PRR 1223

Pennsylvania Railroad 1223 is a 4-4-0 "American" type steam locomotive built in 1905 for the Pennsylvania Railroad by the railroad's own Altoona Works for passenger service. After being retired from active service, the locomotive ran excursion trains on the Strasburg Railroad in Strasburg, Pennsylvania from 1965 to 1989 when it was removed from service requiring firebox repairs. Currently the engine is on static display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The 1223 is the only surviving example of the Pennsylvania Railroad D16sb class.

History of class

The class D16 locomotives of the Pennsylvania Railroad were the most modern of a long history of 4-4-0 type steam locomotives that the railroad used. The 1223 was home built by the railroad at its Juniata Shops in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in 1905. As built it was a high speed passenger engine with tall driving wheels. However, the 4-4-0 type, long the mainstay of American passenger and freight service, was already becoming outmoded when the 1223 was built, being superseded by ever-larger engines. The Pennsy itself was pioneering steel passenger cars, which the public soon demanded for the implied increases in safety. The 1223 was eventually rebuilt with smaller driving wheels for local freight service, having been replaced on passenger trains by engines like the E6 Atlantics and K4 Pacifics. It was modernized as well, receiving superheaters [the "s" in D-16sb), piston valves, an electric headlight, and other improvements.