| ABOUT THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD |
 |
| PENNSY K-4 PACIFIC No.3768 AT THE WORLDS FAIR 1940 |
 |
| PENNSY L-1 MIKADO No.8260 AT MEADOWS LAND NJ 1955 |
 |
 |
 |
| HOME PAGE |
 |
 |
| PENNSY K-3 No.7004 AT EAST ALTOONA 1941 |
 |
| PENNSY H-8b No.3564 AT NORTHUMBERLAND 1937 |
| The Pennsylvania Railroad began in 1846 and grew into the largest railroad in the world. By the time it was 100 years old, the Pennsy had 10,690 main line miles of track with total trackage being 26,109 miles traversing thirteen states. The railroad reached out to the cities of New York, Washington DC, Buffalo,Cleveland, Chicago, St Louis and all those in between. Of the nearly 25,000 steam locomotives on the roster, 10,000 of these were constructed by the railroad in its Altoona shops. Altoona was the worlds largest railroad shop,employing over 13,000 people. Opening in 1850,Altoona consisted of four units - Twelfth Street Car shop, Altoona Car Shop,Juniata Shops and South Altoona Foundries. The facility consisted of yards covering 218 acres and 122 buildings covering 37 acres of floor space. The total shop installation was over 3 miles long. Within this complex were 4500 machine tools and 94 overhead cranes. The Pennsylvania Railroad was the first to use standardization which led it to be known as "The Standard Railroad of the World". Interchangeable parts for their locomotives allowed for more timely repairs and more economical production costs. Pennsy adopted the slogan " DO IT YOURSELF" and it was done to the success of 10,000 engines designed and built at the Altoona Facility. The Pennsy Men were proud employees and rightfully so, for no other railroad could match the sheer magnitude of the Pennsy. The Pennsy was often referred to as conservative but in viewing its ingenuity, this appears to be a contradiction.It was the first to use steel passenger cars, pioneered in-cab signals, established the train phone, used the heaviest rail (152#), was the first to scoop water on the fly, pioneered position light signalization and developed classification hump yards. Though it may have been conservative in its day to day operations, the Pennsy learned early on that development and progression was key to success. As the railroad grew, it bought up smaller railroads, purchased financial interests in competitors and pursued ever expanding markets. This all led to an infrastructure unmatched to this day. The companies four track mains on its New York Division had the greatest traffic density in the world. The company's Enola Yard near Harrisburg consisted of 145 miles of track and had a car capacity of 9,900. An average day at Enola involved clearing over 16,000 cars.In 1957, the Pennsy opened its Conway Yard just north of Pittsburg. The facility cost the Pennsy just under $35,000,000.00. The cost was justified since Conway produced a capacity of 12,000 cars. The railroad had many other classification, tranfer and passenger yards throughout its domain which were of mammoth proportions, but the intent of this page is to highlight the major points of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Another landmark engineering feat was the design and construction of Horse Shoe Curve on the east slope ascent of the Allegahny Mountains five miles west of Altoona. This extraordinary engineering allowed the Pennsy to cross the Alleghanies and progress westward. The Horse Shoe Curve climbs 1,015 feet in eleven miles and carries an average gradient of 1.8 percent. Without the imagination of the railroad to create a mammoth U-shaped curve, the only alternative to cross the Allegahnies would have been an impossible grade exceeding 8%. During the 1940's, late night traffic on the curve was tremendous. Between 10:42 PM and 3:41 AM, twenty-eight Blue Ribbon passenger trains used Horse Shoe Curve in each direction. This is in addition to the countless freight trains. From the early 1900's to 1957 was known as the golden years for the Pennsy. The Great Depression along with World War 11 were tough years for the railroad as it was for all industries, but the Pennsy pulled through. The fifties brought the onset of the Interstate Highway System along with increased air travel. Both of these were strong competition for rail. The Pennsy watched passenger service diminish as people traveled more and more by automobile and airlines. Ever increasing freight shipments were being handled by the trucking industry. This change in shipping and travel began to effect the Pennsy's revenue and brought the once great railroad into financial instability. In early 1968 the Pennsylvania Railroad and The New York Central, one of Pennsy's biggest competitors, Merged to form the Penn Central Railroad. After over 120 years, The Standard Railroad of The World was gone. Ultimately, The Penn Central became insolvent during the early 1970's and emerged as Conrail. Now The Pennsylvania Railroad only exists through historical societies, museums and many model railroads. |