No. 10654 PRR-built Class K-4 4-6-2 "Pacific" Type Steam Locomotive, heading up the "Broadway Limited" Heavyweight Passenger Train

 Pennsylvania Railroad

Although the Pennsylvania Railroad by the 1930s had electrified many parts of its system in the Northeast - notably between New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. - many other parts of the line relied on traditional steam power. A train in 1938 from New York to Chicago, for instance, would leave New York with electric power, changing in Harrisburg, PA, to a steam engine to head up the train for the rest of the journey to Chicago.

K-4 "Pacific"-type locomotive No. 10654 represents a typical coal-fired 4-6-2 steam engine on the Pennsylvania Railroad from the mid-1910s to the 1950s, being the equivalent on the Pennsylvania to New York Central's 4-6-4 "Hudson" type locomotives introduced in the late 1920s (see No. 10073). The K-4s served the Pennsylvania well from their introduction in 1914 to well into the 1950s for fast passenger train service throughout the non-electrified parts of the system. K-4s complemented the box cab P- 5a (1930s)(see No. 10226) and GG-1 (mid 1930s to retirement by 1983)(see No. 10078) electric locomotives to provide efficient passenger service for the non-electrified and electrified portions of the Pennsylvania Railroad until the retirement of steam power in the 1950s.

A total of 435 K Class locomotives were built for the Pennsylvania 1914-1928 by the Pennsylvania (Juniata shops at Altoona) and Baldwin Locomotive Works.

As a footnote, the "Broadway Limited" New York-Chicago service was established over the 908 miles in November, 1912, on a 20-hour schedule, to be competitive with New York Central's prestige train, the "20th Century Limited," established in 1902 (see Nos. 10073 and 10156). Although the Tuscan red "Broadway Limited" never attained the fame or popularity of the "20th Century Limited", it did keep pace by offering everything expected of a luxury train, including a lady's maid, manicurist, barber, and secretary for busy executives. Dining car tables were set with china and silver and stewards wore dinner jackets. The menus were varied and the chefs were skilled.

Industrial designer Raymond Loewy oversaw the streamlining of the "Broadway Limited" in 1938. The new two-tone Tuscan red and maroon lightweight streamlined cars were pulled by stylish Loewy-designed Brunswick green GG-1 electric locomotives (see No. 10128) under catenary from New York to Harrisburg, and then by faithful K-4 "Pacific" steam locomotives or the revolutionary steam turbine locomotive S-2 west of Harrisburg to Chicago (see No. 10124). Like the new Henry Dreyfuss designed "20th Century Limited" (see No. 10156), the "Broadway Limited" was an all-Pullman all-private-room train, part of Pennsylvania's new "Fleet of Modernism," operating on a fast 16-hour schedule between New York and Chicago.

In the end the "Broadway Limited" outlasted its worthy rival - both trains made their last all-Pullman runs in 1967, and when Amtrak took over in1971, it was the "Broadway Limited" name and route that survived, but back to a leisurely 20-hour schedule, about the same as the 1912 train.

No. 10654 represents an accurate scale model in "0"gauge by MTH of Pennsylvania Railroad's K-4 4-6-2 "Pacific"-type steam locomotive, heading up the heavyweight 7-car Tuscan red "Broadway Limited" (See Nos. 10655 and 10656) as it would have been seen on its run between New York and Chicago in the 1920s through to 1938 on non-electrified parts of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The Amtrak "Broadway Limited" was a coach-and-sleeper operation, downgraded from the pre-1967 all-Pullman consist. Amtrak discontinued "Broadway Limited" service in 1995.