Pennsylvania Railroad

American Class I railroad

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2020 The full boiler was completed and welded together. The smokebox, smokebox streamlining, and combustion chamber were also completed and joined with the prow by the end of the year.
December 31 2020 A fundraising challenge results in raising just under $60,000, which is matched dollar-for-dollar by a supporter.
March 7 2020 The Trust holds its first open house at Gemini Industries.
December 2019 The T1 Trust officially launched a fundraising campaign to raise $150,000 for building the firebox.
June 15 2018 The third boiler course was completed and welded to the first two boiler courses.
March 6 2018 The first two boiler courses were completed and welded together.
February 3 2018 The T1 Trust receives a $5,000 grant from the Tom E. Daily Foundation for tender brake work.
January 26 2018 The T1 Trust announced ordering the first and second courses of the massive boiler for PRR 5550 from Continental Fabricators in St. Louis, Missouri.
October 5 2017 An automatic coal stoker was donated to the T1 Trust, including a motor, coal crusher, gearbox, stoker trough, and reversing valve, donated by Gary Bensman and Warren Lathom.
August 7 2017 The T1 Trust purchased the sole surviving 16-wheeled 'Coast to Coast' tender (No. 6659) from the Western New York Railway Historical Society, reducing the project cost by at least $3,000,000 US.
July 10 2017 The aluminum cab was completed by Curry Rail Services in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, at the former Pennsylvania Railroad's Samuel Rea Car Shops, though it remained unpainted.
May 16 2017 The locomotive prow is completed with headlight and number plate installed.
May 16 2017 The locomotive's prow was completed with the headlight and keystone number plate attached, using existing CAD models, water jet cutting, bodywork, fabrication, and painting.
January 18 2017 Frames and main components of the aluminum cab were cut by Gemini Industrial Machine in Dover, Ohio, marking the start of cab construction.
November 2016 T1 Trust completed scanning of 1,638 out of 1,798 original Pennsylvania Railroad class T1 drawings and blueprints from the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
November 10 2016 Construction began on the aluminum 'prow' portion of the locomotive's streamlining at Gemini Industrial Machine, which would house the headlight and keystone number plate.
September 2016 Doyle McCormack, a renowned locomotive engineer known for restoring Southern Pacific 4449, joined the T1 Trust as a member of the organization's advisory board.
February 26 2016 The first Boxpok driver is cast.
February 26 2016 Beaver Valley Alloy successfully cast the first of eight driving wheels for the locomotive, marking the first time a steam locomotive driving wheel had been cast in the United States since the 1940s.
October 2015 Casting patterns for the Boxpok drivers were completed by Liberty Pattern in Youngstown, Ohio, using a complex CAD model of the PRR 5550's proposed number-four wheelset.
July 8 2015 The T1 Trust launched a Kickstarter campaign titled 'Let's Get Rolling' to raise $20,000 for designing and building casting patterns for new Boxpok drivers for the Pennsylvania Railroad 5550 locomotive.
May 2015 Gary Bensman constructed and donated the headlight for PRR 5550, with his name engraved on it as a mark of appreciation.
March 2015 Steamtown National Historic Site, Steam Railroading Institute, and Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad expressed interest in having the locomotive run on their premises.
2014 A major construction project began to build a new operational example of a class T1 steam locomotive numbered 5550, undertaken by the Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Steam Locomotive Trust.
2014 Construction of Pennsylvania Railroad 5550 began with the casting of the locomotive's distinctive keystone-shaped number plate.
December 14 2014 Work begins on the Boxpok driver center casting patterns.
October 2014 First driving link pin of the locomotive was constructed.
July 3 2014 The T1 Trust is granted 501(c)(3) status by the IRS.
May 31 2014 Construction of PRR 5550 officially started with the completion of the locomotive's bronze keystone-shaped number plate, following a successful Kickstarter campaign. The number plate was forged by Chuck Blardone at an Amish forge in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
May 2 2014 T1 Trust began meetings and discussions with the Federal Railroad Administration to ensure the locomotive would be constructed to FRA standards.
April 3 2014 The keystone shaped number plate is cast, marking the start of construction for PRR 5550.
2013 Norfolk Southern painted NS #8102, a GE ES44AC locomotive, in the Pennsylvania Railroad scheme as part of their 30th anniversary heritage unit program.
2013 The Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Steam Locomotive Trust (T1 Trust) was founded as a non-profit public charity with the goal of building the 53rd T1 class locomotive, numbered 5550.
2012 Norfolk Southern painted locomotive NS #8102, a GE ES44AC, in the Pennsylvania Railroad scheme as part of their 30th anniversary heritage unit program.

This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Pennsylvania Railroad & Pennsylvania Railroad 5550, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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