PRR 460, nicknamed the "Lindbergh Engine", is a

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 ...

E6s

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 ...

now located in 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,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It was built in 1914 and became famous after racing an aircraft to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

carrying

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, informa ...

s of

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

's return to the

after his transatlantic flight in 1927. In the late 1930s, No. 460 was operated by 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 ...

, and by the

Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines The Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines was a railroad that operated in South Jersey in the 20th century. It was created in 1933 as a joint consolidation venture between two competing railroads in the region: the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Rea ...

in the early 1950s, before being retired in 1953. No. 460 is the only surviving locomotive of its class and was listed on the U.S.

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. From 2010 to 2016, No. 460 underwent cosmetic restoration at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

Background

An experimental Model E6 was developed in 1910 and, after two other "sample" locomotives and four years of tests, it was found that the 4-4-2 Atlantic's speed equaled that of the larger

4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomotiv ...

Pacific's. An additional 80 E6 locomotives were ordered with

superheater A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There ar ...

s and classified as the E6s.

History

No. 460 was the last of the E6s model to be built, out of a total of 80 locomotives. From their construction in 1914 until 1920, the E6s ran mostly on the corridor between

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

After being replaced by the

K4s The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) K4 4-6-2 "Pacific" (425 built 1914–1928, PRR Altoona, Baldwin) was its premier passenger-hauling steam locomotive from 1914 through the end of steam on the PRR in 1957. Attempts were made to replace the ...

model, the E6s locomotives were relegated to charter services because of their high speed. After returning from Europe and his transatlantic flight on June 11, 1927,

was promoted to Colonel and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by President

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...

. Two rival

companies, who were each vying to be the first to have their films of the ceremony shown in New York theaters, chartered a train and an aircraft, respectively, from Washington to New York City. No. 460 headed up the charter train, pulling only its tender, a

baggage car A passenger railroad car or passenger car (United States), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach (United Kingdom and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie (India) is a railroad car that is designed to carry passen ...

and a

passenger car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

. The train departed Washington at 1:14 PM and arrived at the Manhattan Transfer, outside of New York City, 2 hours and 56 minutes later. The final leg, through the tunnels underneath the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

, was completed by an electric DD1. No. 460 averaged and is believed to had attained a maximum speed of , but there is no evidence to support the claim by the engineers. Even though the aircraft arrived in New York first, the film brought by No. 460 was in theaters hours before the other, thanks to a

film processing Photographic processing or photographic development is the chemical means by which photographic film or paper is treated after photographic exposure to produce a negative or positive image. Photographic processing transforms the latent image into ...

lab on board the train's baggage car. After the race, No. 460 went back to its normal duties until March 1937, when it was loaned to the

. In January 1939, No. 460 was returned to the PRR, but was still occasionally used on the

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

as a "short term 'loaner'". Starting in 1942, it hauled trains between

Camden Camden may refer to: People * Camden (surname), a surname of English origin * Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer * Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor Places Australia * Camden, New South Wales * Camden, Rosehill, a heritage res ...

and

Bay Head, New Jersey Bay Head is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 968,drivers on the engineer's (right) side are from PRR 1565, the air reservoir on the fireman's (left) side was from PRR 690 and the reservoir on the engineer's side was from PRR 782. 460's tender was replaced in 1952 with one from 1565; the original tender had been transferred to

maintenance-of-way A railway track (British English and UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties (sleepers, ...

service. 460 was leased to the Pennsylvania–Reading Seashore Lines in 1953 before being retired in 1955 and added to the Pennsylvania's collection of historic locomotives in

Northumberland, Pennsylvania Northumberland is a borough in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,804 at the 2010 census. History A brewer named Reuben Haines, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded the town of Northumberland in ...

Preservation

No. 460 was moved from Northumberland in October, 1969 to the

in Strasburg. Although a part of the museum, it was not owned by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission until it was officially donated to the museum in December, 1979, by the

Penn Central Transportation The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central Railroad ...

Company, which received ownership when the Pennsylvania was merged with the

New York Central 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 Midw ...

. No. 460 was listed on the

on December 17, 1979. From 1982 to 1984, volunteers at the museum cleaned the locomotive, replaced wooden window frames and doors, applied

rust inhibitor In chemistry, a corrosion inhibitor or anti-corrosive is a chemical compound that, when added to a liquid or gas, decreases the corrosion rate of a material, typically a metal or an alloy, that comes into contact with the fluid. The effectiveness ...

primer Primer may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour Literature * Primer (textbook), a t ...

and repainted the metal. The locomotive's boiler cladding was removed in 2008. 460 was moved into the museum restoration shops on March 17, 2010, after raising $50,000 and receiving an additional $50,000 donation. From July to August 2010, 460 was " blasted" to remove the several layers of

lead paint Lead paint or lead-based paint is paint containing lead. As pigment, lead(II) chromate (, "chrome yellow"), lead(II,IV) oxide, (, "red lead"), and lead(II) carbonate (, "white lead") are the most common forms.. Lead is added to paint to acceler ...

from the locomotive. The blasting uncovered original timing marks and stamped numbers showing that the origins of some of the parts on 460 were cannibalized from other E6s locomotives. The cosmetic restoration of the 460 was completed in October 2016.

References

Sources

* * *

External links