PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD
The PENNSY
PRR
times since the counter was installed.
Because of page size limitations, the main page PRR Page is now continued on Continuation Page 1, which is, in turn, continued on this Continuation Page 2.
NOTE: On 07 Apr 99, I gave up, having avoided a Pennsy page as long as I could; on 16 Jul 00, I gave up again as my PRR main page was totally overloaded and created this continuation page.
(20 Mar 07)
(20 Mar 07)
My own LIRR pages may be of interest, as well (the Pennsy owned the LIRR from 1904 to 1966, having bought it out to gain access to Sunnyside Yard for Pennsylvania Station, and see also the Steinway System).
Visit these courtesy and official home pages:
Long Island Rail Road Historical Society
Long Island Sunrise - Trail Chapter
(National Railway Historical Society)
Sunrise Trail Division
(Northeastern Region)
(National Model Railroad Association)
(all new links)
The PRRT&HS Philadelphia Chapter runs a fantastic PRR Discussion Forum.
[Fans of Pennsy relative NYNH&HRR will be pleased to hear that the New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association, Inc. (NHRHTA) now has "THE NHRHTA NEW HAVEN RAILROAD FORUM"
One site that really got me, however, is Rob Schoenberg's, on which he has a PRR station sign maker, which allows you to assemble a Pennsy-style station sign in color, letter by letter. I'm trying to go Rob one better by adding a space, a hyphen, and an apostrophe. He has since superimposed a keystone outline (ya gotta have a keystone to make it a REAL make-believe Pennsy station sign!).
Rob also has on his site most of the PRR Equipment Diagrams! These are detailed below under PRR Links.
Also, for Pennsy fans with good imaginations (or strong stomachs), ya gotta see my Berlinerwerke Apocrypha page and its continuation page 2!
The rest of the links are at PRR Links.
On 18 Oct 97, I saw a film of the Sat./Sun. 12-13 September 1970 runs of the High Iron Company's Nickel Plate Berkshire 2-8-4 #759 running up the Curve and back, unassisted, with 15 heavyweight passenger cars at speed! Wow! I was there, but time dims even the keenest memories. Wow, again! It WAS 15 cars, I counted them; NOT 17 or 18 as I remembered.
I've finally added the Continuation Page 1, with Dimensions of the Horseshoe Curve, a mile-by-mile and even foot-by-foot guide to the Curve with actual (1:1) and HO scale (1:87.1) dimensions, and now Dimensions of the Horseshoe Curve in N (1:160) and Z (1:220) Scales to my Horseshoe Curve Continuation Page 3.
Also, on the Continuation Page 2, you'll now find an UPDATE of the BERLINERWERKE (HO) Saga.
Hey, you Pennsy juice-jackers, think you know all about PRR pan practice, eh? Have a look at my Electric Boxcabs page, at the upper "Big Liz" (FF1) photo and then the GN-Y1-cum-PRR-FF2 which follows!
PRR BIBLIOGRAPHY - moved to its
own page on 20 Mar 2007.
(20 Mar 07)
New PRR Books:
However, moving the bibliography (to which they have been added) doesn't preclude
trumpeting the arrival of two new Pennsy books here:
(20 Mar 07)
"The New York Connecting Railroad - Long Island's Other Railroad",
Robert C. Sturm and William G. Thom, 2006, Long
Island-Sunrise Trail Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, , New York.
This is the lavishly-illustrated history of the final link in the Pennsylvania Railroad's
triumphal entry into New York City and thence onward to Long Island and New
England. This book was published by, and is available from, the Chapter.
(20 Mar 07)
"Conquering Gotham - A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of
Pennsylvania Station and its Tunnels", Jill Jonnes, 384 pages, Viking, April 19, 2007,
ISBN-10: 0670031585/ISBN-13: 978-0670031580. Although issued after the
New York Connectin Railroad book noted above, Jill Jonnes's masterpiece, which ably
complements Lorraine Diehl's "The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station",
focused primarily on the lost architectural wonder, and Bill MIddleton's "Manhattan
Gateway: New York's Pennsylvania Station, ably and expansively documents the
events leading up to the massive project, the politics and personalities involved, the
actual construction, and the aftermath. Jill Jonnes has
her own site for this book, with ordering information.
