Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

's E1 class comprised three experimental Atlantic 4-4-2 locomotives built in 1899 to compete with the

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly calle ...

on the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania (Camden, New Jersey), to

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

, New Jersey, high-speed seashore passenger train service. These engines were designed as cab-center or

camelback locomotive A camelback locomotive (also known as a Mother Hubbard or a center-cab locomotive) is a type of steam locomotive with the driving cab placed in the middle, astride the boiler. Camelbacks were fitted with wide fireboxes which would have severely ...

s with wide fireboxes and 80" drivers that carried 50,000 lbs per axle. They proved capable in fast service but the inherent danger of separating the engineer from the fireman was unacceptable to the PRR so they were sold to their subsidiary the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...

in 1903. While the camelback design was unfavorable the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

style proved to be everything the

needed at that time. They went on to acquire 596 additional units over the next fifteen years.

Class E1a

E2 engine #269, the first of the class, was built in July 1900 and was reclassified to E1a in 1902.

References

External links

Steam locomotives of the United States ALCO locomotives Baldwin locomotives Lima locomotives 4-4-2 locomotives E7s Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States {{US-rail-transport-stub

Class E1a

See also

References

External links