PAGE INDEX:

  PRR Boxcabs.
    Class A6/A6B (first PRR I.C. Boxcab Loco).
  Pennsy Shovelnose.

Surviving Pennsy Boxcabs on their own pages:

  PRR Class P5 #4700 (1931, Altoona).
  PRR Class DD1 #3936-3937 (Juniata, 1911).
  Class B1 #5690 (Altoona, 1934).

PRR Early Diesel {and Gasoline} Boxcab {and Other} Concepts.   (28 May 08)

I have extracted much of the PRR boxcab info. from other boxcab pages and collected it here; more will follow.

There were (and even are) jillions and zillions of other boxcab electrics; so much boxcab info was added that I had to move them to a new page just for electrics (et seq.)!

PRR BOXCABS

(photos from TRAIN SHED CYCLOPEDIA #15)
{restored 21 Mar 07}
[Thumbnail images; click on picture for even larger images!]

(photo from TRAIN SHED CYCLOPEDIA #15)
{restored 21 Mar 07}
[Doesn't it figure? - big GNs usually ran with both pans up and
this GN shot shows #5013 with only ONE pan up!]

    #10001 Class AA-1 B-B built 1905 by PRR's Juniata Shops (EZN-8),
        later renumbered PRR #3950 and then LIRR #323.

    #10002 Class AA-1 B-B built 1905 by PRR's Juniata Shops (EZN-9),
        later renumbered PRR #3951.

    #10003 Class AA-1 2-B (4-4-0) built 1907 by Baldwin, later renumbered LIRR #323.

Between when #10003 ran and successor (and successful) #10001-cum-323 came on the property, the LIRR's Morris Park shop cobbered up a wonderful, miniscule boxcab A (0-4-0) from an MP-54 truck surmounted by a wooden cab with windows all around (looking somewhat akin to a German "Glaskasten" engine) as their Yard Goat (shop switcher); she actually was given a steel cab in 1927, just before she passed away.  Then came two miniscule Baldwin honorary boxcabs (you know, with battery boxes at each end), #320 and #322, which we old locals know well, they having done their stint until 1958 when a pair of GE 25-ton Class GS-1 mini-hoods, #398 and #399, arrived (and which, last I knew, were still cranking along - there even was a GS-4 44-tonner #400, now on the Connecticut Valley RR in Essex).

Class A6/A6B

Excluding the many PRR electric boxcabs, covered on my Electric Boxcabs page, et seq., and herein, my "beloved" Pennsy didn't even get on board until 1926, with an order for three tiny Class A-6 2-axle boxcabs they built at their own Altoona* shops (of course).  #3905 was built in 1928 and #3906 in 1929 with 400hp Winton 148 gas engines; #3907 had a 535hp Brill diesel engine.  #3907 was re-engined in 1947 with a Hamilton diesel and reclassified A-6b, lasting until 1962 (1966 per Marre 1995) (from Yanosey, Vol. 1, and Marre 1995, page 431).

There is a 30 Jun 46 photo of PRR boxcab, "oil-electric switcher" A6B #3907 on page 26 of the Summer 1996 issue of The Keystone, captioned to confirm the ratings above, stating that it was built by the Juniata Shops* in May 1930 and that #3905 and #3906 were later converted to Class A6B.  #3905 is pictured as-built and #3907 later on page 212 of Staufer's Pennsy Power II; their ratings are shown as:

    ENG.    WEIGHT on  STARTING GEAR   MAX.   CONT.  CONT.
    NO.     DRIVERS    T. E.    RATIO  SPEED  T. E.  SPEED
    3905/6  130,000    32,500   76:16  20     7,500  16
    3907    130,000    32,500   76:16  20     8,500  16.5

#3905 was retired before 1959 and #3907 was re-engined with a Hamilton 68SA diesel in 1947 and retired in 1962 (from Staufer).

