The GN

boxcab A boxcab, in railroad terminology, is a locomotive in which the machinery and crew areas are enclosed in a box-like superstructure (from boxcar). It is a term mostly used in North America while in Victoria (Australia), such locomotives have ...

locomotives were the first electric locomotives purchased by the Great Northern Railway (GN) for use through the

Cascade Tunnel The Cascade Tunnel refers to two railroad tunnels (original and its replacement) in the northwest United States, east of the Seattle metropolitan area in the Cascade Range of Washington, at Stevens Pass. It is approximately east of Everett, wi ...

. Four locomotives were supplied by the

American Locomotive Company The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

; they used electrical equipment from

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

and weighed each. They were three-phase electric locomotives producing each. The specification called for 1000hp, but the actual output was substantially greater, as described by the consultant engineer Cary T. Hutchinson. They had a B-B

wheel arrangement In rail transport, a wheel arrangement or wheel configuration is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed under a locomotive. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and ...

. They were built in February and March 1909, and delivered in Pullman Green. The GN numbered them 5000–5003 and they were used until May 1927. Initially three locomotives were coupled together and hauled trains at a constant speed of , but when larger trains required four locomotives the motors were concatenated (cascade control), so that the speed was halved to to avoid overloading the power supply. None survived into preservation.

References

* Great Northern Railway (U.S.) General Electric locomotives

Boxcab A boxcab, in railroad terminology, is a locomotive in which the machinery and crew areas are enclosed in a box-like superstructure (from boxcar). It is a term mostly used in North America while in Victoria (Australia), such locomotives have ...

Three-phase AC locomotives Electric locomotives of the United States Scrapped locomotives ALCO locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1909 B-B locomotives Bo-Bo locomotives {{US-train-stub