The Only Turbine SWITCHER, U.S. Army 1149

[TrainFreak409]

I am looking for information on the U.S. Army turbine switcher, #1149. I do have some information on it. It was built by Davenport in September of 1954. It used two Boeing 175 horsepower 502E turbines. It was used at Fort Eustis, Virginia unit its reduction gear failed in '57. It was then sold to Railroad Construction Co, in '59, then sold again to Mecklenburg Equipment Co in '64. I do have a picture of it, as it was on 11/11/72, still up for sale. It was of a 1-B-1 siderod configuration, and supplied 10,000 pounds of starting traction effort. I have all this information in an Extra 2200 South, the July August September 1975 issue. Could anyone spare some more info?

On my quest for turbine knowledge, I must know!

~[8]~ TrainFreak409 ~[8]~

[Anonymous]

We want pix! ;)

[TrainFreak409]

I'm not sure if I can, but I'll try to get the picture up, if the scanner will cooperate tomorrow.

~[8]~ TrainFreak409 ~[8]~

[ben10ben]

Here's Lionel's model, which looks something like it, I think

http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=41

[rrinker]

Wow, I remember seeing that in a copy of the 57 Lionel catalog I used to have somewhere, but it said nothing about it being a turbine, so I always figured it was one of those Lionel "sort of" models. Wow...
Before anyone asks, no, the catalog as already in pretty bad shape and I haven't seen a trace of it in over 20 years.

--Randy

[TrainFreak409]

Here's a pic off of another website.

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/usa1149.jpg

It is preserved at the St. Louis Transportation Museum.

~[8]~ TrainFreak409 ~[8]~

[cacole]

A friend of mine has one of those Lionel locomotives, and I always thought it was just something that Lionel had made up on their own. It looks too weird to have been a real engine. I never realized that there really was a prototype until I saw this thread.

[jkeaton]

Same here! Who ever thought of putting turbines to work in a switcher? I'd love to hear more about this oddity. Turbines, mechanical drive - what fuels would it run on?