The

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as 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. At its ...

's class E2, E3, E7

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 ...

s were of the "Atlantic" passenger type, frequently called light Atlantics after the introduction of the heavier E6 Atlantics. All were similar in size and boiler capacity but differed in firebox type, valves and valve gear and cylinder diameter. Classes E2 and E3 were built simultaneously. Starting in 1916 a rebuilding program converted ninety class E2a, b, and c to class E7s by replacing slide valves with piston valves and increasing cylinder diameter from . Fourteen class E2 were similarly converted to class E7sa. Ninety class E2a,d, E3a,d were converted to class E3sd. These improvements allowed many of the engines to remain in active service into the 1930s. The sub-classes differed as follows: In the first decade of the twentieth century classes E2 and E3 handled all of the fast passenger trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad. As train weights increased due to the switch to steel passenger cars and more cars per train, the “light” Atlantics were usually doubleheaded. Eventually, as Pacific class K2 and K3 became available, they were relegated to secondary service

Engine #7002

This engine was built for the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1902 as Class E2 No. 7002. On the first westward run of the ''Pennsylvania Special'' (renamed the

Broadway Limited The ''Broadway Limited'' was a passenger train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) between New York City and Chicago from 1912 to 1995. It was the Pennsylvania's premier train, competing directly with the New York Central Railroad's '' 2 ...

in 1912) in June 1905 the conductor clocked the train over three miles just west of

Lima, Ohio Lima ( ) is a city in Allen County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 35,579. It is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75, appr ...

in 85 seconds, at a record speed of (the claim is dubious, as the train averaged about from Crestline to Fort Wayne). No. 7002 was rebuilt to class E7sa in August 1916 and scrapped in 1935. When the PRR was looking for an E7 class locomotive for preservation, they refurbished No. 8063 (an E2a from the PRR) and substituted No. 7002’s engine number and builder’s plate. No. 8063 is a PRR E2a built in 1905. The engine was donated to

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 ...

in 1979 and put into operating order by

Strasburg Rail Road The Strasburg Rail Road is a Heritage railway, heritage railroad and the oldest continuously operating standard-gauge railroad in the western hemisphere, as well as the oldest public utility in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Chartered in 183 ...

where it ran for until December 20, 1989, sometimes doubleheading with PRR D16 No. 1223.

References

{{PRR locomotives Steam locomotives of the United States 4-4-2 locomotives 2′B1′ n2 locomotives ALCO locomotives Baldwin locomotives Lima locomotives E2 Railway locomotives introduced in 1916 Standard-gauge locomotives of the United States American Passenger Locomotives