PRR Q1
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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 ...
class Q1, #6130, was a single experimental
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 ...
designed for dual service. The locomotive entered service in 1942, and retired in 1949 after accumulating a relatively low 165,000 service miles. The Q1 had a 4-6-4-4
wheel arrangement In rail transport, a wheel arrangement or wheel configuration is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed under a locomotive. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and c ...
, consisting of a four-wheel
leading truck The leading wheel or leading axle or pilot wheel of a steam locomotive is an unpowered wheel or axle located in front of the driving wheels. The axle or axles of the leading wheels are normally located on a leading truck. Leading wheels are used ...
, two sets of
driving wheel On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled ...
s (six and four) in a rigid
locomotive frame A locomotive frame is the structure that forms the backbone of the railway locomotive, giving it strength and supporting the superstructure elements such as a cab, boiler or bodywork. The vast majority of locomotives have had a frame structure o ...
, and a four-wheel
trailing truck On a steam locomotive, a trailing wheel or trailing axle is generally an unpowered wheel or axle ( wheelset) located behind the driving wheels. The axle of the trailing wheels is usually located in a trailing truck. On some large locomotives, ...
. The first group of six driving wheels were powered by a pair of conventional front-mounted
cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...
s, while the rear four driving wheels had their cylinders mounted behind them, on either side of the
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 Firebox Records was a Finnish record label based in S ...
. The driving wheels were , larger than the PRR's existing dual-service locomotives. The Q1's streamlined design consisted of a blunt nosecone in front of the
smokebox A smokebox is one of the major basic parts of a steam locomotive exhaust system. Smoke and hot gases pass from the firebox through tubes where they pass heat to the surrounding water in the boiler. The smoke then enters the smokebox, and is e ...
, extended side skirts covering the locomotive's pipework, and a streamlined shape on the tender similar to the PRR's S1, S2, and T1 passenger locomotives. The cab front was set at a rakish angle. While the overall design reduced drag compared to the PRR's existing J1 class, the streamlining was ultimately removed around 1944, due to the minimal benefits at low freight speeds, and increased maintenance costs. The Q1 was ultimately considered a failure by both PRR and later rail historians. Between design shortcomings and high operational costs, particularly during increasing use of
diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...
s, it was never approved for series production. Despite being designed as a dual-service locomotive, minimal evidence suggests it ever served in a passenger capacity. However, its design did inspire the moderately successful albeit short-lived PRR class Q2.


History

PRR's Board approved $595,000 for the construction of this experimental Class dual service locomotive on Oct. 9, 1940. it was built in March
1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...
. Its streamlined shrouding, according to an interview of John W. Epstein, Special Projects Manager and vice president, Raymond Loewy & Assoc., was designed by Raymond Loewy, but,due to WWII, there was no publicity about it. The Q1 was a
duplex locomotive 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 18 ...
; it had a
wheel arrangement In rail transport, a wheel arrangement or wheel configuration is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed under a locomotive. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and c ...
of 4-6-4-4, consisting of a four-wheel
leading truck The leading wheel or leading axle or pilot wheel of a steam locomotive is an unpowered wheel or axle located in front of the driving wheels. The axle or axles of the leading wheels are normally located on a leading truck. Leading wheels are used ...
, two sets of
driving wheel On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled ...
s (six followed by four) in a rigid
locomotive frame A locomotive frame is the structure that forms the backbone of the railway locomotive, giving it strength and supporting the superstructure elements such as a cab, boiler or bodywork. The vast majority of locomotives have had a frame structure o ...
and a four-wheel
trailing truck On a steam locomotive, a trailing wheel or trailing axle is generally an unpowered wheel or axle ( wheelset) located behind the driving wheels. The axle of the trailing wheels is usually located in a trailing truck. On some large locomotives, ...
. The first group of six driving wheels was driven by a pair of
cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...
s mounted conventionally in front of them, while the rear four driving wheels were driven by cylinders mounted behind them on either side of the
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 Firebox Records was a Finnish record label based in S ...
. As a locomotive designed for dual service like PRR M1s, it was given larger-sized driving wheels at , which was as large as the
Grand Trunk Western The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company is an American subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971, the railroad has been under CN's subsidiary holdi ...
class U-4-b 4-8-4 "Northern" type. The Q1's streamlining was in the form of a bluntly-pointed nosecone on the
smokebox A smokebox is one of the major basic parts of a steam locomotive exhaust system. Smoke and hot gases pass from the firebox through tubes where they pass heat to the surrounding water in the boiler. The smoke then enters the smokebox, and is e ...
front as well as extended side skirts covering up the locomotive's pipework. The cab front was set at a rakish angle. The tender, although given a freight locomotive's "doghouse" on the rear deck for the head-end brakeman, was otherwise a streamlined affair very similar to that used on the S1, S2, and T1 passenger locomotives. Q1 was the last dual service locomotive designed by the Pennsylvania Railroad, but there is no substantial evidence showing that it was assigned to passenger service. Q1's design was able to reduce dynamic argument by 60% compared to the J1 class above 70mph, but it exceeded the railroad's 50mph speed limit for the freight train. On April 10, 1942, H.W. Jones, Chief of Motive Power, told Altoona that the Q1, #6130, would be considered a passenger engine as far as striping and lettering were concerned. During its short service life, it spent more time in shops or the engine-house than being run, accumulating only about 165,000 service miles in its career (1942–1949). Its first revenue run occurred on May 31, 1942, from East Altoona to Enola with 125 cars and 10,000 tons; 40 mph was made on a level track at 40% cutoff.''Keystone Magazine'' Volume 39, number 2 , page 18 In October 1943, it was assigned to the St. Clair Avenue Enginehouse in
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and ran mostly in the Ohio area and to
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. In December 1944, it appeared at a PRR exhibition in
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entitled "Presenting a Line of Modern Coal-Burning Steam Locomotives". At some time during the next year, it lost much of its streamlining, the nosecone being removed in favor of a conventional PRR smokebox front, including the keystone number plate placed centrally on the small smokebox door. A headlamp bracket mounted above that door also hung the locomotive's bell. The side skirting was cut back to expose pipework and fittings for easier maintenance. The skyline casing atop the boiler remained in place. The Q1 remained in service until July 1949, after which it was placed in storage. It was dismantled around 1949 and was removed from the company's books in January 1952. The PRR considered the Q1 design unfit for series production, and railroad historians consider it mostly a failure. The backward-driving rear cylinders were a poor choice; mounted next to the firebox, each constrained the other's size, and the area by the firebox was dusty and hot, which increased cylinder wear. These problems had previously been encountered on the B&O's
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duplex. The length of steam pipes required also meant a fair degree of power loss. Added to this, the passenger locomotive-sized drivers were not a good choice for freight service. From its experiences with this locomotive, the PRR came up with an improved design, the Q2. This had smaller drivers, cylinders mounted in front of the wheels they drove, was built largely unstreamlined and was designed for freight service only.


References


Bibliography

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Citations

{{PRR locomotives 4-6-4-4 locomotives Duplex locomotives Experimental locomotives Freight locomotives Individual locomotives of the United States Q1 Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Steam locomotives of the United States Streamlined steam locomotives Unique locomotives