Power type Steam Serial number 3475 Configuration 4-6-2 | Builder Altoona Works Build date 1918 | |
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Gauge 4 ft 8 ⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | ||
Pennsylvania Railroad 1361 is a 4-6-2 pacific type steam locomotive built in 1918 for the Pennsylvania Railroad by their own Altoona Works. As a member of the K4s locomotive class, it served its active career hauling mainline passenger and mail trains. Retired from revenue service in 1956, it was restored to operating condition in 1987 when mechanical problems sidelined the locomotive after only a year and a half of operation. The engine is currently owned by the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It is one of the only two remaining K4s locomotives and, along with PRR 3750, was designated the official state steam locomotive in 1987 by the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
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Background
The K4s is considered the Pennsylvania Railroad's most famous class of steam locomotives, with a total of 425 engines produced from 1917 to 1928, and including the prototype that was built in 1914. The last of K4s stayed in service well into the late 1950s, until being replaced with diesel locomotives.
History
1361 was constructed in 1918 by the Altoona Works. On June 8, 1957, 1361 was dedicated and placed on exhibit at the Horseshoe Curve outside of Altoona. It had clocked an estimated 2.5 million miles (4.02 million kilometers) over its career. 1361 remained at Curve until 1985 when it moved back to the Altoona Works. It was replaced, at the curve, with the EMD GP9 diesel locomotive 7048, painted in Pennsylvania Railroad colors. 1361 was restored in 1987 to haul excursion trains. A year later, the main bearing and the drive axle suffered a catastrophic failure. The Pennsylvania General Assembly designated 3750 and 1361 the official state steam locomotives on December 18, 1987, while also designating the GG1 4859 the state electric locomotive in the same bill.
Restoration efforts
1361 was dismantled in 1996 and moved to Steamtown in Scranton. It was to be restored through a partnership between Steamtown, the University of Scranton and the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona. After an initial grant of $420,000, Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Ridge released an additional $600,000 in March 2000. The restoration was forced to slow exponentially because "every broken pin and bolt had to be replaced with handmade duplicates." Scheduled completion dates kept being pushed back and, after 13 years, the restoration had cost $1.7 million. Most of the smaller components of 1361 were inventoried and returned to Altoona in 2007, when the museum stopped paying out funding until the rest of the locomotive, consisting mostly of the boiler, was returned to the museum.
In April 2010, it was decided to cancel the current restoration plans for 1361. Instead of rebuilding it and placing the locomotive back into service as an excursion train, the museum will settle for a "semi-static display." The museum hopes to still be able to reconstruct the boiler so that it could still fired and produce enough steam pressure to operate at low speeds around museum property and blow the whistle. The restoration was eventually canceled, not because of the rising cost and, seemingly little progress, but because the boiler would have had to have been rebuilt to current specifications required by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), which have drastically changed since the engine was first completed in 1918.
By 2013, the engine had been removed entirely from Scranton, with the frame, tender, and various small components stored in Altoona, while the boiler was stored at the East Broad Top Railroad. By early 2015, the museum had completed construction of their "quarter-roundhouse" and began to place the 1361's tender, frame, and other components inside. In late July, 2015, the 1361's boiler was moved to Altoona and placed in the roundhouse with the remainder of the engine.
The engine is stored away and is currently awaiting reassembly and cosmetic restoration. The museum, however, has not ruled out expanding their plans back to their original scope sometime in the future.