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Cross Continent Electrics The Pennsylvania Great Northern Connections Soft Cover
Cross Continent Electrics The Pennsylvania Great Northern Connections Soft Cover
By Bert Pennypacker
Soft Cover
Copyright 1994
64 pages
CONTENTS
INDEX
I ELECTRICS THROUGH THE CASCADES 5
Casacade Tunnel II & The Z-15
1909 Electrification7
West Slope Electrification10
Z-1 Locomotives12
Y-1 Motors17
II EXCEPTIONS TO THE TIME MACHINE 27
The W-1 Electric27
Experements30
Virginian Modernizes34
The PRR E2b38
III THE E2b ELECTRIC40
Building the E2b44
IV PENNSY'S ADAPTED ELECTRICS FF-2 56
The FF-162
In the rugged mountain wilderness of Washington State's Cascade Range throbbing freight diesels of the Burlington Northern as well as Amtrak's Superliner-equipped Empire Builder slowly climb the tortuous grade through Chumstick Canyon amid magnificent and spectacular scenery. The awe-inspiring splendor of snow-capped peaks towers skyward above the seemingly miniature trains as they finally achieve the 2883-foot altitude of the railroad's summit and plunge headlong into the solid rock bowels of Bear Mountain through the 7.79-mile Cascade Tunnel II. The interior blackness of the lengthy bore finally gives way to west portal daylight as Scenic is passed and the twelve-mile descent of 1291 feet takes the trains down the Tye River valley to Skykomish.
Along the 72-mile stretch of grueling, up-and-down grades between Wenatchee and Skykomish, there are probably scant traces left today of the mainline electrification, gone for nearly three and one-half decades, that once powered Great Northern trains. The story of how the Great Northern conquered this formidable barrier with catenary wire and electric locomotives dates to 1909 when a 2.67-mile tunnel and short, four-mile electrification reached the old summit at a snow-plagued elevation of 3385 feet above sea level. That operation was succeeded by the great engineering achievement of 1929 when the nearly eight-mile second tunnel was opened at a summit altitude 500 feet lower.
High-voltage electricity coming from afar in a slim trolley wire, thence to traction motors, made possible the doubling of freight train tonnage from a longtime normal of 2500 to an unprecedented 5000 tons, all moving smoothly over 2.2 percent grades with ease and efficiency. The story of how this came about, how the electrification was planned and built and how the special motor-generator type locomotives were constructed, is a major focus of this book.
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