Before
diesel engines
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-calle ...
had been developed for locomotive power in the 1920s and 1930s, many companies chose to use the
gasoline engine
A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ''E ...
for rail motive power. The first GE Locomotive was a series of four-axle (
B-B)
boxcab gasoline-electric machines closely related to the
"doodlebugs", self-propelled passenger cars built in the early Twentieth Century.
One of their first major customers was the
Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester & Dubuque Electric Traction Company, better known as the
Dan Patch Electric Lines after the owner's prize horse of the same name. Founded on the principle of not using steam power if they could avoid it, they asked GE to make them a series of locomotives with
internal combustion-electric drive, rather than the mechanical drive systems that were proving unsatisfactory for rail propulsion. GE complied, and created a number of locomotives originally claimed to be the first engines using an engine to drive a generator for traction motors. However, historians later determined that a
narrow-gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...
diesel-electric locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conv ...
had been built in 1912.
Matching the power of the prime mover with the traction motors was a complicated task for operators of early gasoline-electric systems, which if mismanaged could result in system damage. General Electric's early experiments with gasoline-electric drive led them to develop control systems to simplify the task and increase efficiency in subsequent years, leading to the more widespread adoption of gasoline and Diesel powered electric drive systems in the 1920s.
As-built specifications for No. 100
*Serial Number: 3763
*Build Date: June 1913
*Engines (2): GM-16C4
V-8
*Motors (4): GE 205 D
*Dimensions:
**Weight:
**Overall length:
**Cab length:
**Width:
**Height:
*Starting tractive effort:
*Rated top speed:
**Actual top speed: light, with a 5-car train
Survivors
No. 100 still survives. After the Dan Patch Line went into bankruptcy, its sisters went to a California traction company while 100 was sold first to the Central Warehouse Company of
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...
, in 1917, who converted it to a simple electric locomotive. It was then sold to the
Minneapolis, Anoka and Cuyuna Range Railroad
The Great Northern Railway was an American Class I railroad. Running from Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington, it was the creation of 19th-century railroad entrepreneur James J. Hill and was developed from the Saint Paul & Pacific ...
(MA&CR) in 1922 for $12,000. The MA&CR owned the locomotive until that railroad was bought by the
Great Northern Railway in 1966. In the meantime, the MA&CR had removed its trolley wire and converted 100 to a diesel-electric system, using a
Waukesha diesel engine.
In 1967, the Great Northern donated Dan Patch #100 to the
Minnesota Transportation Museum
The Minnesota Transportation Museum (MTM, reporting mark MNTX) is a transportation museum in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States.
MTM operates several heritage transportation sites in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin. The museum is actively involv ...
of St. Paul, MN. It is currently on display at their Jackson Street Roundhouse in St. Paul.
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ge 57-Ton Gas-Electric Boxcab
57-ton gas-electric boxcabr
B-B locomotives
Diesel locomotives of the United States
Railway locomotives introduced in 1913
Standard gauge locomotives of the United States
Petrol locomotives