PRR 1223

PRR 1223 is the only preserved class D16sb of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The 4-4-0 sits on static display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. In the 1970s and 80s the 1223 ran on excursions on the Strasburg Rail Road also in Strasburg. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

History of class

The class D16 locomotives of the Pennsylvania Railroad were the most modern of a long history of 4-4-0 type steam locomotives that the railroad used. The 1223 was home built by the railroad at its Juniata Shops in Altoona, PA, in 1905. As built it was a high speed passenger engine with tall driving wheels. However, the 4-4-0 type, long the mainstay of American passenger and freight service, was already becoming outmoded when the 1223 was built, being superseded by ever-larger engines. The Pennsy itself was pioneering steel passenger cars, which the public soon demanded for the implied increases in safety. The 1223 was eventually rebuilt with smaller driving wheels for local freight service, having been replaced on passenger trains by engines like the E6 Atlantics and K4 Pacifics. It was modernized as well, receiving superheaters [the "s" in D-16sb), piston valves, an electric headlight, and other improvements.

Later years

By the year 1940 most railroads had forgotten about the 4-4-0, but the Pennsy, the Boston and Maine, and Canadian Pacific Railway, among others, were still using them. On the PRR in 1941 there were three working in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia on secondary branches of the PRR's Delmarva Line. Of the three 1223 was selected for display at a number of railroad fairs in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, and eventual preservation. The engine was also used in the film Hello, Dolly in 1969. For years the engine was stored at the roundhouse in Northumberland, Pennsylvania.

Strasburg Rail Road

In the late 1960s the Strasburg Rail Road in Strasburg, Pennsylvania leased the 1223 from the Pennsylvania Railroad and restored it to operating condition. In the 70s and 80s the 1223 pulled the Strasburg's regular tourist trains, as well as occasional offline excursion trips. However, during the 1970s, the Pennsy had transferred its historical collection to the State of Pennsylvania, and most of it went on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, just across the road from the Strasburg Rail Road's depot complex. The 1223 stayed in operation at Strasburg, with the museum taking over the lease from the PRR. In the late 1980's, Strasburg acquired a new ultrasound device for measuring the thickness of the locomotives' boilers, and using this device, it was discovered that the number 1223's firebox walls were not thick enough to be compliant with the updated Federal Railroad Administration regulations, thus deeming the engine unsafe for operation. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, upon hearing this, decided that the necessary firebox work would ruin too much of the historic value of the engine. Therefore the Strasburg did not perform the necessary firebox work, and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania simply withdrew the engine in 1989. When the lease came up for renewal in the early 1990s the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania decided not to renew, and it was decided that the engine would be permanently on static indoor display in the Museum, where it currently remains.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

References