The Pennsylvania Railroad designed its G5s 4-6-0 steam locomotives for rapid acceleration on commuter trains operating into the hilly suburbs around Pittsburgh. They had 68-inch driving wheels, weighed 237,000 pounds, produced 41,330 pounds of tractive effort at 205 pounds-per-square-inch boiler pressure, and were the heaviest and most powerful ten-wheelers ever built.
Juniata built 90 G5s locomotives for the PRR between 1923 and 1925 and 31 more for its Long Island Rail Road subsidiary between 1924 and 1929. On Long Island, they initially hauled long distance express trains to Montauk at speeds up to 80 miles-per-hour. They remained in service until 1955, were reputed to have a rough ride, and were estimated to have covered 40-million miles on the LIRR.
As a youngster on Long Island, I used to fly model airplanes in Nassau County Park, a few hundred feet from where LIRR G5s #35, one of the last four in service on the LIRR, was parked on display. At the time, I was unaware of the significance of the locomotive.
MTH released its Premier model (20-3031-1 with PS1, MSRP $699.95) of PRR G5s #5740 in 1999. It was followed by a model of Long Island Rail Road G5s #21 (20-3068-1 with PS2, MSRP $699.95) in 2001. LIRR #21 carries a keystone-shaped “Sunrise Special” logo on its tender. I bought duplicate copies of both of these models and have been running them (equipped with BCRs) on my layouts for more than 20 years. They have great steam sounds, especially when running fast, and are among my favorite engines.
PRR #5740 is preserved at The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. It is not believed to have run on Long Island but its sister #5741 was one of ten PRR G5s locomotives that were leased to the LIRR and ran in PRR livery on Long Island. With modeler's license, I run my model of #5740 with heavyweight LIRR passenger cars.
Having grown up on Long Island, the MTH Premier model of Long Island Railroad G-5s ten-wheeler steam engine #21 is one of my favorites. Although the scenery on my 12’-by-8’ layout doesn’t look like Long Island, I keep this engine and its K-Line passenger cars on the layout at all times. The blue-scheme passenger cars are painted for the “Cannonball,” a train that ran to the eastern end of Long Island.
Pictures and videos were taken on my 12’-by-8’ model railroad.
MELGAR
