Electric Locos

[pcctrolleyII]

Well i just wanted to make a topic about electric locos i mean the ones like GG-1 and Acela and others like them. Ok here it goes. I just was wondering how many people like them.  I for one love them i own three GG-1s, Acela set E60CF, two Metros ( dummy and powered ) liner, two E60CPs. and i'll be shairing pictures of them as well as soon as i get the pictures up. 

[pcctrolleyII]

http://s61.photobucket.com/albums/h54/Excelstarship/ Here are some pictures of my eletric engines every one is welcome to shair their pictures too. 

[jward]

my dad used to take me to the east end of enola yard back in the early 1970s. i have many fond memories of trains pulled by gg1s and e44s. i didn't like the e33s, though. they were too noisy, with cooliing fans howling they sounded like a giant vacuum cleaner.......scary to a small child.

the ones i find most interesting were the gm6c and gm10b, made by emd in the mid 1970s as demonstrators at a time when many lines were considering electrification. they were one of a kind, and an interesting look at what might have been....

[jettrainfan]

Quick question I've had my mind on. What made electrics not run too much today, as in main line freight? I do love electrics. i always loved the EP-2s of the Milwaukee road. They seemed so different, but, like they looked normal.

[jward]

what did the electrics in was the high cost of building and maintaining the power distribution system. most freight railroads simply didn't have the traffic volume to justify electrification in the diesel age.remember that a diesel is essentially an electric that carries its own power plant.

during the steam era, electrics had a couple of major advantages over steam in the mountains. first, an electric has its whole horsepower available to start a train, steam didn't reach their peak horsepower until after they were moving along. second, the electirc motors had an even torque unlike the piston thrust of steam. third, electrcs could use the traction motors to help hold the train back on the downgrade. with steam you had to use the airbrakes only, or in earlier times, the handbrakes.
fourth, the electrics generated no smoke, particularly useful at slow speeds in tunnels.

diesels could do all of these things,except tthe lack of smoke. without building and maintaining power lines and substations. diesels were not restricted as to where they could go.

the last major freight electric routes were the former pennsylvania railroad lines east of harrisburg, pa. under penn central, these lines had the necessary traffic volume to make electric worthwhile. when conrail was formed, most of these lines were sold to amtrak, who actively discouraged freight trains using their lines. conrail had alternate routes to most of the places the electrics went, a rapidly aging fleet of electric locomotives that would have needed replacement in a few years, and relatively few miles of electric trackage they actually controlled. in the late 1970s there was talk of extending the electrification from harrisburg west to pittsburgh, but those plans were shelved.

[glennk28]

Most know me for narrow gauge steam--but I have a soft spot in my head for big electrics, too.

In HO, I have two NWSL Milwaukee "Little Joes" , a GN Y-1, and a couple of GG-1's.  In O I have A Weaver GG-1 and Little Joe, and a Custom Brass Milw Bi-Polar with a Jerry White-designed drive in it.  And there are a couple of LGB Krokodils.

The older technology electric locos were able to use true "regenerative braking" in which the power developed was fed back into the catenary.  Modern-technology locos have to burn it off the same as diesel-electrics.   On the Milwaukee, a good dispatcher could balance his uphill trains against his downhills and keep the road's power bill at a minimum --the downhill trains fed power bck to the wires and the uphills used it. 

Most electrified "steam roads" used 11Kv 25 Hz AC--the Milwaukee used 3 Kv DC--so a GG-1 on the Milw was not possible, while on the GN it could have been.   gj

[pcctrolleyII]

Wow i'm surprised at the feedback i have here and many intrusting things i never knew.  I was watching videos ealier today and seen the E33s and they do sound like gaint vacuums so did the E44. I also watch a video with the Metro liner in it and that being my second faverite eletric next to the GG-1 i was in my aww state as the video had the GG-1 in it too.  Thank you to the ones who shaired their info so far more are welcome to join.  Nice line up of eletrics there GJ i was thinking about a Bi-poler and a little joe in HO but, when i see them  they are out of my price range.

[ebtnut]

Some of us have been around long enough to remember seeing all that power in action.  For some reason, the E-33's didn't get south of Philly very much, so those of us at the south end of the Corridor got GG-1's and E-44's.  The South Shore Line running east of Chicago had a couple of Little Joe's also, even though the road was primarily a commuter line.  Several roads installed electric sections in the mountain country for service in tunnel terrirtory.  They included the Boston and Maine (Hoosac Tunnel), the N&W, the Virginian and the Great Northern.  Some interurban lines developed a substantial freight service that required something bigger than a steeple-cab.  The above-mention South Shore, the Illinois Terminal are and the Piedmont Northern are a few that come to mind. 

[RAM]

The Chicago North Shore had some nice units.  When I was in boot camp at Greatlakes i go to watch them.  They had a small yard just north of the base. 

[ebtnut]

RAM:  You must be even older than I am.  When I was at Great Lakes (1967) the North Shore had been gone for 4 years.  However, there were still some sidings on the base that had remnants of the overhead system.  I did get to see a couple of those big Baldwin center-cab units on the EJ&E, though.  And I did ride the South Shore out to Michigan City and back one day on one of the old cars.  Got delayed when a car in front of us skidded in the light snow and slid into the train. 

[jonathan]

Shipmates,

When I was in Great Lakes ('83), I remember being very cold, and doing a lot of pushups.  Wish I had thought to look around for tracks.

R,

Jonathan 

[ebtnut]

Yeah, Jonathon, I understand.  I was in boots from September till early December, then had to report back just before Christmas for basic electronics school.  The base pretty much emptied out for the holidays, leaving us unlucky ones to go on port and starboard watch duty for 2 weeks.  And boy, was it COLD.  We had temps down near zero several times, and about a foot of snow to slog around in.  Still makes me cold when I think about it.  Thank goodness for the C&NW, which at least gave us an easy way to Chicago or Milwaukee for a little liberty.  I even got a tour of the old MR offices with Linn Westcott one day. 

[mhampton]

The South Shore Line is still using electric locos.  check out their website at http://www.nictd.com/.

[RAM]

The South Shore has electric MU car , not Electric locomotive.  I just got my copy of Trains today.  On the cover a picture of a UP electric freight locomotive.  Well not really, just what might be.  They are doing some thinking about putting wire up, but if they do it will be years away.  Back to Great lakes NTC.  Yes I am old, I was born in 1932.  When I was there in 1952 CN&W was still running steam on all local passenger trains.  The only steam freight locomotives that I saw was a dead 2-8-2 in the roundhouse in the town just north of the base.  The C  E & J (I think it was) had a line on the other side of the base.  They ran the big baldwin center cab transfer locomotives.

[ebtnut]

That town would be Waukegan.  And it was/is the Elgin, Joiliet and Eastern (EJ&E) that had the big center-cabs.  I think they were just about at the end of their life when I saw them.