Pennsylvania Railroad class Q2


The Pennsylvania Railroad's class Q2 comprised one prototype and twenty-five production duplex steam locomotives of 4-4-6-4 wheel arrangement.
They were the largest non-articulated locomotives ever built and the most powerful locomotives ever static tested, producing 7,987 cylinder horsepower on the PRR's static test plant. They were by far the most successful duplex type. The duplex propensity to slip was combated by an automatic slip control mechanism that reduced power to the slipping unit.
The Q2 locomotive was 78% more powerful than the locomotives that PRR had in service at the time, and the company claimed the Q2 could pull 125 freight cars at a speed of. These were an improved version of the previous Q1 class, which was a 4-6-4-4 dual-purpose engine instead of a 4-4-6-4 freight engine.
Despite overall success, the Q2s were all out of service by 1951. With dieselization, they were the obvious first targets to be withdrawn since they were only a little more capable than the conventional J1 class 2-10-4s but with far higher operating and maintenance costs. The final Q2, 6199's power output is 7,987 hp. All have been scrapped and none are preserved.