| Posted by Dave on October 24, 2017 | |
This was UP's attempt at a coal-fired turbine locomotive. Didn't work well due to ash corrosion on the turbine blades. The turbine unit was built on the chassis of a former Great Northern W-1 class electric.
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Thank you for this great historic shot, and your very informative notes. I didn’t, know the PA was still powered.Best regards.
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Just in no way can imagine one of these behemoths plying down the rails - but they did! Nice catch, John - thanks for the details and the share!
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| Posted by Reynold on April 20, 2021 | |
The B-unit of this gigantic coal-eating Franken-Alco-GE lab monster with exposed skeleton was Omaha Pumpkin Orange and Pullman Leaf Green nee-Great Northern electric W-1 5018. It and its sister 5019 were 101' long with 5000 HP, AAR Wheel Arrangement B-D+D-B. Yes, it had all 12 axles powered with 12 GE 746 motors of 420 hp. It was built in '47 to augment and modernize the electric power on GN's 73 mile electrification for the 7.8 mile Cascade Tunnel in the namesake Washington mountain range. It quickly became obsolete by '56 when enormous fans were added to clear exhaust smoke from the tunnel so diesels could use the long tunnel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_W-1
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