Axel S. Vogt (January 19, 1849 – November 11, 1921) was the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

's Chief

Mechanical Engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

between March 1, 1887, and February 1, 1919. He was succeeded by

William Frederic Kiesel, Jr William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

. After retiring from the PRR, Vogt continued to consult for the Baldwin Locomotive Works until his death. Among his accomplishments was the creation of the world's first static locomotive test facility at the Pennsylvania Railroad's Altoona Works, enabling locomotives to be exhaustively and repeatably tested under load – essentially, a locomotive version of the chassis

dynamometer A dynamometer or "dyno" for short, is a device for simultaneously measuring the torque and rotational speed ( RPM) of an engine, motor or other rotating prime mover so that its instantaneous power may be calculated, and usually displayed by t ...

. Under his supervision, the PRR designed and produced many noteworthy

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

designs, such as the E6 Atlantics, K4s Pacifics and L1s Mikados. He was also instrumental in the Pennsylvania's electrification development, although it did not reach full fruition until after his death. He held many patents in the field of railway engineering.

References

* Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society (2004).
PRR Chronology: 1919, June 2004 edition
'. Retrieved on December 26, 2005. * * Locomotive builders and designers 1849 births 1921 deaths Pennsylvania Railroad {{US-mechanical-engineer-stub