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PENNSYLVANIA 4666

PENNSYLVANIA 4666

66 seats = 10,000 riders a year
Data - Donald D. Smith

In the twilight of that somnolent season when internal-combustion power was always a bridesmaid to railroading, never a bride, the Pennsylvania Railroad issued order 22848 under date of January 20, 1930, to the J. G. Brill Company of Philadelphia for five Brill Model 660's, PRR Class GEG415 gas-electric motor cars, Nos. 4666-4670. The survivor, 4666, was delivered on June 20 of that year. The 139,400 pound, 75-foot, 66-passenger baggage passenger combine, powered by a 415 h.p. Hall-Scott gasoline engine, was capable of pulling four 50-ton trailers (reducing top speed from 60 to 43 mph on level track), which could be heated by its oil-fired Petersmith-Otis boiler. One of 54 gas-electrics ordered for U.S. service in 1930, the 4666 raised Pennsy's ownership of such cars to 65. One of its first assignments was local passenger service between Baltimore and Parkton, Md., 28 miles.

Black River & Western employs this gentle, bucolic painting
by Bob Lorenz on is "Rent a Train" brochure for Pennsylvania 4666.

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In 1942 the Pennsy repowered the 4666 with a new inline, 4-cycle, 6-cylinder Hamilton diesel rated at 425 h.p. at 950 rpm. The car was then reclassified OAG415. At that time the railcar assumed its present operating characteristics: 17,000 pounds maximum tractive force, 5100 pounds continuous tractive force, maximum speed 60 mph. As re-engined, 4666 weighs a total of 142,000 pounds, with 93,400 pounds on the front power truck and 48,600 pounds on the trailing truck. All wheels are 36 inch diameter.

No. 4666 operated in New Jersey for several years after World War 11, with monthly inspections and repairs being handled at Morrisville, Pa. The car closed out local passenger service between Trenton and Red Bank, N.J., on May 29, 1962. Its last revenue run on the Pennsylvania closed passenger service between Camden and Trenton on June 28, 1963. The car was deadheaded to Wilmington, Del., that day and placed in storage.

No. 4666 was sold on October 6, 1965, to the Penn View Mountain Railroad in Blairsville, Pa., but never operated by that owner. On June 1, 1967, Raymond L. Kennedy of Toronto purchased the car, which was moved dead to the Arcade & Attica Railroad in western New York state. Kennedy and his Old Times Trains partners did not get its two engines running, and the car never entered service on A. Instead, he sold the 4666 on July 13, 1971, to the Historical Equipment Association, which stored it at New Hope, Pa., on the New Hope & Ivyland. The Association's Hugh Jenkins, a Reading engineer, together with Lester V. Rockafellow and Fred Mensing, restored the two powerplants of the 4666, and subsequently the car was placed in passenger service by NH.

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In April 1975, No. 4666 was moved under its power from New Hope to Ringoes, N.J., over the Reading and Pennsylvania via Morrisville, Pa., and Trenton and Lambertville, N.J., to the Black River & Western, which took title to the car December 26, 1978.
Item: An older (1925) near-sister, twin-engined Brill 4662, works in the employ of Historic Red Clay Valley's Wilmington & Western.

The 4666 is a bidirectional creature, its controls of throttle, reverse, generator and diesel engine controls, air brakes, horn, bell, sanders, and lights being located at each end. The design of the electrical transmission requires an auxiliary engine, currently a constant-speed, 2400 rpm, 30 h.p., 4-cylinder, 4-cycle Waukesha Model 180 located in the engineroom. The Waukesha powers a 220-amp, 40-volt auxiliary generator which, in turn, provides power for battery charging, some control circuits, lighting, the 32-volt air compressor, and excitation for the main generator; also a small 12-volt D.C. generator which charges the 12-volt battery used for starting it. In other words, the 4666 is going nowhere without its auxiliary engine.

On to the big Hamilton. It cranks in much the same manner as an automobile engine, except that because of its size, two starting motors, fed by the 32-volt battery system, are needed. The engine is directly connected to a self ventilated 600-volt DC General Electric DT-524 generator, rebuilt by Westinghouse in April 1958. Its rating is 336 kw, with a continuous rating of 560 amps and a 1-hour rating of 650 amps. The main generator supplies electricity to the car's two GE Model 710-A 600 volt DC, 220 h.p. traction motors, one mounted on each axle of the power truck through single-reduction gears with 20 teeth on the motor pinion and 55 teeth on the axle gear. The motors have a continuous rating of 220 amps and a 1/2-hour rating of 340 amps.

Both diesel engines operate on No. 2 fuel oil, carried in two 200-gallon tanks. In a typical 5-hour, 50-mile tourist day, both engines consume under 30 gallons. A 60-gallon lube oil change ofdetergent SAE 40 commonly lasts a season.

Click to enlarge

The air brake system employs Westinghouse AML equipment, with a M-31c engineman's valve and an L-3 triple valve. There are two 16x72-inch air reservoirs; the brake cylinder is 18x32 inch. Air for brakes, horns, pneumatically-operated bells, and other controls is supplied by two compressors, one powered by the auxiliary engine's 32-volt generator and the other by the main 600-volt generator.

As delivered by Brill, the 4666 was fitted with Union Switch & Signal continuous inductive cab signals in both cabs. When the car passed out of PRR ownership, the cab signalling equipment was removed, but the indicator lights remain in the cab and can be lit, but just for show. They serve no function. Also, in 1958 a supplementary emergency brake system was added at Morrisville Shops to meet Jersey Central requirements for operation over the New York & Long Branch, but this feature, too, has been disconnected long since.

Long gone also is the boiler.

Click to enlarge

Pennsylvania 4666 labors on in blissful ignorance of the fact that both its original owner and manufacturer have long since vanished into the Valhalla of high iron. The car - still in Tuscan red, still carrying her original road name and number - earns its keep for owner Black River & Western, a 19 mile dieselized common carrier which lays on a summertime excursion service for tourists protected by ex-Great Western 2-8-0 60 and the railcar. On Sundays, May through October, the 4666 runs between Ringoes and Lambertville, boosting its weekly mileage during July and August with four round trips Tuesday through Friday between Ringoes and Flemington.

On Saturdays, April through November, the 4666 handles the BR's "Rent A Train" service. For $350 you and 49 friends can have the 66-seat motor car all to yourselves, departing Ringoes at 11 a.m. and arriving Three Bridges at 11:59. The 4666 leaves on the return at 12:15 p.m., arriving at Ringoes at 1:00. Then the car runs extra south to Lambertville, returning to Ringoes by 5 p.m. And if your party exceeds 50, the 4666 can pull Jersey Central control car 321, which accommodates up to 70 more riders, for an extra $100. Mrs. Louanna Burenga takes reservations at (201) 782-9600.

Last year, Pennsylvania 4666 carried about 10,000 passengers. If polled, they would doubtless cast 10,000 ballots in a vote of confidence for all the individuals from 1965 onward who invested their dollars and time in preserving this red artifact of The Standard Railioad of the World I

pennsy6o.jpg - 4417 Bytes Donald D. Smith, whose research and enthusiasm made this report possible, brings impeccable credentials to his job as an engineer on 4666. Born on a farm near Flemington, N.J., he graduated from Drexel Institute in a workstudy program in which he labored with the Philadelphia & Western. Joining Electro-Motive in 1936, he was soon writing manuals for the EA and TA, followed by a 5-year, 48-state stint aboard EMC instruction car 100. After spending 1943-1946 in the Bureau of Ships, U.S. Navy, he returned home to run the family farm. But railroading would not be denied. He fired, then ran BR's 2-8-0 60, then spent 11 years with Ross Rowland on High Iron Company excursions before coming home again to a regular assignment on the 4666.