Great Northern W-1

The Great Northern W-1 was the largest electric locomotive to run in North America, their wheel arrangement being (at first glance) a 4-8-8-4 or B-D+D-B; the only other locomotive to share this arrangement were the Union Pacific's 4000 Class "Big Boys". Only two were built by the General Electric Corporation's Erie workshops in 1947, numbered 5018 and 5019. The W-1's had a short career, however, as the operation of electric locomotives became a costly burden, so they were withdrawn in 1956 along with all electric-hauled services. As the wires were taken down, the mammoth electrics were sold for scrap three years later. 5019 was cut up, but 5018 was sold to the Union Pacific Railroad and modified into an experimental coal-burning Gas Turbine Electric Locomotive (GTEL), No. 80. This was declared a failure and the locomotive was cut up for scrap. Neither of the W1's, nor any of the GN's electric locomotives, survived into preservation.
Category:Electric locomotives
Category:GE locomotives
Category:Great Northern (US) locomotives
Category:Passenger locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:Built in 1947
Category:B-D+D-B locomotives
Category:Scrapped locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Articulated locomotives
Category:Scrapped electric locomotives