The CB&Q was interested in self-propelled units from early times. I ran
across a letter in the Newberry Burlington Archives that concerned a Baldwin
steam dummy unit that the CB&Q inspected and evaluated for possible branchline
use..... in 1878 !!!!
While I did not come across any documentation that the CB&Q evaluated it, in
1897 there was a Chicago Tribune article about the Patton motor, that had a
gasoline motor powering a generator and traction motors through a bank of
storage batteries which could be used to provide additional power or without
the motor as desired. Basically, a Genset more than a century before its
time! There are records of the unit being tested on the CGW and a trolley
line out east using two of the cars instead of overhead powered units.
Charlie Vlk
We had a brief discussion back in August about the first (possibly first)
gasoline motor car. I've now found the following piece in an article (American
Engineer & Railroad Journal Sept. 1905 page 335) about motor cars, discussing
the different motive power options and costings of motor car operation.
"The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway has recently built a 225-h.p.
gasoline electric motor car designed to haul a trailer for carrying passengers,
the motor car itself being used for the power equipment, mail and baggage. A
test of this car was made recently, but as yet we have no figures on the actual
cost of operation."
Presuming this to be a reference to the same piece of equipment, it confirms
that this was railway equipment as opposed to a converted road vehicle.
Needless to say, if I find any published reports on the test, I'll let you know.
Rupert Gamlen
Auckland NZ
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