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.