Back in the Dark Ages, I learned that it was confusing and unnecessary to put the letter s after the class twice. When something ends in s, you just add the apostrophe and leave it at that. The second s, to indicate pluralization, is implied. Hence, one E6s; two E6s'; One K4s; two K4s'.

Tom

Once superheating became universal on the PRR, the "s" tended to be dropped by the railroad in most references to engine classes.

Howard P.

An apostrophe should never be used to designate a plural in English, whether followed by an -s or not. The correct pluralization of any English noun is accomplished by adding a single -s (e.g., trains) or an -es (e.g., buses)...

EXCEPT...

when the noun being pluralized is an alphanumeric abbreviation, such as a locomotive class. Therefore:

One Pennsy E6s pulled the train to New York carrying news of Lindbergh's flight.
Two Southern Ps-4's pulled Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral train.

This apostrophe should always be followed by an -s to designate the plural (e.g., K4s's). Use of the apostrophe alone (e.g., K4s') would indicate possession (e.g., The engineer was inside the K4s' cab). Using the conventional -s or -es pluralization with an alphanumeric abbreviation leads to the confusing scenario of not knowing where the abbreviation ends and the pluralization begins. In the case of using "E6ses" to designate multiple E6s locomotives, someone not knowledgeable of PRR locomotive classification might erroneously (but reasonably) believe that the PRR rostered a class of locomotives designated "E6se" or "E6ses."

More can be found here:

http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/apostrophe.html

I hesitate to interrupt this fascinating discussion of punctuation, but wow, they did a beautiful job on good old 460

Does anyone know this plans for display? I remember some talk of it being animated--the pistons removed and the wheels/running gear made to move

I have seen a recent photo of the 460 indoors, so one may assume the concurrent work on the display area has been completed. I'm wondering if another piece of equipment had to get shoves outdoors to make room for the E6s. Let's see, completed display pieces as they should appear in final display are: a GG1, the B1 (rat), the D16sb, the E3, the G5s, the H3 and H6sb. Plenty of restored cars, both passenger and freight. Now the E6s. What have I missed?
The E6s is a marvel of restoration, and I certain we are all delighted with the result.

As a regular weekly volunteer on the restoration of No. 460, I am pleased say that the engine now looks "better than Pennsy." It was moved into the display hall at the RR Museum of Penna. on Tuesday, and it will be formally dedicated during a ceremony tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 p.m. It will remain on display in the hall until the roundhouse is completed, hopefully sometime in 2018. (The plans and budget have been through all the various bureaucratic approvals, but the invitations to bid have not yet been sent out.) When the ground breaking takes place, maybe next spring, No. 460 will be pulled out of the hall as the backdrop for that event. When the roundhouse is completed, it will be on display in the building, set up on some sort of rollers so that the driver will revolve and visitors may observe the wheels going around and the valve gear cycling. Remember "Better Than Pennsy"

Thank you!

I look forward to making the trip to see it soon. it looks fantastic

Which makes me wonder, is it truly a restoration if it is covered in a paint job that is multitudes better than what PRR would have applied circa 1951? One could argue that the show room perfect paint job is no more authentic than a '60's era "wild west" paint job, just at the other end of the spectrum.

Look at the 60,000. Kept indoors since 1933, she still caries her original Baldwin paint. The words "perfect, smooth and glossy" don't apply.

We had to replace an awful lot of steel on No. 460, including multiple patches on the tender and an entire new top, as well as a new cab and new jacketing. We took great care in manufacturing these parts and preparing them before painting. We weren't going for an operating restoration, and we did leave various dings and patches in areas that we didn't have to replace as "proof" that the locomotive had indeed been worked hard. But in working our way through the locomotive, we found quite a few questionable and marginal repairs to the locomotive, obviously made in its last months of service before its retirement at the end of 1955. I should also mention that our work put the lie to those who insisted that this locomotive and the rest of the PRR locomotives were ready to go at a moment's notice. So our in-house joke as we worked our way through the project was "better than Pennsy." Apologies if that offends any die-hard Pennsy fans.

George, I'll ask the question that is unspeakable to many. In this restoration, was anything done which would render the locomotive unable to be operationally restored, assuming the "impossible decision" was made? The assumption is, the E6s is closer to operational today than it was prior to this rebuild.

It was a cosmetic restoration, thats all,a nice one at that,probably take over a million to make it operational

That locomotive is truly a time capsule. It wasn't in service long enough to ever be modified. It is truly in as built configuration. That to me makes it certainly one of the most valuable pieces of railroad equipment in the United States. It pains me that it's in a non railroad environment. Sure, they've been great custodians for the past 83 years and it's gotten far more exposure than probably any other locomotive out there due to the high volume of people in the Franklin Institute but I have to wonder what having hundreds of school kids a week touching it will do to it. The oils on your fingers certainly won't do anything to help preserve that paint. The fence around it isn't quite out far enough to keep an adult from reaching in and touching it. Although the last time I was there, I noticed that it is very dusty. I wonder if they would be receptive to having a group of people volunteer to come in and wipe it down, under the proper guidance of those who understand the proper technique for doing such a project on something so old (no pressure washers, caustic chemicals etc).

Back to the paint though. At what point will it truly fail? It's very dry and cracked but still adheres to the surface quite well. It's not flaking off that I can see but that won't last forever. What could be done to further prolong it's life?

BLW #60,000 does not carry it's original paint because the original color was ROYAL PURPLE ! Now having said that it's current coat of BLACK is most likely the original as applied by BLW before it was donated to the Franklin Institute.
I remember an article in TRAINS where a volunteer did do some clean-up of #60,000 in the past; don't remember the year.

Kevin K.

Getting back to PRR #460 and the RRMofPA: They did a FANTASTIC job ! It looks great and they only replaced/repaired that which was really needed.

GREAT JOB RRMofPA !!!!!!!!

Kevin K

Among the guests at the ceremony Saturday afternoon were two grandsons of one of the men at the throttle of No. 460 from Washington, D.C. to Manhattan Transfer on June 11, 1927, with the Lindbergh newsreel films. It was quite a thrill to speak with these men, who knew that man. Both were quite emotional upon seeing the locomotive.