Can anyone tell me what the status of PRR K-4 1361 is?
From everything that I have read, the boiler repairs completed by the folks in Altoona who “restored” it to run were of less than the best quality–and at least partly as a result of that work, the current needs dramatically exceeded the funding that was allocated.
It is my understanding that the engine is currently disassembled, and the boiler is in worse condition than was previously thought–with all or nearly all allocated funding for the project having been already spent.
I do not expect to see it run again.
There is a Trains magazine article that says work has been suspended.
John
Thanks. I saw it apart at Steam Town a couple of years ago before work was suspended. Quite a bit of work had been done then and the shop tour guide stated that current boiler standards were much stricter than the standards to which the locomotive was originally built so a lot of the delay was due to the need to redesign the Belpaire boiler top. He did say that many of the welds done during the Altoona restoration needed to be redone. The last I heard was that there was a dispute between the Altoona RR Museum and Steam Town and bills weren’t being paid. That was about the time work was stopped. Thanks again for the update.
The PRRT&HS has been pressing the museum people in Altoona to come forward as to what is going on. After an attempt to restore her for a second time with people not having the ability to do the required work, work not meeting required spec’s, the work not monitored by museum staff resulting the wasting of granted money for her restoriation, basically its back to square one. They made no effort to recoupe the funds for the work, and future funding will be a problem.
The boiler is the biggest concern and will require extensive work, almost to a point that maybe a whole new boiler will be the option. The museum is soliciting an FRA certified firm to rebuild and have her certified for excursion activity. The museum director stated in a letter in 2009 that once that is complete the K4 can be running in about 1 1/2 to 2 years. In addition to this, funding is now a problem as big bucks have been totally wasted up to this point, and this includes a large substantial amount of funding previously given. With this economy soliciting funding for the K4 as well as maintaining the museum facility, it is going to be a struggle, not to mention the roundhouse project which is undergoing at this time. Representative Geist is working on securing funds but personally I feel this is a challenge for him considering how shoddy the museum handled money for the restoration.
The museum has been criticized for not being more open and this frustrated people who would like to see her run in their lifetime. Their future rides on this locomotive being present, its the biggest draw they have.
So, three million dollars later its still in pieces all over the place, and few answers. If a man can take on a project to built a beautiful civil war era steam locomotive from scratch, (Laviathan #63) I am sure we can restore one given proper managem
It is truly shameful what has happened to the craft trades and this countries ability to produce. Sixty years ago the locomotive builders were turning out hundreds of steam locomotives now we can not even refurbish one. Why don’t we box it up and send it to China? They seem to be able to do things that this country used to do. Talk about inflation, It used to be $40 a pound on average when it was built. Millions of dollars later and it is still in pieces. The only word that describe this is SAD.
Pete
I worked on the K4 project at Steamtown with Bill Fredrickson. He is an experienced and capable steam mechanic. After leaving the K4 project he went back to the Reading and Northern to work on another Pacific, the GM&N #425, which was brought back into service. So the problem was not a matter of skill on the part of the people doing the work.
The problems absolutely are a result of the skill (or utter lack thereof) of the people in Altoona who “restored” the engine before and their grossly inept handling of the locomotive all along.
I was a student at Penn State Altoona campus during the late 1980’s when or shortly after the locomotive had been running. I met some of the people who had been involved in the “restoration”.
These folks told me that they used a bunch of old yahoos who thought they knew more about steam power than they really did–or really were able to remember. They had everyone from teenagers on up working on the engine. The ineptness of the “crew” has been well documented. For example: they dropped a completely refurbished drive axle off a truck onto the ground at one point (with significant damage)!
As far as the museum, during my several visits there, I received a most unfavorable impression. It appeared to be a very disorganized outfit even then. I would not trust anything those folks say.
I think if one searches there is a website (not the official one) that has detailed photos of some of the current problems with the boiler with commentary of what needs to be done to fix it correctly.
Unfortunately, from everything I’ve ever read and heard, it appears that had much of the work been left to the real professionals who do this sort of thing, it is very likely it would have been complete and operable by now for the money spent.
John
One factor that is critical at this stage in the game: It has been revealed that the original firebox design of the PRR will not be accepted under new boiler codes. Basically, the number and spacing of the staybolts is just slightly under the standards that are mandated by current safety standards. This problem has also been confronted by the parties working on the LIRR G5s’s 35 and 39, which has the same boiler design–it’d be like rebuilding a car engine so it finally works perfectly, only to find gas engines banned. There is a way to rebuild the boiler so it come up to standard, but that requires far more extensive rebuilding work than has been undertaken so far, and therefore raises the “wasted money” issue. If this had been a commercial project–say, for a Disney park or a railroad like the Grand Canyon, Strasburg RR, etc., then there’s no doubt that the only recourse would be either a completely new boiler atop the frame and wheels, or a different locomotive. But please remember that part of the impetus of preserving the locomotive is because it’s an “artifact” of the PRR and “Altoona’s finest,” if you will, so in that context it’s more sensible to preserve the original than to slap a new boiler on the tired old girl.
For much more on this issue than you might want to know, search the “Interchange” forum of Railway Preservation News (www.rypn.org), where the problems and faults have been detailed and discussed/rehashed until the regulars there are sick to death of the topic.