Pennsylvania T1 Duplex

The Pennsylvania Railroad class T1 duplex drive 4-4-4-4 was introduced in 1942 with much fanfare and claims of great performance in passenger service. They were years ahead in locomotive design, technologically sophisticated, fast and wrapped in a streamline body designed by Raymond Lowey. The Pennsylvania Railroad had so much confidence in these new streamlined marvels fifty examples were built between 1945 and 1946. However, they became steeped in controversy when they moved into mainline service. The T1 was prone to wheel slip when starting, complicated to maintain and expensive to operate. Some of these problems could probably have been solved but by 1948 the Pennsylvania Railroad decided to use diesels for their express passenger trains. The T1s were relegated to local passenger and freight service. They were all finally scrapped in 1956