Pennsylvania Railroad 460, nicknamed the "Lindbergh Engine", is a preserved E6s class "Atlantic" type

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, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

now located in the

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to ro ...

, outside of Strasburg,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It was built in August 1914 and became famous after racing an aircraft to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

carrying

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news, news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a Movie theater, cinema, newsreels were a source of cu ...

s of

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircra ...

's return to the

after his transatlantic flight in 1927. In the late 1930s, No. 460 was operated by the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

, and by the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in the early 1950s, before being retired on January 11, 1956. No. 460 is the only surviving locomotive of its class and was listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on December 17, 1979. From 2010 to 2016, No. 460 underwent cosmetic restoration at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

Background

An experimental Model E6 was developed in 1910 and, after two other "sample" locomotives and four years of tests, it was found that the Atlantic's speed equaled that of the larger Pacific's. An additional 80 E6 locomotives were ordered with

superheater A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, in some steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. ...

s and classified as the E6s.

History

No. 460 was the last of the E6s model to be built, out of a total of 80 locomotives. From their construction in 1914 until 1920, the E6s ran mostly on the corridor between

and

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

After being replaced by the K4s model, the E6s locomotives were relegated to charter services because of their high speed. After returning from Europe and his transatlantic flight on June 11, 1927,

was promoted to Colonel and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by President

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...

. Two rival

companies, who were each vying to be the first to have their films of the ceremony shown in New York theaters, chartered a train and an aircraft, respectively, from Washington to New York City. No. 460 headed up the charter train, pulling only its tender, a

baggage car A passenger railroad car or passenger car (American English), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach (British English and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie (Indian English) is a railroad car that is designed to c ...

and a passenger car. The train departed Washington at 1:14 PM and arrived at the Manhattan Transfer, outside of New York City, 2 hours and 56 minutes later. The final leg, through the tunnels underneath the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

, was completed by an electric DD1. No. 460 averaged and is believed to had attained a maximum speed of , but there is no evidence to support the claim by the engineers. Even though the aircraft arrived in New York first, the film brought by No. 460 was in theaters hours before the other, thanks to a film processing lab on board the train's baggage car. After the race, No. 460 went back to its normal duties until March 1937, when it was loaned to the

. In January 1939, No. 460 was returned to the PRR, but was still occasionally used on the

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

as a "short term 'loaner'". Starting in 1942, it hauled trains between Camden and Bay Head, New Jersey. In 1951, parts for it were taken off other E6s locomotives that were going to be scrapped: the drivers on the engineer's (right) side are from PRR 1565, the air reservoir on the fireman's (left) side was from PRR 690 and the reservoir on the engineer's side was from PRR 782. 460's tender was replaced in 1952 with one from 1565; the original tender had been transferred to maintenance-of-way service. 460 was leased to the Pennsylvania–Reading Seashore Lines in 1953 before being retired on January 11, 1956 and added to the Pennsylvania's collection of historic locomotives in

Northumberland, Pennsylvania Northumberland is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,911 at the 2020 census. History A brewer named Reuben Haines, a native of Philadelphia, founded the town of Northumb ...

Preservation

No. 460 was moved from Northumberland in October, 1969 to the

in Strasburg. Although a part of the museum, it was not owned by the

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, responsible for the collection, conservation, and interpretation of Pennsylvania's heritage. The commission cares for hist ...

until it was officially donated to the museum in December 1979 by the

Penn Central Transportation The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals, the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

Company, which received ownership when the Pennsylvania was merged with the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

. No. 460 was listed on the

on December 17, 1979. From 1982 to 1984, volunteers at the museum cleaned the locomotive, replaced wooden window frames and doors, applied rust inhibitor primer and repainted the metal. The locomotive's boiler cladding was removed in 2008. 460 was moved into the museum restoration shops on March 17, 2010, after raising $50,000 and receiving an additional $50,000 donation. From July to August 2010, 460 was " blasted" to remove the several layers of

lead paint Lead paint or lead-based paint is paint containing lead. As pigment, lead(II) chromate (, "chrome yellow"), lead(II,IV) oxide, (, "red lead"), and lead(II) carbonate (, "white lead") are the most common forms.. Lead is added to paint to acceler ...

from the locomotive. The blasting uncovered original timing marks and stamped numbers showing that the origins of some of the parts on 460 were cannibalized from other E6s locomotives. The cosmetic restoration of the 460 was completed in October 2016.

References

Sources

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External links