#1595

Illinois Terminal built 20 Class C electric interurban freight locomotives at its Decatur, Illinois, shops using trucks, traction motors, and control equipment from retired passenger cars as freight trains became heavier. Developed from the older Class B locomotive, this design was 52 feet 5 inches long and weighed 160,000 pounds. Its articulated four-truck arrangement used eight 75-horsepower traction motors that could produce 1,500 horsepower for short periods. The locomotive used two independent cast steel subframes, each 20 feet 7 inches long and 9 feet 2 1/2 inches wide, ballasted with scrap steel and concrete, giving it a (B-B)-(B-B) classification with two unconnected frames, each with two swiveling trucks and all axles powered. This made it flexible enough to handle 35-foot-radius street trackage curves while spreading out its weight and avoiding the need to replace light rail and existing bridges on the line. These locomotives could operate in multiple with each other and with Class B locomotives, ran on 600-volt DC power from an overhead wire by trolley poles, and carried sand in end columns bearing locomotive numbers so it could be dropped on the rails to improve traction. They were donated in 1956 by the Illinois Terminal Road.

Valley Park, Missouri · United States