Pennsylvania Railroad No. 1223 is a class " D16sb"

4-4-0 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four po ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

" type

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

built in November 1905 for the

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 ...

by their own

Altoona Works Altoona Works (also known as Altoona Terminal) is a large railroad industrial complex in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It was built between 1850 and 1925 by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), to supply the railroad with locomotives, railroad cars and relat ...

for

passenger A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The ...

service. After being retired from active service in 1950, the locomotive ran excursion trains on the

Strasburg Rail Road The Strasburg Rail Road is a heritage railroad and the oldest continuously operating standard-gauge railroad in the western hemisphere, as well as the oldest public utility in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Chartered in 1832, the Strasburg Rai ...

outside of

Strasburg, Pennsylvania Strasburg is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It developed as a linear village stretching about along the Great Conestoga Road, later known as the Strasburg Road.Susan M. Zacher, NRHP Nomination Form Strasburg/ref> The population w ...

from 1965 to 1989 when it was removed from service requiring

firebox Firebox may refer to: *Firebox (steam engine), the area where the fuel is burned in a steam engine *Firebox (architecture), the part of a fireplace where fuel is combusted *Firebox Records, a Finnish 8101705801record label * Firebox.com, an electro ...

repairs. Currently, the locomotive is still on static display at the

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is a railroad museum in Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The museum is located on the east side of Strasburg along Pennsylvania Route 741. It is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museu ...

outside of Strasburg. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1979. No. 1223 is the only surviving example of the Pennsylvania Railroad's D16sb class.

History

Revenue service

The class D16 locomotives of the

(PRR) were the most modern of a long history of

" type

s that the railroad used. No. 1223 was home built by PRR at its Juniata Shops in

Altoona, Pennsylvania Altoona is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 Census, making it the eighteenth most populous city in Pennsylvania. ...

in 1905. As built, it was a high speed passenger engine with tall driving wheels. However, the 4-4-0 type—long the mainstay of American passenger and freight service—was already becoming outmoded when No. 1223 was built, being superseded by ever-larger engines. PRR itself was pioneering steel passenger cars, which the public soon demanded for the implied increases in safety. No. 1223 was eventually rebuilt with smaller driving wheels for local freight service, having been replaced on passenger trains by engines like the class "E6"

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 ...

s and class "K4"

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

s. It was modernized as well, receiving superheaters (the "s" in D-16sb), piston valves, an electric headlight and other improvements. By 1940, most railroads had forgotten about the 4-4-0, but PRR , Boston & Maine and Canadian Pacific Railway, were still using them. Nos. 1035, 1223 and 5079 were all leased to the Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic Railway working such routes as the McDaniel Branch and the Love Point to Easton line. No. 1223 was scheduled for scrapping when a PRR officer noticed her and ordered renovation to almost original condition in 1937. On 1941, PRR 3750 & PRR 1223 made an appearance in

Broadway Limited (film) ''Broadway Limited'' is a 1941 American film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Victor McLaglen, Dennis O'Keefe and ZaSu Pitts. The film takes its name from the ''Broadway Limited'' train that the Pennsylvania Railroad used to run between ...

masquerading as PRR 1600. Of the three, No. 1223 was selected for display at a number of railroad fairs in the 1930s-1950s, and eventual preservation. For years, the engine was stored at a roundhouse in Northumberland, Pennsylvania.

Excursion service

On 1965, the Strasburg Railroad (SRC), based in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, leased No. 1223 from PRR and restored it to operating condition on August 14, 1965. The engine pulled the Santa Claus Special at Lancaster, PA annually in December 1965-1968. PRR No. 1223 appeared in Hello, Dolly! (1969) dressed as

New York Central & Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

#15. On December 17, 1979, PRR No. 1223 was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as "Passenger Locomotive no. 1223" by the United States Department of the Interior. On August 1, 1983, No. 1223 was joined by PRR 7002 on Strasburg's roster and the two would operate a few mainline doubleheaders together in 1985 and 1986. The locomotive spent most of the 1980s pulling Strasburg's half hour trains but also made appearances at special events such as the 85th anniversary of the Broadway Limited in 1987, and an off-property trip to Delaware for Dupont in 1988. No. 1223 made its last run on October 26, 1989, after which, Strasburg's newly acquired ultrasound device revealed that the firebox walls of both No. 1223 and No. 7002 were not thick enough to comply with the updated Federal Railroad Administration regulations, thus deeming the engines unsafe for operation.

Disposition

As both the 1223 and 7002 had been operat by Strasburg under lease from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, the decision on their continued operation was to be made by the latter. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania wished to preserve the engines' remaining historical fabric, thus both engines were withdrawn from excursion service on the SRC at the end of the 1989 season, with their leases allowed to lapse. After retirement from excursion service on the SRC and return to the RRMPA, it is unlikely the locomotives will return to service. 1223 and 7002 have since remained on indoor static display in the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania's exhibit hall.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania 4-4-0 locomotives Individual locomotives of the United States 1223 Railway locomotives on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Collection of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Standard gauge locomotives of the United States National Register of Historic Places in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Preserved steam locomotives of Pennsylvania

History

Revenue service

Excursion service

Disposition

See also

References