A cast Boxpok driver for a yet-to-be-built Pennsylvania T1 replica: No. 5550. The Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Steam Locomotive Trust says this is the first boxpok driving wheel cast in decades.
Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Steam Locomotive Trust
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Steam Locomotive Trust is passing a new milestone. The non-profit organization cast its first boxpok driver the country has seen in more than 70 years. According to an article published by the organization, the driver is unlike a typical driving wheel in that it is entirely hollow. The design has a high strength-to-weight ratio and allows the fine-tuning necessary for high-speed operations for the PRR T1 4-4-4-4 No. 5550, according to the article.
The organization says the first step in the driver-casting process was to obtain the original drawings from the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, Pa. Members of the non-profit group spent hours pulling old drawings and scanning them in to digital format, the article says before selecting a foundry to execute the complex task.
The recent boxpok driver is one of the first components to be built by the organization as efforts continue moving forward as part of the organization’s ongoing Kickstarter campaign.
While you have a point Mike, one thing that is missing is someone else owns those other steam engines needing preserved and they aren't willing to give up control/use of them no matter how much money is thrown a them. In the T1's case, they can start completely from scratch building their own machine, have a full say in what happens with it, and put on the rails probably the most technologically advanced steam engine ever produced in the world. As for where it can stretch it's legs, there are many options. Maybe the PRR rails will not be that option for +40mph, but if you build it, someone will open up the door to be associated with such a great event.
Between the T1 Trust's FAQ (link shown in 2nd post below) and their Facebook page (link at end of this post), most questions should be answered. https://www.facebook.com/t1locomotive/ Just copy the link and paste it into your browser's address line
Who is going to machine it to final print specs?
Who built the patterns, and who did the casting?
Paint "Union Pacific" on the side and you could run the entire west
I agree with Mike to be honest seeing a T1 racing down the main line would be awesome, I like to see 1361 hit the high iron again.
I honestly do not think that building a 'new' PRR T1 from scratch is a good use of resources when we have a plethora of other steam locomotives throughout the country deserving of funds to restore them to operational condition. While it would be neat to see a PRR T1 running, I think as far as preservation goes, the limited funds and resources should be focused on what we already have in this country.
Check out answer #10 in the T-1 Trust FAQ https://prrt1steamlocomotivetrust.org/faq.php
I wonder where the T-1 Trust thinks they will be able to run their locomotive at high speeds. Unless Amtrak allows them use of the Corridor, all PRR main line trackage is capped at 40 MPH for steam currently because it's owned by NS. If not, we'd be seeing 611 pushing 80 MPH on a regular.
Unfortunately, the naysayers and quibblers have no skin in the game. It is cheap to complain about others' grand visions. It is on the order of: "if it is not my idea, or project, or whatever, it cannot be good," The very best response is: go for it. This is a big country. Those who have been involved in rr's for a long time know the type who carp.
Just think about how grand a new box driver is.
There are a lot of restoration projects out there, and all of them are worthy of both attention and resources. However, I think there's a unique opportunity here to "expand the base" of rail-fanning in the US. Because this project is so different from everything else that's happening out there I think it will pull interest from a lot of people that never would have otherwise thought or cared about rail heritage preservation. I'm all for it.