The Pennsylvania Railroad's K4s class Pacific number 1737 was the prototype of the class of 4-6-2 steam locomotives that eventually would number 425 locomotives.
Contents
The Pennsylvania Railroad in 1914 needed a steam locomotive to haul the passenger trains that the smaller E class Atlantics (4-4-2) could not handle. The 1737 was the first K4s ever built for the PRR. In passenger service, the 1737 would handle passenger trains, like the railroads flagship passenger train, the Broadway Limited. As the 1930s began, the 1737 and the other K4s locomotives would have to double-head passenger trains. This is because the Pennsylvania Railroad had increased passenger service time tables. The K4s Pacifics were unable to keep up with the work. The "Standard Railroad Of The World" made a few attempts to replace the 1737 and its sisters. They were the classes: K5, S1, and the T1. None of the replacements were very successful in railroad service. With these being a failure, the K4s had to continue hauling passenger trains until the Pennsylvania Railroad replaced steam locomotives with the increasingly popular and less costly diesel-electric locomotives in 1957.
Commuter service
The 1737 was no stranger to commuter service. The New York and Long Branch Railroad in South Amboy, New Jersey used the K4s to haul commuter trains. When the famous electric locomotive, the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1, would bring the trains from New York City's Penn Station, the K4s would take over the train and make the run from the South Amboy station to Bay Head, New Jersey.
Fate
The 1737 was originally slated to be preserved as part of the PRR's Historical Collection at the Northumberland, PA Roundhouse. However, by the late 1950s, 1737 had deteriorated to a point where the PRR deemed the locomotive to be too far gone to preserve. Instead, the PRR quietly took another K-4, PRR 3750 and renumbered it too represent the 1737 while the real 1737 was cut up for scrap.