* - Juniata is wrong; it was definitely Altoona, as shown by the builder's plate in photos in "Pennsy Diesels 1924 - 1968 - The complete history of Pennsy diesels from A-6 to EF-36" by Kenneth L. Douglas and Peter C. Weiglin (see PRR Bibliography, Motive Power) [my thanks to PRRT&HS Pres. Al Buchan for pointing out this discrepancy].

John F. Campbell, late great guru of boxcabs, sent this more specific information {edited only for form}:

"Pennsy built their own first Box Cab Diesel-electric at their Altoona Works.

#3905 {was} the first (and - - - was eventually completed 5/22/1928).  It was equipped with an 8-cylinder solid injection 500 HP Diesel engine (4-cycle) purchased from Bessemer Gas Engine Co of Grove City, PA., {and} a Westinghouse model 476 generator and 355 traction motors.  Testing in the Altoona yards proved that the Bessemer Diesel engine couldn't handle the intended tasks so {it} was replaced with a Winton model 148 gasoline engine rated at 400 HP, as was {done to} their second unit (#3906).

These units were 4-wheeled affairs (0-B-0) and 26' 10" long over the couplers.

#3906 was completed a year later during May 1929 and both were 65 ton Pennsy Class A6.

#3905 was assigned Altoona Works b/n 4193 and EMC b/n #C24.
#3906 was assigned Altoona Works b/n 4206 and EMC b/n #C25.

Altoona Works built another internal combustion locomotive in 1930 (#3907 Class A6b); {it} differed from the first two units by using a Brill-Westinghouse gasoline engine ({which} was replaced with a GMC Hamilton Model 88SA Diesel engine in 1947)."

The Winton 148 engine order dates were 5/28 and 5/29 and they were apparently bought through Electro-Motive Corp. as EMC listed the sales with its conversion order number {per Brian Norden of the Orange Empire RR Museum).

I am essaying a powered model of #3905 in Z-scale (1:220 - it's about the size of the end-joint on my pinkie!).

John C. La Rue, Jr., has a collection of some 1,500 PRR photos in his collection of nearly 30,000 RR photos and, with his specific permission to reproduce it, here is a photo (Neg. No. 25446) attributed to A. P. Rynearson ca. 1937, "prob. at Morris Park, LI, NY"*, of A6 #3905:

(photo courtesy of J. C. La Rue, Jr. )
[Thumbnailed image, click on photo for much larger image]

* - I do not agree that this may have been at the LIRR's Morris Park shops in Queens; my understanding is that #3905 only visited Morris Park for service and repairs; this photo shows her apparently in switching service and so is far more likely to have been shot somewhere at the Pennsy's North 4th Street yard in Brooklyn.  No, NOT likely - see the elevated highway lurking at left rear and then see the 3906 photos immediately following (no such elevated structure at No. 4th St.).

John La Rue can be reached at 27491 Duvernay Drive, Bonita Springs, Florida  34135-6029.
Tel.:  239-992-8802
E-mail: MOFWCABOOSE@aol.com.

(photos courtesy of and © Bob's Photos - all rights reserved)
[click on thumbnailed photos for much larger images]

(photos courtesy of and © Bob's Photos - all rights reserved)
[click on thumbnailed photos for much larger images]

William D. (Bill) Volkmer was a PRR Junior Engineer (mechanical, not driver/motorman) whose assignments, system-wide passes, and pocket C3 35mm camera combined to give him incredible photo opportunities and us, with his gracious permission, these five gems from the Philadelphia Engine Terminal:

(photos courtesy of and © Bob's Photos - all rights reserved)
[click on thumbnailed photos for much larger images]

Bill also provided this shot of the speed limit sign fastened inside the cab of an ex-GN FF2 motor (now his desk paperweight):

PRR Class FF2 Speed Limit Plate.
(photo courtesy of W. D. Volkmer - all rights reserved)

He also sent along, at my request, these 1932 and 1935 P5A builder's plates (as shown in "Keystone Chronicles", Issue No. 7, Spring 2008, pp. 5 and 21):

PRR Class P5A #4778 (GE, Modified) and #4712 (Westinghouse, Boxcab)
Builder's Plates, respectively {left and right}.
(photos courtesy of W. D. Volkmer - all rights reserved)

PRR Class P5A (Modified) #4768 GE Builder's Plate
(photo courtesy of W. D. Volkmer - all rights reserved)

[W. D. Volkmer's photos may not be reproduced in any form
without prior written permission of the photographer/owner.]

