Pennsylvania Railroad P5

The Pennsylvania Railroad class P5, with its P5a, P5a Modified and P5b variants, comprised 92 mixed-traffic electric locomotives built between 1931 and 1935 by the railroad, Westinghouse and General Electric. Two prototypes came from the Altoona Works in 1931, an electric Pacific with an extra driving axle compared with the O1 design, followed by 90 production P5a engines, the last 28 given a raised central cab after a fatal grade crossing accident in 1934. They were meant for passenger trains but performed poorly at high speed and suffered cracking frames and axles, so the GG1 took over passenger work and the P5s were regeared for freight. All were gone by 1965 except prototype number 4700, preserved at the National Museum of Transportation in St Louis.