Is there a good book dedicated to the T1 Duplexes? I'd rather not look for something that covers all Pennsy power, just the T1s. Thanks!

jcpdeke@aol.com

Deke -

The short answer to your question is no, the definitive, single book on the T1 has not been written. For what it's worth, I have a 10-page annotated bibliography of articles and excerpts from books that I've collected over the years (most are out of print). I can e-mail you the list if you are interested, but there is no one book, and buying entire books for bits and pieces gets expensive fast.

That said, the most even-handed information currently in print (IMO) is found in Eric Hirsimaki's Black Gold Black Diamonds, Vols.1 and 2. These two books present, in part, the saga of T1's in the context of PRR's corporate problems and dieselization program of the 1945-1948 time period. There is sufficient information to develop a time-line specifically for the T1, but it takes a fair amount of digging and patience to extract it all. Nonetheless, I consider it well worth the effort. An Australian author, Neil Burnell, has published several articles in the PRR Historical Society's magazine The Keystone which contain first-person information regarding the T1's performance and operation based on interviews with the men who ran them. Many of the myths regarding this class are addressed and debunked. The massive 30-some page article is probably the best single source for specific T1 information currently available.

IMO, the T1 is surrounded by more balderdash than you can imagine, and these two sources go a long way in cutting through it. There is other well-presented information, but most of the really good stuff is out of print, or published by more obscure railroad history groups. This does not detract from the quality of the information, it just makes it very difficult to get. The T1 is a controversial subject, and emotions run high whenever it is discussed. None of this helps when trying to ascertain exactly what it was and was not.

I know this isn't very positive, but hope it helps anyway.


drs5260fr@yahoo.com

> Deke -

> The short answer to your question is yes, there is a book that is devoted to duplex engines it is called Locomotive Profile #24 published by Profile publications.Everything you ever wanted to know about Pennsy duplex engines, whether they be S-1, T-1,Q-1, Q-2


b.hume@rogers.com

Brian -

If the subject material you're referring to is titled Pennsylvania Duplexii by Brian Reed, I was aware of it only in the form of a 28-page chapter in the book, Locomotives in Profile Volume 2, published in 1972. If it's available as a separate pub, so much the better. In my original comments, I arbitrarily visualized a book as something longer than 20 to 30 pages. Sorry if that caused any confusion. I'm glad to learn that the PRR duplex chapter may be available in separate form.

The only caution I would add is that the first two paragraphs contain some editorializing that is not entirely reasonable in light of research that has been done over the ensuing 30 years. There is also commentary regarding over-the-road performance that also does not square with recent published information based on first-hand experience of the operating crews. Although the locomotives could never be called successful, they did what they were designed to do, so Reed's term failure seems too strong in retrospect. I believe a more balanced perspective would be that they were a mixed bag, very good in some areas (power, speed and economy of steam usage) and cranky in others (different handling, more refined maintenance procedures). They incorporated a lot of new ideas (arguably too many at one time), but I don't think that this necessarily deserves the comment that they did not pass "elementary tests of engineering judgement." PRR never had a class of passenger locomotives with a front end throttle, let alone roller bearings, high steam pressure and poppet valves (various one-off experimentals excepted). This meant that the crews had to learn new ways of handling the locomotive, and the T1's were certainly different. While some individuals can master change, other never get the hang of it.

From a corporate motive power policy standpoint, the T1 was essentially DOA by the time the last unit was delivered in June 1946. PRR began to lose money about that time and nothing will produce management and policy change quicker than that. Passenger diesels were on the road in Sept 1945 (E7's 5900-5901), some nine months before the T1 order was completed. Events soon showed that no steam locomotive, good or bad, was going to compete successfully with them on an economic basis.

Other than the above reservations, the technical part of the article (provided Brain and I are referring to the two iterations of the same thing) is the most compact presentation of the duplex story written to this date, and if you can get a copy, do so. Just take some of the comments with a grain of salt.



drs5260fr@yahoo.com

Brian -

Apologies for mispelling your name. Typing too fast, getting letters interchanged, and not reading thoroughly. One of those days. Sorry 'bout that.

drs5260fr@yahoo.com

It's not a book, but the Baldwin Locomotive Works did a story on the T-1's in their company news magazine. Next time I have a chance I'll try to find it and see what month and year it was in. It is full of good technical details and states that the T-1's were also left hand lead as per the Standard Railroad of the World's wishes.

G. Mark

TVRM Shop Updates by Steve Freer
aw90h@cs.com

Many thanks to all of you for this information. I'm looking forward to some interesting reading!

John DeCarolis (Deke)

jcpdeke@aol.com

The story I spoke of was in the December, 1942, issue of Baldwin Magazine. And I came across a website many months ago (and the name of the site escapes me at the moment) that contained scanned images (jpgs) of the article. I downloaded them but the files are huge. All told, it amounts to 10 MB. I will try to create a pdf file of the article using the jpgs. If I'm successful, I'll post a note and anyone can request it electronically. It is quite a technical piece.

G. Mark

TVRM Shop Updates
aw90h@cs.com