4-6-2 Pacific
According to Hans Halberstadt in 'Working steam', a Baldwin engine built in 1901 was the ancestor of the 4-6-2 Pacific. Pacifics combined speed and power and quickly became the prime mover of high speed passenger traffic in the US. In many cases, they remained the primary passenger locomotive for their railroads until conversion to diesel power.
Pacifics were built in light and heavy configurations (to deal with differences in track weights). They evolved into a USRA standard locomotive in both light and heavy configurations.
The best known series of Pacifics and arguably the best known steam engine series was the Pennsylvania K4. According to 'Steam Locomotives' by Westcott, the first K4 was built in 1914, and began to be brought on line in quantity to the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1917.
Later in their evolution, many main line passenger hauling railroads developed streamlined and specially painted Pacifics including the B&O Cincinnattians, the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha, and Southern Railroad's Ps4 Tennessean series.
Of the many surviving Pacifics, the best known is probably the Southern Pacific's No 2472, which still regularly roams the rails in excursion runs.
Books
 | Working Steam - Hans Halberstadt - Metro Books (c) 1999 pages 71-79 |
| Steam Locomotives - Edited by Linn H Westcott - Kalmback Books (c) 1960 pages 133-165 |
| B&O Railroad - Steam & Electric Locomotive Diagrams by Alvin F. Staufer. |
| PRR - Steam & Electric Locomotive Diagrams by Alvin F. Staufer. |
| Pennsy K-4s Remembered by Frederick A. Kramer |
| The PRR Locomotives, General Elevations, Cross sections and Erection Prints, Volume 4 by James Dill. |
Web Resources
| http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/finland/1060/prr_index.html - Roy's Super Toy Shop link library. |
| http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/finland/1060/pacific.html - Roy's Super Toy Shop link library - Pacific specific section. |
| http://216.156.132.138/ - B&O Railroad Historical Society |
| http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=k4.jpg&sel=ste&sz=sm&fr= - Robert Schoenberg Pennsy K4 drawing |
| http://prr.railfan.net/documents/ModernLocosandCars.html - Robert Schoenberg Pennsy K4 image links. |
| http://user.mc.net/~hawk/pacific.htm - Larry R. Murchison Southern Pacific 4-6-2 drawing. |
| http://steamcad.railfan.net/pacific.htm - Larry R. Murchison Southern Pacific 4-6-2 color drawings. |
| http://trainweb.org/girr/tips/tips2/pacific_tips.html - Aristocraft Pacific tips page from George Schreyer's Web site. |
| http://www.steamlocomotive.com/pacific/ - Steamlocomotive.com pacific page. |
| http://www.steamlocomotive.com/pacific/ - Darryl Van Nort's Pacific page. |
| http://www.prrths.com/ - The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society home page. |
| http://www.angelfire.com/film/prrpics and http://www.angelfire.com/film/prrpics/prr_loco_index.html - Large photo archive of Pennsylvania Railroad K4 Class Pacifics - Gary Mittner |
