The “John Bull” was a locomotive built by Robert Stephenson & Co. in England and was among the first to be used in the United States. It was built in 1831, initially as a 0-4-0 and was shipped disassembled to New Jersey. There it was reassembled by the Camden & Amboy and christened “John Bull”, which was a personification of England. Since only horses were used in the construction of the railroad, the locomotive was not used until 1833, after it opened.

It initially had no cab and the tender was a home-made design that used a whiskey barrel as a water tank. After it derailed several times on the cheaper laid American tracks, a leading axle including a cow catcher was added, which gave it its well-known, distinctive appearance. The coupling rods were removed, meaning only the last axle was powered. Later it received a real tender and then a cab.

Drawing of the original appearance with two cars

Railway and Locomotive Engineering, March 1891

This nickname was soon officially adopted, so the name “Stevens” fell out of use. Its active service with the Camden & Amboy lasted until 1866. After the PRR purchased the C&A in 1871, it was restored and used for various public demonstrations. It came into the possession of the Smithsonian in 1884 and was not moved for a long time. After the PRR had a working replica built in 1939, the original was moved again under its own power in 1981 for its 150th birthday, making it the oldest operational locomotive in the world.

The Cumberland Valley had a tank locomotive built by Seth Wilmarth in 1851, which was intended for passenger trains with a small number of passengers. The basic idea was to keep the ratio of the empty weight of the locomotive to the weight of the train as advantageous as possible in order to save costs. The wheel arrangement 2-2-2 was used, which was generally very rare in tank locomotives and was hardly found in the USA, even with tender locomotives. In addition to the “Pioneer” there was also the almost identical “Jenny Lind” and two other very similar locomotives.

Schematic drawing

Railway and Locomotive Engineering, October 1903

The “Pioneer” could accelerate a train of four passenger cars to 40 mph and achieved a high mileage for several years for her standards. After the Civil War, it was used in front of construction trains because its performance was no longer sufficient for modern passenger trains. Although it was later put into storage, it officially remained in service until 1901. It was then donated to the Smithsonian Institution and used as a working display at appropriate events.

In order to be able to burn anthracite coal efficiently, class AAn was developed from class K (later D6). The K already had a wide firebox above the drivers, which was optimized here for the use of anthracite. There were 58 locomotives with a coupling wheel diameter of 68 inches, which became class D7 from 1895, and 61 with a coupling wheel diameter of 62 inches, which became class D7a.

When it came to switchers, here called “shifters”, the PRR stuck to locomotives with a maximum of three axles, but still sufficient tractive power until the mid-20s. The most successful class here was the B6, of which a total of 372 were built between 1902 and 1920. It started with 79 of the basic B6, which were operated with saturated steam and had the Belpaire firebox typical of the PRR.

B6sb No. 1670 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg

James St. John / Pennsylvania Railroad # 1670 steam locomotive (0-6-0) 1

From 1913 onwards, 55 B6sa followed, which had a round firebox and were factory-built with a superheater. The largest number was reached by the B6sb with 238, which again had a Belpaire firebox. The B6 were also later rebuilt with superheaters and referred to as B6s. Today there are still two B6sa and B6sb, both of which are not operational.

The Pennsylvania Railroad's Class C1 was the heaviest 0-8-0 locomotive ever built. It had a service mass of 278,000 pounds and a maximum axle load of 74,000 pounds on the first axle. Due to its long wheelbase of 15 ft 9 in, however, the tracks were damaged and there were also frequent derailments. As far as possible, only switching locomotives with a 0-6-0 wheel arrangement were used. Nevertheless, the C1 was able to demonstrate its high tractive power on humps. The 90 locomotives were retired between 1948 and 1953.

In principle, the PRR class D can be described as the first Moguls, but the leading axle was fixed in the frame. The coupled axles with small wheel diameters were well spaced within the frame. The tender already had four axles, but only the first two were in a movable bogie and the rear ones were fixed in the frame.

After the rebuild to a 4-6-0

Railway and Locomotive Engineering, January 1905

Although the locomotives were generally described as being a good design, the smooth running was apparently not entirely convincing. This is the way to explain why the chassis was later rebuilt. Some locomotives were rebuilt to 4-4-0 with larger wheels. A third coupled axle was installed later again, resulting in a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement. They were scrapped in the late 1860s.

For the transport of freight trains, the PRR had Baldwin build a class of ten-wheelers from 1868, which was one of the heaviest designs of this manufacturer at the time and achieved a very respectable number of units for its time. Baldwin made 241 between 1868 and 1873 and the PRR's own workshops added 45 more by 1875.

