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In 1942, Robert R. Young was chairman of the board of directors for the C&O. This was the same fellow who wondered why a freight car of pigs could ride from coast to coast in the same car on the railroad, but human passengers had to change trains at Chicago on the same route. He wanted to modernize the C&O after World War II with a luxury passenger train running between Washington and Cincinnati in the daytime. In keeping with this idea, in 1944, a group of engineers designed a steam locomotive with a steam powered turbine connected to electric generators to power electric motors connected to the driving wheel axles. This locomotive was pretty radical, all right, but not original. Baldwin Locomotive Works and Westinghouse Electric produced three steam turbine-electric engines for the C&O in 1947-1948 . They were coal fired and less complicated than the GE/UP locomotives. These locomotives were numbered 500-502, and were the world’s largest passenger locomotives, 154 ft. long (106 ft. locomotive and 48 ft. tender). These behemoths stood 16 ft. 4 in. high, and from front coupler to rear coupler, they measured almost 30 ft. longer than C&O’s massive H-8 Alleghenies and 23 ft. longer than Union Pacific’s Big Boy. The engine weighed 428 tons exceeding that of an H-8 by 43 tons (loco and tender weighed a whopping 594 tons) . Another notable feature was the only 4-8-0+4-8-4 (2-C1+2-C1-B ) wheel arrangement in the world. Only the first three axles on the eight wheel trucks were powered. The trailing truck was powered, but the leading truck and the one in between the big powered trucks were not powered. That four wheel truck supported the firebox. Each locomotive was powered by a 6,000 hp impulse type steam turbine with a 6:1 ratio gear reduction at 6,000 rpm. This was connected to two 2,000 KW electric generators to power eight axle-hung traction motors. The exhaust from the turbine was the boiler’s source of draft. The engines were nicknamed the Sacred Cows. These monsters were impressively painted in brilliant red-orange, aluminum, light gray and blue. They were classed as M-1. The first, No. 500, went on an extensive publicity tour in 1947, and the next year, it went to the Chicago Railroad Fair. In 1945, plans for the new streamlined train were progressing. It would complement the radically new locomotive. Forty-six stainless steel cars were ordered from the Budd Company. This train would be loaded with special features, such as a lounge in every car, a playroom for children, lockers for luggage, glass domes for better viewing, and movies for entertainment. The train would honor the trademark of the C&O—the Cheshire Cat. It was named the Chessie , of course. The whole train was far too opulent both inside and out to be called simply a streamliner, and hence, was dubbed a dreamliner. There were strikes at Baldwin, Pullman and Budd in 1947 that delayed the equipment, and testing the 500 was not going well. In February 1948 the B&O launched their own streamliner between Cinncinatti and Washington DC. That train stole the Chessie’s thunder, and also showed the C&O how miniscule the daytime Cinncinatti Washington passenger train market really was. In 1947, during test runs, the 500 had many service failures. Yet the main problem was the 500. With the streamlining removed. It looked like a pipefitters nightmare. There were many bugs in this long and complicated machine. The situation changed suddenly. Economic problems beset Robert Young and the C&O, the train was terminated and never turned a wheel in revenue service. About half of the Chessie cars were purchased by Amtrak, and the diners went to Auto-Train Corporation for its runs to Florida. The three Sacred Cows were used intermittently in mainline service, but the drive wheels under the tender had a tendency to slip as the coal was used and the weight decreased. They also were troubled by a poor draft, requiring excessive firing. No. 500 spent as much time in the shop as on the road. The engines could not meet the economy of the diesels. The patrons of coal had to surrender to fuel oil. According to C&O Power , by Alvin Staufer, all three C&O M-1s were sold for scrap in 1950. However, to put a rumor to rest, according to Mr. Jeff Trueman, director of marketing & public relations at the B&O Museum in Baltimore, No. 500 is NOT stored at the B&O Museum in Baltimore, Md. Some people have mistakenly thought the preserved C&O No. 490 is the M-1 Turbine. In fact, No. 490 is a 4-6-4 Hudson that was streamlined and painted in the same colors as the Sacred Cows. The 490 was used to pull the Newport News section of the Chessie. Like sister ships Nos. 501 and 502, No. 500’s long gone, but not forgotten.
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