The world's first and only locomotive with a 6-8-6 wheel configuration was introduced in 1944. The Pennsy Railroad's S2 direct-drive steam turbine powered locomotive was a unique experiment in motive power. Its six-wheel leading truck, eight drive wheels, and six-wheel trailing truck made for a massive running platform that was quite efficient when the S2 was at speed. Orginally the S2 was to be a 4-8-4, but wartime restrictions on the usage of lighter steel alloys forced the use of heavier alloys - eventually driving the weight of the entire locomotive to need larger leading and trailing trucks. 

The S2 is outfitted with two steam turbines - one for each direction of travel. The large boiler sports a Belpaire firebox and the turbines exhaust was channeled through four pipes in the smoke box. A Worthington-style feedwater heater honed the S2's efficiency further. 

This iconic Pennsylvania Railroad steam locomotive is a must-have for every series PRR steam collector. We are offering the S2 in three prototypical variations: As-Delivered without smoke deflectors, equipped with small smoke deflectors, and equipped with large smoke deflectors (the longest lasting appearance). We are also offering one S2 Turbine in a Tuscan Red fantasy paint scheme, and one painted a brass color so the entire engine has a varnished brass appearance. All of the models have hand-crafted brass boilers, cabs, and tender bodies, and die cast locomotive and tender chassis. Each model comes with our Paragon4 DC/DCC Sound system with synchronized smoke and integral GoPack capacitors.