Description
During World War I, Uncle Sam nationalized the railroads when
they proved unequal to the task of moving massive amounts of men and
materiel for the war effort. The agency that ran the trains was the
United States Railroad Administration, or USRA, and one of its chief
accomplishments was the creation of 12 steam engine designs that lasted
for decades. According to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers,
USRA locomotives were the first successful standardization
of American motive power and the only standard
designs until the diesel era.
