Baldwin-Pennsylvania Railroad T-1 Steam Locomotive Postcard

From www.railphotoexpress.biz: Built in 1946 by Baldwin Locomotive Works and the Pennsylvania Railroad for fast passenger service. This was a Four Cylinder Steam Locomotive 4-4-4-4. The Pennsylvania Railroad's 52 T1 class duplex-drive 4-4-4-4 steam locomotives, introduced in 1942 (2 prototypes) and 1945-1946 (50 production), were their last steam locomotives built and their most controversial. They were ambitious, technologically sophisticated, powerful, fast, and uniquely streamlined by Raymond Loewy. However, they were also prone to violent wheelslip both when starting and at speed, complicated to maintain, and expensive to run. The PRR vowed in 1948 to place diesel locomotives on all express passenger trains, leaving unanswered the question of whether the T1's flaws were solvable. However, a Spring, 2008 article in the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society Magazine revealed that the wheel-slip problems were caused by the failure to properly train engineers transitioning to the T1, resulting in excessive throttle applications, which in turn caused the wheel-slips on this very powerful locomotive Most T1s, having been displaced by new diesels, were out of service by 1952. All T1 locomotives were sold for scrap between 1951 and late 1955. Copyright © 2000-2015 Stan Feldman