Building the Impossible: How JAKTOOL and the T1 Trust Turn Vision Into Reality
A founder-story spotlight from the JAKTALK podcast, featuring Jason Johnson
When Jeff Kinsberg, Founder of JAKTOOL, speaks with Jason Johnson, General Manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Steam Locomotive Trust, their conversation becomes a story about leadership, audacity, and turning the impossible into reality.
In a recent episode of JAKTALK, Jeff and Jason revisit a relationship that began years ago through a shared love of engineering, systems thinking, and high-stakes problem-solving. What emerges is a story not just about trains, but about what happens when vision meets execution.
This blog distills the main lessons from that conversation for JAKTOOL’s prospective clients and leaders who value a partner thriving at the intersection of complexity, precision, and persistence. For the complete story, watch the episode of JAKTALK on Youtube.
Engineering the Fastest Steam Locomotive Ever Rebuilt
Jason Johnson is not a hobbyist. He’s a mechanical engineer, systems thinker, entrepreneur, and private equity leader. After selling his automation firm, he took on a rare challenge: leading a nonprofit effort to build the PRR T1 5550. This new version will be the most advanced and ambitious steam locomotive ever produced in America.
Every original T1 built between 1942 and 1946 was scrapped. None survived. That alone would stop most people. Jason saw a solvable problem. As Jason puts it, “My daily job is solving problems. I’m a firefighter. Everything is a fire until proven otherwise.”
The T1 Trust’s mission is not restoration. It is new construction, from scratch, of a million-pound, 140-mph steam locomotive, using today’s engineering, precision, and a volunteer-driven funding model. It’s a 16-year program that blends metallurgy, machining, structural engineering, systems engineering, donor communication, logistics, and facilities planning into one unified effort.
This mindset is exactly what drew Jeff to the project.
Where JAKTOOL Enters the Story
Years ago, Jeff saw a post about the T1 project and reached out. Not because JAKTOOL was looking for a train project, but because he recognized the qualities of a founder who “engineers businesses” with the same rigor he applies to complex mechanical systems.
Jason wasn’t just trying to build a train. He was building the operational structure, sequencing, and systems that make a massive project possible.
Early in the project, the T1 Trust required high-precision CAD models to convert 1940s drawings, which were hand-drafted, inconsistent, and full of dimensional ambiguities, into a manufacturable digital baseline.
The team at JAKTOOL modeled the T1 cab and the locomotive’s massive 62-foot frame, a weldment replacing the original one-piece casting. This is arguably one of the most geometrically complex parts ever attempted in modern SolidWorks. Jason calls the CAD a “work of art,” not just because of its difficulty, but because it became the enabling step that proved the project could move forward.
These early engineering contributions provided credibility, manufacturability, and proof that the “impossible” could be broken into solvable pieces.
Engineering Big Problems Means Engineering Big Systems
The T1 Trust’s story resonates with JAKTOOL’s culture because the work serves as a blueprint for thinking about complex engineering programs, especially those with constrained budgets, shifting realities, or unconventional pathways.
Jason and Jeff both operate from the same philosophy:
- Think in Systems, Not Tasks
- Milestones Must Be Visible
- Break the Impossible Into Parts
The T1’s development follows the same tactical discipline JAKTOOL uses for client programs: set the goal, break it down, commit to the quarter’s objectives, and execute relentlessly.
Why Bold Engineering Projects Inspire Exceptional Teams
One of the defining themes in Jeff and Jason’s conversation is that people aren’t motivated by small, easy work but by projects bold enough to matter. As Jason notes, no one feels inspired by creating another routine, low-impact product. But building a million-pound locomotive from scratch sparks passion, commitment, and pride. Jeff sees the same pattern in JAKTOOL’s clients. The organizations that come to JAKTOOL aren’t looking for “good enough.” They want a partner capable of uniting engineers, machinists, designers, program managers, and strategists around a challenge worthy of their talent. Great engineers want great problems, and JAKTOOL is built for exactly those problems.
The Takeaway for Industry Leaders
If you lead a company facing a complex engineering challenge that requires precision, systems thinking, multi-disciplinary execution, and a bold technical vision, take this lesson:
Ambitious projects are achievable with the right structure, people, and mindset.
Watch the Full Conversation or Build Something Ambitious with JAKTOOL
If you want the whole story, including the engineering breakthroughs, fundraising strategies, machinist partnerships, frame challenges, and the philosophy behind big, audacious work, the episode is available now:
Watch the full episode.
JAKTALK: Engineering the Impossible with Jason Johnson
Have a bold project idea? Contact the JAKTOOL team to discuss how we can partner with you to turn complex engineering challenges into reality.
Let’s build something worth building.