Pennsylvania Railroad No. 1187 is a Class R (later H3) 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive that sits on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.
History[]
Built by the Altoona Shops in 1888 at a cost of $8,644 it used to work hauling freight trains for the Pennsylvania Railroad.
In 1913, It was sold to the J. T. Dwyer Quarry in Monocacy, PA, where it worked for another twenty-six years before being reacquired by the Pennsy in 1939 when it was retired. It was then restored to its 1888 appearance for display at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair as PRR's oldest surviving locomotive.
After the fair, #1187 went into storage at PRR's East Trenton, NJ, engine house and later joined the historic collection in Northumberland, PA.
Today the engine is on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.
Trivia[]
- It was one of eight hundred and ninety class R locomotives built at the Altoona shops between 1885 and 1897. Later designated class H3, they were the Pennsylvania Railroad's primary freight hauling locomotive at the time and the first to use the square topped Belpaire firebox. This square topped firebox became standard on most Pennsy steam locomotives thereafter.
- The locomotive joined the museum collection along with the other PRR equipment from Northumberland in 1969 on loan.
- Only when the process of winding up the Penn Central was complete in 1979 was outright ownership transferred.