The PRR Technical & Historical Society's PRR Discussion Web has/had an exchange about an alleged PRR 1928 I-R oil-electric boxcab, citing Eric Hirsimaki's "Black Gold - Black Diamonds" (see the Boxcabs Bibliography for 1997); John Campbell, who had a record of EVERY I-R boxcab, disputed Hirsimaki's claim.  The claim is based on the April 1996 issue of Railway Age, in which Robert G. Lewis states: "The PRR had nearly 4,000 active steam engines, some electrics, and one 'oil-electric', an Ingersoll-Rand switcher that my peers told me the PRR didn't want to buy, but did because I.R. was a big shipper.  It was relegated to oblivion early on, switching cars at Norristown, Pa.  My 'professors' told me that the PRR would hold fast to steam so long as the coal industry remained its biggest shipper."

This is very much at variance with what John knew and I know; I'll try to get the book and the cited magazine and see what unfolds.  If anyone has solid info. on this, please get in touch.

It occurred to me that this may refer to the successful test of a borrowed GE 37-ton unit {WHAT 37-ton unit?} at Manhattan's West 37^th Street yard and Brooklyn's North 4^th Street yard from 10 Jul through 09 Aug 1924 {ref.: "Pennsy Diesels 1924 - 1968", Douglas & Weiglin}; the only catch being that the unit had to be able to pull the Brooklyn float bridge at tidal extremes and a 50-ton unit was deemed necessary for that.

Pennsy also had some really weird and wonderful center-cabs, ranging from the monster 1950 Lima-built (the LAST one!) C-C LS-25 transfer unit with one Hamilton T89S5A (tweaked to 1,250hp) under each end, and the 23 Class BS-24 Baldwin C-C RT624s, to the diminutive and lovable GE 44-tonners, plus numerous electric center-cabs.  But nothing can top their incredible 2-axled rubber-tired street tractors, starting with 1913 battery-powered (later gas-electric) Class 3/8000 #446 and sisters, built by Altoona in 1912 for service in the streets of Baltimore's Fells Point and Jersey City, with giant spoked wheels and a ship's wheel for steering! (Page 92, "The Pennsylvania Railroad - 1940s-1950s", Don Ball); these were altered in 1953 to diesel-electric with balloon tires and survived at least until 02 Sept 1964 (the driver was titled "chauffeur"!).  Later, the PRR bought a LeTourneau-Westinghouse Switchmobile and Grove tractors for street service (Pages 14-17, "Pennsy Diesel Years", Volume 3, Robert J. Yanosey).

PENNSY SHOVELNOSE

I put coverage of Shovelnoses on my GE Boxcabs page and that of the the Chiriqui Land Co's. "mini-boxcabs", as well.

The Pennsy had a shovelnose oil-electric, #4663, frequently used on the Logansport - South Bend, Indiana, branch, but it was a Westinghouse 73' rail car (combine), NOT a locomotive, and it was not shovel-nosed as of 1930
and it's sister, #4664, always was a straight boxcab:

(Cropped from TRAIN SHED CYCLOPEDIA #43, Page 9, Image)

Surviving Pennsy Boxcabs on their own pages

These PRR boxcabs, all juice jacks, have been preserved and are covered more fully on separate survivor pages:

  PRR Class P5 #4700 (2-C-2, Altoona, 1931)
    at the Museum of Transportation (formerly the National Museum of Transport), St. Louis.

(photo courtesy of the Museum of Transportation)

  Class B1 #5690 (B, Altoona, 1934)
    at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg.