K-4 5417 is ready to take an outbound commuter train on the Long Branch.
Comments:
The magnificent PRR K-4's had the distinction of being the last passenger-hauling steam engines operating in New Jersey. The CNJ, DL&W, and the Erie had already retired the last of their steam locos a few years earlier prior to 1957.
Until 1957, these handsome and legendary steamers hauled commuter trains between the PRR's Exchange Place terminal in Jersey City (ferry service to Cortlandt St., Manhattan, ended in December of 1949) and Bay Head Junction.
Soon enough, sleek, rakish "sharks" would be handling the PRR's Bay Head trains out of Jersey City, and the legendary K-4's would disappear into the vast void of history.
The Exchange Place terminal itself was closed in late 1961; not a trace of it remains today, although the decaying, rusting remains of two of its ferry slips survived until the mid-70's.
Until 1957, these handsome and legendary steamers hauled commuter trains between the PRR's Exchange Place terminal in Jersey City (ferry service to Cortlandt St., Manhattan, ended in December of 1949) and Bay Head Junction.
Soon enough, sleek, rakish "sharks" would be handling the PRR's Bay Head trains out of Jersey City, and the legendary K-4's would disappear into the vast void of history.
The Exchange Place terminal itself was closed in late 1961; not a trace of it remains today, although the decaying, rusting remains of two of its ferry slips survived until the mid-70's.
