The Railroaders Museum of Altoona, Pennsylvania, has announced a partnership with the Railroad Museum of Long Island and the Strasburg Railroad, to make a truly innovated Pennsylvania Railroad Heritage locomotive. K4s #1361, long stagnated in mid-rebuild, will be united with G5s #39, to construct a long extinct Pennsylvania Railroad Class Q2 4-4-6-4 steam locomotive, to be known as a Q3.14 . “Why not use these pieces and parts, available as they are, to make something really unique and exciting?,” stated a spokesman for Strasburg Railroad shops. “Just because the drivers are the wrong size and nothing else matches, doesn’t mean it’s not a unique and sporting idea.”

Plans for the hybrid locomotive include welding the frames into a single unit and splicing the boilers. The successful merging of the two classic steamers will leave an adequate pile of spare parts for maintaining the “Q3.14” for years to come. Even the tenders will be merged into a single long distance unit.

By the nature of the home road, the Strasburg Railroad being basically as straight as an arrow, the new locomotive will be isolated to that line alone. Still, the value of such an attraction should boost attendance and bring in big dollars for the partners. A statement from the RRMP allowed, “If it can be done, then what the *ell?”

The promoters of Baldwin's Duplex Drive just rolled over in their graves.