MILW grades EF-4 and EP-4
| MILW grades EF-4 and EP-4 | |
|---|---|
 E71 in front of the substation in Avery (Idaho) with extended driver's cab (1974)
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| Numbering: | E20, E21, E70-E79 |
| Number: | 12 |
| Manufacturer: | General Electric |
| Year of construction (s): | 1946 |
| Axis formula : | (2'D 0 ) (D 0 2 ') |
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
| Length: | 27,076 mm |
| Height: | 4394 mm |
| Width: | 3226 mm |
| Service mass: | 247.5 t |
| Top speed: | 109 km / h |
| Hourly output : | 4120 kW |
| Continuous output : | 3810 kW |
| Power system : | 3000 V DC |
| Power transmission: | Overhead line |
| Brake: | Compressed air , electric |
The classes EF-4 and EP-4 were twelve electric locomotives of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ( Milwaukee Road ), which were built together with eight other copies by General Electric in 1946 for export to the Soviet Union . The locomotives with the axle formula (2'D 0 ) (D 0 2 ') had twelve axles, eight of which were driven. They were designed for the power system common in the Soviet Union with 3000 volts DC voltage. Due to the beginning of the Cold War , it could no longer be delivered to the Soviet State Railways . Fourteen of the 20 machines were originally built in Russian broad gauge (1524 mm), the others were already equipped for standard gauge upon delivery .
Use on Milwaukee Road
Milwaukee Road offered to buy all 20 locomotives, including spare parts, for $ 1 million, little more than the scrapping value. The board of directors initially did not want to approve the purchase. However, after the start of the Korean War , the company needed more locomotives for its main electrified line. The board turned back to General Electric and found that eight locomotives, including all spare parts, had been sold, but the purchase price was still $ 1 million. Of the eight machines sold, three went to the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad ( the South Shore ) and five to the Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro in Brazil.
In the first test runs, the locomotives were not found to be satisfactory because they were prone to skidding . The old substations with motor generators from the time before the First World War had difficulties supplying two locomotives with sufficient energy under full load, which meant that their tractive power could not be fully utilized. The cab displays were also in Russian . After conversions with increased weight and modified performance, the locomotives classified as EF-4 proved to be very powerful and reliable. Some substations were upgraded later in order to better meet the power requirements with a contact wire voltage increased to 3400 volts.
During further modifications, the driver's cabs and windows were removed on one side of the locomotive in order to be able to relocate some fault-prone electrical equipment parts to a cooler environment. This was possible because the locomotives were rotated at their respective terminus in Harlowton and Avery , and locomotives with only one cab were generally preferred. The most significant modification was the installation of an in-house developed multiple control for multiple traction with diesel-electric locomotives . In the 1960s and 1970s, it was therefore not uncommon to have several diesel locomotives pulled and controlled by an EF-4 or a Boxcab sibling.
Two locomotives were used for the Olympian Hiawatha and classified as class EP-4. They received roller bearings instead of plain bearings and a steam boiler in a driver's cab for train heating. The rest were named EF-4. They were used exclusively on the Rocky Mountain Division in Montana and Idaho, where they renewed the boxcabs (EP-1, EF-1,2,3,5) from 1915/16 and the Quills (EP-3) from Vehicle fleet existing in 1919. On the other hand, it was not used on the Coast Division in Washington , especially since the substations there were not converted to meet the new requirements. Three vehicles have already been delivered to Milwaukee Road in standard gauge, while the rest had to be converted in the railway's own workshops. In 1956, the two EP-4s were redesignated as ordinary EF-4s for freight traffic. In the mid-1960s, the previously used orange and wine red with black roof had to give way to the new standard orange-black paint. The operation lasted until the end of electrical operation in June 1974. The locomotives were nicknamed Little Joe by the employees as an allusion to Josef Stalin (Stalin was only about 160 cm tall). The E70 has been preserved as a monument locomotive at Deer Lodge .
Sister locomotives
The principle of the suburban traffic in Chicago and northwestern Indiana focused Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad continued its locomotives for freight transport. There they were modified for use under the 1500 volt direct current overhead contact line. In contrast to the Milwaukee Road sibling locomotives , they were not nicknamed Little Joes , but were referred to as the 800s for short . Two out of three locomotives were used until 1983, making the South Shore the last North American railway not specialized in certain bulk goods to use electric locomotives in freight traffic. Today all freight trains in North America are hauled by diesel-electric locomotives. Locomotive number 803 is on display at the Illinois Railway Museum. The number 802 is preserved in the Lake Shore Railway Historical Museum in North East, Pennsylvania , 10 miles from where it was manufactured at the GE Locomotive Assembly Plant in Erie, Pennsylvania .
The Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro converted their locomotives to 1600 mm broad gauge. There they were known under the name Russas . They drove until 1999 and thus became the last examples of the series in operation. With the privatization of the Rede Ferroviária Federal in that year, the electrical operation ended. The locomotives 6451, 6453 and 6454 were scrapped. The number 6452 is preserved in a museum in Jundiai in the state of São Paulo and the number 6455 in a museum in Bauru in the state of São Paulo.
Web links
- Description with technical information
- Chicago South Shore & South Bend 803
- Lake Shore Railway Historical Museum, location of Little Joe CSS & SB # 802
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Noel T. Holley: Milwaukee Electrics , 1st Edition, NJ International, Hicksville, NY November 1987, ISBN 0-934088-14-4 .
- ↑ a b Class EP-4 / EF-4 "Little Joes," The Milwaukee Road's Most Famous Electrics. In: The American Railroads: A Long and Storied History. Retrieved September 16, 2012 .
- ↑ Nikolai Tolstoy : Stalin's Secret War . Holt, Rinehart and Winston (1981), ISBN 0-03-047266-0 , ISBN 0-03-047266-0 , pp 19-21.
- ^ Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad History. Retrieved September 16, 2012 .
- ↑ Around the LSRHS Museum . Lake Shore Railway Historical Society. Retrieved September 16, 2012.