Since there wasn't much space between the bars of the bar frame, a narrow, deep firebox had to be accommodated. For this reason, the distance between the second and third driving axles was chosen to be significantly larger than that between the first and second, in order to be able to realize a greater length of the firebox. Since the grate area was still relatively modest for the size of the locomotive, good hard coal was used for firing. In order to avoid problems when running through curves with the large wheelbase, the first coupled axle was designed without wheel flanges. 

Between 1878 and 1882, 157 of the locomotives were converted to the Da class, which was to be used to haul heavy, slow trains. To ensure this, the diameter of the coupled wheels was reduced from 56 to 50 inches. At the same time, the service weight increased by about five tons. Other non-converted examples were instead sold to several smaller railway companies.

The Pennsylvania Railroad wanted to accommodate a larger grate area in Atlantic locomotives in order to be able to burn anthracite and fragments thereof. For this purpose, three locomotives were procured on a trial basis, which had a combination of Wootten and Belpaire fireboxes and were designed as Camelbacks. The special shape of the firebox and the combustion chamber resulted in 218 square feet of direct heating surface and a grate surface of nearly 70 square feet. A visual highlight was the common cover of the steam dome and the sandpit, which looked like a huge steam dome. 

The approximately 410-ton express trains between Philadelphia and Atlantic City could be transported over longer sections at an average speed of around 55 mph. With only 260 tons on the hook, an average speed of 70 mph was achieved on the 58 miles long, slightly descending section from Camden to Atlantic City.

Ultimately, however, the PRR was bothered by the fact that the engine driver and the fireman had difficulty communicating. Hundreds of other Atlantics were procured as a result, but all of them with a conventional firebox and cab at the rear end. The three engines were sold to the Long Island Railroad in 1901 and scrapped in 1911.

To overcome the disadvantages of the Class E1 Camelback Atlantics, the E2 was developed in a conventional arrangement. The elimination of the Wootten firebox reduced the grate area from 69 to 51 square feet and eliminated the combustion chamber, but increased the heating area from 2,320 to 2,430 square feet. The dimensions of the cylinders and wheels remained the same, and the same three-axle tender was used. Only the later variants received four-axle tenders.

After 82 examples of the class E2, a total of 93 examples of the class E2a were manufactured from 1902. They differed from the original model mainly in the Belpaire firebox and 32 of them came from ALCO-Schenectady. In 1903 and 1904, 70 E2bs were built, which still had Stephenson valve gear, but now had piston instead of flat slide valves. Four of them formed the basis for the E28 and E29 class compound engines. Parallel to the E2b, 22 E2c were built, which again had slide valves. Finally, between 1906 and 1908, 32 E2d followed, which now had Walschaert valve gear and piston valves. In order to achieve a higher adhesive weight, the three carrying axles were loaded by a total of around five tons less than on the E2c.

E2b No. 8478 with Belpaire Firebox

Railway and Locomotive Engineering, August 1904

A large number of locomotives of the various E2 variants were later converted to superheated steam. This included the E2sd class, which compared to the E2d showed hardly any differences apart from the superheater. Others were converted to different variants of the E3 and E7. These had larger cylinders and some smaller coupled wheels. 

Based on the E3 class Atlantic, Alfred W. Gibbs developed the E6, which had a significantly larger boiler with similar overall dimensions. The heating surface of this boiler was about 36 percent larger than the E3, making the E6 the largest and most powerful Atlantic locomotive until the advent of the Milwaukee Road Class A streamlined locomotive in 1935. The PRR standard Belpaire firebox was used, which also had a combustion chamber. Only one prototype was built in 1911 for extensive testing, which was still operated with saturated steam. 

With the E6, the intention was to cover the fastest, but not exactly the heaviest express trains, for which a Pacific was not really needed. This means that a travel time of 18 hours could be planned for the route between New York City and Chicago. Compared to the K2 class Pacifics, the E6 delivered about the same power even at 40 mph and was even able to surpass it at higher speeds. The 235 miles from Altoona to Philadelphia could be covered in a test drive with an average of 67.4 mph. 

The only E6 was fitted with a superheater in 1914, increasing output by 30 percent and reducing water and coal consumption by 23 to 46 percent, depending on the situation. Between February and August 1914, 80 examples of the superheated variant were produced as E6s. They received different tenders with a water capacity between 7,100 and 7,400 gallons and a coal capacity between 26,900 and 34,350 pounds. The service life of the individual locomotives ended in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

The number 460, now known as “The Lindbergh Engine” and located in the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, gained particular notoriety. After Lindbergh's arrival back in Washington, several press agencies vied to get the photos of Lindbergh with President Coolidge to New York City as quickly as possible. While the competitors relied on airplanes for this, the International News Reel Corporation chose the train to be able to develop the photos on the go. The number 460 completed the 224.6 mile route with two passenger cars at an average speed of 72 mph. At one point it reached 115 mph, finishing an hour ahead of its competitors with the finished photos.