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Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul #10300 EP-3 by Guest
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Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul #10300 EP-3
Milw10300 ALPHA Version A.0
January 3rd, 2008
Original model and Textures by Frank Musick with select bits and pieces by Tim Muir
Temporary Physics created by Chuck Zeiler for Tim Muir's Milwaukee Boxcabs

SOME HISTORY:
Way back when, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul was missing the word Pacific. The road hadn't gotten there yet and to reach the Pacific coast meant crossing four mountain ranges. Thus began the Rocky Mountain Division of the railroad soon to be known as the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific. Unlike the Union Pacific, which crossed the Continental Divide in 1869, the Milwaukee didn't reach the West coast until 1909. The first through passenger service reached Seattle and Tacoma in the spring of 1911. It was tough going even after the line was completed. Many of the grades were steep and the curves were tight. The west slope of the Belt Mountains alone required 49 miles to climb a grade of 1 percent. Westbound from Beverly to Boylston was a 19 mile 2.2 percent ascent. The grades and curves and extreme winters took a toll on the steam engines of the era. The smoke and cinders caused problems in the 45 tunnels along the route, especially in the St Paul and Snoqualmie passes (8,771 and 11,880 feet respectively). To overcome these problems the route was electrified in two sections. 438 miles of wire was strung between Harlowton, Montana and Avery, Idaho beginning in April, 1914. Another 207 miles of catenary between Othello and Tacoma, Washington was authorized in January 1917. The first train pulled by electric locomotive ran the 112 miles from Three Forks to Deer Lodge on November 30th, 1915.

In 1919 the Milwaukee Road tried to purchase 15 more locomotives for service on the electrified divisions from General Electric. At the time the United States Railroad Administration had taken control of all railroads in the States. The USRA decided the order should be split between GE and Westinghouse. Both companies worked from the same specifications. General Electric produced five 3,180 HP units classed as EP-2. Westinghouse was given the order for the remaining 10. They produced their share as 2-C-1+1-C-2 boxcabs, capable of 3,396 continuous horsepower and classed as EP-3. GE opted for an entirely gearless design using 12 axle mounted armatures, known as "bi-polar". Westinghouse chose to transmit power from the 6 frame mounted motors to the drivers through a geared axle tube, or "quill". The drivers were actually turned by coil springs mounted on a seven armed "spider" that was attached to the quill. The locomotive was built by Baldwin with all electrical components coming from Westinghouse.

The "Quills" entered service on the Rocky Mountain Division in 1919. They turned out to be quite capable of meeting design specifications, pulling 12 car trains at 70-80 miles per hour over the the torturous mountain grades. They had some traction advantages over their predecessors and rode smoother than the "bi-polars". Unfortunately they had some major shortcomings. Westinghouse had followed a design used successfully for the New Youk, New Haven & Hartford. That railroads EP-2 class locomotive, however, was built for far a less demanding service. Within a year the heavier Quills were shopped for broken axles, wheels, and frame members. To resolve these problems, Baldwin Locomotive Works suggested breaking each Quill into a pair of permanently coupled 2-C-1 (4-6-2) locomotives. Only one locomotive recieved this modification, #10301. It didn't resolve any of the issues and the engine was eventually rebuilt once again as a single locomotive.

All of the Quills were rebuilt for single end operation with stronger steel frames and better lead trucks in 1921-1922. Some of the problems were never fully resolved and the entire set would recieve modifications several more times throughout their service life. They were, however, excluded from the general overhaul of the late 1940's that kept the rest of electric roster running into the 1970's

The roster of EP-3 class locomotives...
1918 No.1939 No. Baldwin SN Built Comment
10300 E10 51000 Dec 1918 Scrapped May, 1955
10301 E11 51844 Jun 1919 Scrapped Apr 1957
10302 E12 51845 Jun 1919 Scrapped May 1954
10303 52111 Aug 1919 Wrecked Jan 1933 *
10304 E13 52170 Aug 1919 Wrecked Jul 1947
10305 E14 52215 Aug 1919 Scrapped Sep 1952
10306 E15 52239 Aug 1919 Scrapped May 1955
10307 E16 52302 Sep 1919 Scrapped May 1955
10308 E17 52347 Sep 1919 Wrecked Dec 1950 **
10309 E18 52362 Sep 1919 Scrapped Apr 1957
*There is some indication that the number E19 was allocated for Quill 10303. This is entirely possible, as the wreck wasn't scrapped until 1942. Since the renumbering occured in 1939, the Milwaukee may have had plans to rebuild 10303 at the time.
** I marked E17 as wrecked. According to the information available to me three Quills were destroyed in accidents before the rebuilding program of the late 1940's. E17 was scrapped in 1950 and was thus the only EP-3 that fit the time frame.

This model of #10300 attempts to approximate the locomotives appearance as built by Baldwin Locomotive Works and Westinghouse. It's based on the builders photo taken in 1918.

Original File Name = Milw10300.zip

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