(20 Mar 07) and
(21 Mar 07)
On Monday, 23 April, Conquering Gotham's official publication date, Jill Jonnes
will be signing in Manhattan - the first at 1 p.m. is at the 2 Penn Plaza Borders store
and the second wiill be that evening at 7 p.m. at the Park Ave and 57th St. Borders
and will include a short talk, followed by signing.
(21 Mar 07)
When superheating was added to older Penny locos, a lower-case "s" was added to the class number, such as "K4" to "K4s". Now, how does one differentiate between the plural of an unsuperheated "K4" (more than one "K4") and a superheated "K4s" ("Kay-Fours" vs. "Kay-Four-Ess")? The possessive is easy; add an apostrophe. The pilot on a "K4" is the "K4's" pilot; that on a "K4s" is the "K4s's".
Modified locos received a modification letter, such that a superheated "I1s" Decapod became an "I1sa" when further modified. Modifying more than one gave you "I1sas"!
With sans-serif type faces, how does one differentiate between a German lady, "Ilsa" (Ill-sah), and the Dec, "Eye-One-Ess-Ay"? It's easy; just figure out which has the broader beam (which one is the Hippo?).
PRR Loco Class Numbering - to the best of my knowledge, the PRR did NOT use hyphens (dashes) in their loco class numbers. In my PRR Bibliography (above), I note that many authoritative Pennsy authors (like the pun?) use the hyphen, such as Bert Pennypacker and Al Staufer (K-4, M-1) when it should really read K4 or M1 (or DD1 or GG1), for example. Staufer's own book of original PRR loco diagrams shows the class numbers WITHOUT hyphens!
Actually, you don't NEED Staufer's diagrams book to see this; that same ubiquitous Rob Schoenberg has them posted at PRR Equipment diagrams.
Oddly, though, many Altoona, Juniata,and Baldwin/PRR steam loco number plates had periods after all, or many of the digits - such as:
Thanks to Michael L. Burshtin (passed along to me from my query to the PRRT&HS PRR Discussion Web), 30 Dec 01, here are the official PRR paint color codes; Du Pont automotive finish line numbers, which can be mixed by any auto paint jobber, are as follows
Dulux® finishes were discontinued by Du Pont in 2003! They, somewhat less than helpfully, refer to other "qualities" of paint, stating that the "colors are available in Centari® and/or other Du Pont or Nason qualities. Normally, the color formula number is the same with only the suffix being different. The suffix indicates paint quality, ie: 1234D would be Dulux®, 1234A is the same color only in Centari®." The Du Pont response goes on to refer one to his/her dealer - sorry 'bout that. I think I will pursue this further with Du Pont.
I should find my PRR color drift cards and try to match them to the Pantone® printing ink system, Pittsburgh Paint Design-a-ColorTM paint system, and MIL-STD-595, full chips for all of which I have. One of these days, - - - !
Totally-unmatchable DGLE and Tuscan had to have been contrived out of pure malice by the PRR's Chief of Motive Power as a means of getting even with annoying modelers who swarmed over PRR property measuring and photographing equipment and structures!
DGLE was primarily used for freight locos, Tuscan Red for passenger locos and the majority of passenger cars, Toluidine Red is the background color of the PRR logo, station signs and steam loco number plates, and Buff (Gold) was the lettering color on locos and passenger cars at one time. I need help here; Dulux Gold is NOT Buff; both were used; gold originally, then buff later. FCC (Freight Car Color) is rust color (oxide brown or oxide red) [and varied with era of application according to PRRT&HS Pres. Al Buchan].
The term "Brunswick Green" may well have sprung from Brunswick, New Jersey, the site of the Du Pont paint plant.
Wags have had endless fun with the DGLE formula:&bvbsp; "a thimbleful of green in a
55-gallon drum of black" and (perhaps even serious) "a pint of Forest Green in ten
gallons of black paint."
PRR Class I1sa Decapod #4483, with
See also PRR Class I1sa Decapod Backhead
Details, there.
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