Elvas Tower: Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul #10305 EP-3 - Elvas Tower

Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul #10305 EP-3
Milw10305 BETA Version B.0
November 5th, 2007
Original model and Textures by Frank Musick.
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 soon to be known as Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific. Unlike the Union Pacific, who 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). 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 thier 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 Your, 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 help 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. This wasn't a completely satisfactory solution. They would be rebuilt several more times until their service life ended in the 1950's

This model of #10305 attempts to approximate the locomotives appearance after the Quills were shopped for structural issues and various other problems and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul reorganized as the Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul & Pacific. It's based on a photo taken in 1923.

Original File Name = Milw10305.zip