In 1857, the PRR purchased the Main Line of Public Works from the state of Pennsylvania, abandoned most of its canals and inclined planes; the line was double track from its inception, by the end of the century a third and fourth track were added. Over the next 50 years, PRR expanded by gaining control of other railroads by stock purchases and 999-year leases. Thomson was the entrepreneur who led the PRR from 1852 until his death in 1874, making it the largest business enterprise in the world and a world-class model for technological and managerial innovation, he served as PRR's first Chief Engineer and third President. Thomson's sober, technical and non-ideological personality had an important influence on the Pennsylvania Railroad, which in the mid-19th century was on the technical cutting edge of rail development, while nonetheless reflecting Thomson's personality in its conservatism and its steady growth while avoiding financial risks.
His Pennsylvania Railroad was in his day the largest railroad in the world, with 6,000 miles of track, was famous for steady financial dividends, high quality construction improving equipment, technological advances, innovation in management techniques for a large complex organization. In 1861 the PRR gained control of the Northern Central Railway, giving it access to Baltimore, Maryland, as well as points along the Susquehanna River via connections at Columbia, Pennsylvania or Harrisburg. On December 1, 1871, the PRR leased the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company, which included the original Camden and Amboy Railroad from Camden, New Jersey to South Amboy, New Jersey, as well as a newer line from Philadelphia to Jersey City, New Je
Pennsylvania Railroad class S1
The PRR S1 class steam locomotive was a single experimental locomotive, the longest and heaviest rigid frame reciprocating steam locomotive, built. The streamlined Art Deco styled shell of the locomotive was designed by Raymond Loewy; the S1 was the only locomotive built with a 6-4-4-6 wheel arrangement. It was a duplex locomotive, meaning that it had two pairs of cylinders, each driving two pairs of driving wheels. Unlike similar-looking articulated locomotive designs, the driven wheelbase of the S1 was rigid. In order to achieve stability at fast passenger train speeds, articulation was not used; the S1 was completed January 31, 1939, was numbered 6100. At 140 ft 2 1⁄2 in overall and tender, the S1 was the longest reciprocating steam locomotive ever; the problem of wheel slippage, along with a wheelbase, too long for many of the rail line's curves, limited the S1's usefulness. No further S1 models were built as focus shifted to the much smaller but more practical class T1 in June 1940; as early as June 1936, the management of Pennsylvania Railroad decided to build a new passenger locomotive to replace its aging K4s locomotives.
They hoped that the new S1 steam locomotive would have a performance equal to their GG1 electric locomotive and would be capable of hauling a 1,000-ton passenger train at 100 mph. A conference was held between Baldwin Locomotive Works officials and W. F. Kiesel, J. V. B. Duer and W. R. Elsey for PRR, where PRR demanded a passenger locomotive to haul 15 standard cars at 100 mph on level track between Paoli and Chicago. Baldwin presented 4-4-4-4 designs made for other railroads. However, PRR rejected the 4-8-4 design in favor of a rigid frame duplex. PRR asked Baldwin to consider the wheel arrangement 4-4-6-4. A month F. W. Hankins requested Baldwin Locomotive Works to submit a design for a 4-8-4 engine capable of handling a 2,000-ton train between Colehour and Harsimus Cove. Two months after the conference, Baldwin Locomotive Works officials presented four designs to PRR: a 4-4-4-4 passenger locomotive that could haul 1,200 tons but exceeded existing weight and clearance restrictions. PRR preferred 4-4-4-4 and asked Baldwin to consider a passenger version with 80" drivers and a freight version with 72" drivers.
However, the cooperation between PRR and Baldwin, which proceeded without signing any agreement or contract, for the development of the new high-speed duplex engine was not going smoothly. Ten months after the first conference, PRR ended Baldwin Locomotive Work's consultation and assigned the task to a consortium of Baldwin Locomotive Works, American Locomotive Company and Lima Locomotive Works under a joint contract; the members of the joint committee were Ralph P. Johnsonn, William Winterwood, H. Glaenzer, Dan Ennis, William E. Woodard and Samuel Allen]]; the joint committee was headed by T. W. Demarest, General Superintendent of Motive Power in PRR's Western Region. On 28th April 1937, PRR's Board authorized $300,000 for this experimental high-speed passenger locomotive project; the design started with a 4-4-4-4 duplex. On 2nd June 1937, PRR announced the development of the “Pennsylvania Type” high-speed passenger locomotive which would become Class S1. After various details were discussed and finalized, it became necessary to make changes that increased the locomotive's weight.
By the time the plans were finalized and approved it had evolved into a 6-4-4-6. The reasoning for a duplex design was due to reducing hammer blows on the track, resulting in lower maintenance cost. Two sets of drivers with four wheels each could have lighter running gear than a locomotive with all four axles coupled together and lighter moving parts ensured less wear and tear. Cylinder efficiency could be improved at high speed by getting the same power from four smaller cylinders with proportionately larger valves. Valve travel in S1's cylinder was 7-1/2”, the lap was 1-7/8”, the lead was 5/16”, exhaust clearance was 0.25”, valve diameter was 12”. Baldwin's chief engineer believed that the 8-coupled, 2 cylinder locomotives of the time were at or near practical limits in terms of steam flow as well. Using four cylinders was a way to get around that limitation. Theoretically, such a locomotive would be more powerful and efficient than a conventional two-cylinder design. Other advantages of a duplex design include shorter cylinder stroke, lower piston speed for any given locomotive speed and lower piston thrust than a 4-8-4 at a similar size.
Using a rigid frame was considered to provide far more stability at high speeds than articulated underframes. In addition, no hinged connection had to be maintained. Before Baldwin was commissioned by Pennsylvania Railroad for a 4-4-4-4 duplex passenger engine in 1940, Baldwin Locomotive Works begun the development of designs for fast locomotives with duplex drive since 1938, including a rigid-frame 4-2-2-4 and three-cylinder 4-4-4 for lightweight trains and the preliminary design for a 4-4-4-4 for heavy trains. In Oct 1939, Baldwin Locomotive Works placed a stock order to build a 4-4-4-4 duplex high-speed pass
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