Pennsylvania Railroad 1737

Builder’s photograph of 1737

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.

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. In the 1930s, as the Pennsylvania Railroad had increased passenger service time tables, the trains became longer and heavier than a single K4s could handle, necessitating double-heading with a second engine. The "Standard Railroad Of The World" made attempts to replace the 1737 and its sisters with larger, more powerful classes including: K5, S1, and the T1, none of which were successful, thus the K4s continued 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.^[1] Instead, the PRR quietly took another K-4, PRR 3750 and renumbered it to represent the 1737 while the real 1737 was cut up for scrap.^[2]

References