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The L1 was built between 1914 and 1919 as the primary freight locomotive for the Pennsylvania Railroad at the time. Production was split between The Baldwin Locomotive Works, the Lima Locomotive Works and the Pennsylvania Railroad's own mechanical shop complex at Altoona, Pennsylvania. Sharing the boiler and many components from the famed K4 passenger locomotives, the L1 weighed 314,000 pounds and was able to freight to nearly 50 miles per hour. A total of 574 were built.
The L1 was state of the art for its time and served the Pennsylvania Railroad well until the end of the steam era in the 1950s. Several were sold by the PRR to other railroads such as the Santa Fe, Lehigh and New England, the Cambria and Indiana, the Interstate Railroad and the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton.
One L1 survives, the #520 was added to the Pennsylvania Railroad's historic collection upon its retirement and today is on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, alongside many other members of the PRR's historic collection. The engine is slated for a major restoration in coming years and will be a featured part of the museum's new roundhouse, soon to be under construction. The #520 also is unique as it suffered a catastrophic boiler explosion in 1942, killing the engine crew.
This model was produced by Lionel after they purchased the tooling from Maryland's MTH Electric Trains a few years ago and is equipped with the latest in Legacy Command Control and smoking whistle. Fortunately, despite many reports of gearbox issues with these, I seem to have gotten lucky for a change - it's been on the layout for the past few weeks running lap after lap, forward and backwards, with not a single issue and a dead silent gearbox. #lioneltrains #mthtrains #pennsylvaniarailroad #l1 #steam #coal #history #museum #pennsylvania #history #rrmuseumofpa #strasburgrailroad #trains #diesel #electric #altoona #juniata #railroad #rail #americanogauge #trains #hobby #traininstagram
