Thursday, May 5, 2011

First Electric Locomotive in U. S. 1888

From the August, 1920 issue of SCIENCE AND INVENTION:




Click pic for bigger version. Here's a link to an even bigger version of the picture of the locomotive.

When this was published, the locomotive was only thirty-two years old; that's like reading an article today about the history of something built in 1979. In 1920, the locomotive itself was in the barns of the Connecticut Company, the primary electric line in the state of Connecticut. I wonder if it's preserved at the Shore Line Trolley Museum? Might be this: "Ansonia Derby & Birmingham 'Derby,' the oldest surviving electric locomotive and the only Van De Poele motor preserved."

Special thanks to magazine collector Steve Davis for spotting this article, and scanning it for this blog.

2 comments:

  1. The Derby is on permanent display in Brooklyn in the New York City Transit Museum. Just saw it there last month. Very cool!

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