Hanna
Iron Mining Company Electric Locomotive No. 307No.
307, constructed by General Electric in 1928, is typical of the many 60-ton
steeple- cab electric locomotives formerly used in mining and industrial
railroad operations. It is the last electric locomotive that operated on the
Mesabi Range. Built originally for use at Hanna’s Wabigon Mine at Buhl,
Minnesota, it later worked on the Mesabi Chief Washing Plant haulage line near
Keewatin. Electrical power was received by means of unusual offset type
pantographs which provided clearance necessary for shovel loading of trains in
the pits. When No. 307 reached the end of the line, a cord from its huge front
mounted disk, working like an extension cord, allowed the engine to travel
further into the mine. The locomotive was donated to the Museum by the Hanna
Mining Company in 1974.
Milwaukee
Road Electric Locomotive No. 10200No.
10200 was the first of 42 electric locomotives delivered by General Electric to
the Road beginning in 1915, the year it was built, when the Milwaukee
electrified operations across five mountain ranges in Montana, Idaho, and
Washington. Electrification of a railroad is very expensive to do because of the
need for poles, overhead wires, and power substations. The payback for the
Milwaukee Road was that they could pull longer and heavier trains over their
mountain divisions faster than the steam trains of the day could. The Milwaukee
Road operated 660 miles of electrified railroad in 2 divisions in Montana,
Idaho, and Washington, which was for many years the longest mainline electrified
railroad in the world. The locomotive received electricity through a pantograph,
which reached up and touched a wire above the tracks. Electricity came down from
the wire through transformers inside the engine and into motors by the wheels.
Probably the oldest operable locomotive in the United States when
electrification on the Milwaukee Road was discontinued in 1974, the 10200 was a
historic locomotive when it was new. At the time it was built, it was the most
powerful locomotive in the world, the first to use the then-high voltage of
3,000, and the first to use regenerative braking. In 1915, when the 10200
traveled to its new operating territory, more than 60,000 people came down to
stations along the way to look it over and wish it well. It was donated to the
Museum in 1977 by the Milwaukee Road.
No.
307, constructed by General Electric in 1928, is typical of the many 60-ton
steeple- cab electric locomotives formerly used in mining and industrial
railroad operations. It is the last electric locomotive that operated on the
Mesabi Range. Built originally for use at Hanna’s Wabigon Mine at Buhl,
Minnesota, it later worked on the Mesabi Chief Washing Plant haulage line near
Keewatin. Electrical power was received by means of unusual offset type
pantographs which provided clearance necessary for shovel loading of trains in
the pits. When No. 307 reached the end of the line, a cord from its huge front
mounted disk, working like an extension cord, allowed the engine to travel
further into the mine. The locomotive was donated to the Museum by the Hanna
Mining Company in 1974.
No.
10200 was the first of 42 electric locomotives delivered by General Electric to
the Road beginning in 1915, the year it was built, when the Milwaukee
electrified operations across five mountain ranges in Montana, Idaho, and
Washington. Electrification of a railroad is very expensive to do because of the
need for poles, overhead wires, and power substations. The payback for the
Milwaukee Road was that they could pull longer and heavier trains over their
mountain divisions faster than the steam trains of the day could. The Milwaukee
Road operated 660 miles of electrified railroad in 2 divisions in Montana,
Idaho, and Washington, which was for many years the longest mainline electrified
railroad in the world. The locomotive received electricity through a pantograph,
which reached up and touched a wire above the tracks. Electricity came down from
the wire through transformers inside the engine and into motors by the wheels.
Probably the oldest operable locomotive in the United States when
electrification on the Milwaukee Road was discontinued in 1974, the 10200 was a
historic locomotive when it was new. At the time it was built, it was the most
powerful locomotive in the world, the first to use the then-high voltage of
3,000, and the first to use regenerative braking. In 1915, when the 10200
traveled to its new operating territory, more than 60,000 people came down to
stations along the way to look it over and wish it well. It was donated to the
Museum in 1977 by the Milwaukee Road.