GE three-power boxcab

The GE three-power boxcabs were early electro-diesel hybrid switcher locomotives. General Electric built the chassis and running gear, generator, motors and controls, and Ingersoll Rand provided the diesel engine. The principle of operation was similar to that of modern hybrid locomotives, the diesel engine driving a main generator of 600 volts DC, which provided charging current to a bank of batteries which powered four traction motors, one per axle. In addition to being powered by the diesel engine, most of these locomotives were capable of operating as electric locomotives.

Two of these locomotives were equipped to operate off of 3000 volt overhead lines, and 34 were capable of operating off of a 600 volt third rail.

These locomotives were equipped with a six-cylinder four-stroke in-line engine of 300 hp (224 kW). Thirty units were produced in 1930.

The prototype of these locomotives was New York Central 1525, produced along with a line of boxcab switcher locomotives,by a consortium of ALCO, GE and Ingersoll Rand, ALCO dropped out of the arrangement in 1928, after acquiring their own diesel engine manufacturer in McIntosh & Seymour and went on to start its own line of diesel switchers.

These boxcabs were often termed "oil-electrics" to avoid the use of the German name "Diesel", unpopular after World War I.

See also

ALCO boxcab, and GE boxcab, diesel-electric variants of these locomotives.

References

Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter’s Guide. Milwaukee, WI: Kalmbach Publishing Company. ISBN 0-89024-026-4. 

External links

• ALCo-GE-IR Boxcabs Page