Since Thanksgiving is coming up, I thought it would be nice to place a train representing Wisconsin, where I was born. Surprisingly, there are only four electric trains built-in 1916 to 1919, Milwaukee Road class ES-2. They were of steeple cab design, with a single roof-mounted pantograph to access Milwaukee’s 3,000 V DC overhead line. This train has a weird parallel built and sadly has been scrapped, all four of them. “Despite their highly specialized niche on the Milwaukee Road, the ES-2s were well-liked by personnel. Engineers liked them due to their rapid throttle response, preferring them over diesels which were slower to transition and accelerate. Their simple nature made them easy to service, and the units seldom needed major attention. Few changes were made to them over the years, the most important of which was the addition of extra steel plates, which added weight and reduced wheel slip.” I did a project on this train years ago in my COMM 110 class, introduction to speeches. It sad to say its gone, “their age and the inadequate workmanship (motor armatures in particular tend to come apart) combined with the rough ride over the steadily deteriorating track have lead to numerous failures. Simply put, they are pretty well obsolete, and are slated for retirement shortly” It was fascinating and fascinating to learn about because it is such an interesting-looking train. I recommend looking at more pictures and searching for more videos about that rain. It is not easy to find the train since they were all scrapped and only four got built.
wow new knowledge for me..
thanks to this article
AG4D
It’s crazy that there were only four of these built!
It’s unfortunate that all 4 of this type of train has been scrapped. Do you think the fact that little modifications were made to this train over the years is the reason why they are scrapped now? If they would have been better maintained, do you think these trains would still be around?
I know these were used on the Milwaukee Road’s Pacific Extension to Seattle because they had trouble operating steam locomotives in the often harsh winter weather of Montana and Northern Idaho. It really surprises me that the railroad never closed the gap between the two electrified segments of the Pacific Extension. The electrification was dismantled in the early 1970s in a effort to save money, but this backfired as it was done just as the 1970s oil crisis took held.
Very interesting post!