Electric Locomotives

Prodded partly by concerns over pollution, the Baltimore & Ohio in 1895 electrified a portion of its mainline through (and beneath) its namesake city. Realizing the advantages of electric power versus steam, other railways -- including the Pennsylvania, New Haven, New York Central, Norfolk & Western, Virginian, Great Northern and Milwaukee Road -- eventually followed suit. This history of electric interurban locomotives in the United States begins with their nineteenth-century roots and continues to today. Readers are treated to dozens of rare period and modern color photographs showing locomotives traversing city, suburb, and even the occasional mountain pass. Featured, among others, are venerable S- and P-motors; GE's Little Joes; the iconic streamlined GG1; Milwaukee Road Bi-Polars; the Swedish-designed AEM-7; and Amtrak's Acela Express. Finally, author Brian Solomon also discusses the roles played by GE, Westinghouse, locomotive builders, and the railroads themselves -- touchstone events like the Grand Central electrification and the Milwaukee's Pacific Extension, specialized equipment and technologies, and how electric locomotives laid the groundwork for diesel-electric locomotives prior to World War II. Book jacket.Link, Jay is the author of 'Electric Locomotives' with ISBN 9780760313596 and ISBN 0760313598.