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Electric freight locomotives

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  • Member since
    June 2005
  • 68 posts
Posted by elauterbach on Tuesday, May 26, 2020 4:47 PM

There are a few others out there depending on your time period. The GG1 did pull freight and so did the P5a. BLI makes the P5a and BLI among a number of others make the GG1. MTH made a Little Joe but it only pulls about a few cars and is one of the weakest pullers.

Eric 

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Tuesday, May 26, 2020 4:13 PM

I don't have a clear photo of my E-33s but I think they make a nice looking (I like the E44 better but there isn't a decent model of one other than brass) freight motor.

 IMG_5577_fix by Edmund, on Flickr

The E-33 was built as EL-Cs for the electrified Virginian, went briefly to the N&W then sold to Penn Central.

Alternately, there's the Amtrak Swedish Meatball AEM-7 which you could, concievably, regear for freight.

 AEM_911-901_2k by Edmund, on Flickr

At least the E-33 and AEM-7 models can be found fairly reasonably from Bachmann and Atlas respectively.

Other ideas:

GE made a few varieties of electric locomotives, one comes to mind was for the Muskingam Electric Railroad E-50C:

https://www.railpictures.net/photo/705492/


 

 EMD was in the game then, too:

 EMD GM6C by Dave Witty, on Flickr

The EMD GF6C built for BC Rail also come to mind as a fairly modern electric freight hauler:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMD_GF6C

Good Luck, Ed

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,669 posts
Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, May 26, 2020 2:59 PM

The immediate question is whether the electrification dates from a particular era; the secondary one is whether you want to stick with historical prototype.  I'm presuming this is heavy mainline service, not converted interurban-motor or tunnel type power (both of which would be options for you of course)

Personally I have no hesitation at all in telling you what to do: dust off the Conrail 'dual-mode lite' plans and modify some contemporary freight units with the switchgear, rectifier detail and pans.  Most sensible options would be overhead wire based, ranging from rudimentary structure for initial helper districts  (where the diesel constant hp is being boosted, so the whole of the horsepower doesn't have to come off the wire) or for urban use where the prime mover might be idled or off for air-quality or safety reasons, right up to high-speed 'European' constant-tension.

The use of this system to produce rectified DC to the link bus of an AC-motor unit is obvious, and it is the obvious choice for a 'new' electrification effort (with constant-tension cat).  A good excuse for running SD90s, I think, as their extra length easily accommodates the 'stuff' needed and at one time your road could have picked them up for about $100,000 apiece needing only some frame welding to be good locomotives...

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Tuesday, May 26, 2020 2:33 PM

I think I would try to "Americanize" a modern European electric locomotive for this project.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    May 2020
  • 8 posts
Electric freight locomotives
Posted by Railking42 on Saturday, May 23, 2020 8:17 PM

I've been planning to make a freelance rail line called the Lake Superior and Eastern, a fictional Class 1 line starting from Duluth and heading through Chicago and into my fictional city (The railroad's main hub) and branching out onto many different lines, with some of them being shared trackage with other railroads. But since i've always liked electric locomotives, I want to incorporate electrification into my system. Since the USA never really adopted electrification like in Europe and Asia, they never really produced many electric locomotives, let alone electric freight locomotives. The E60s are an obvious choice, but are there any more electrics that would add a little more variety to my railroad's electric roster. My layout is set in the modern day if that helps at all.

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