GE steam turbine locomotives

what is it?

The General Electric steam turbine locomotives were two steam turbine locomotives built by General Electric (GE) for Union Pacific (UP) in 1938. The two units were streamlined, 90 feet 10 inches (27.69 m) in length, capable of producing 2,500 horsepower (1,900 kW), and reputedly able to attain speeds of 125 miles per hour (201 km/h). Stylistically, they resembled UP's Pullman-designed M-10003 through M-10006 power units and contemporary Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC) diesel designs.

who runs it

Union Pacific RailroadNew York Central RailroadGNGreat Northern Railway

base stats

• speed 201 km/htop speed
• power 1.9 MWpower output
• weight 249 tin working order
• built 2made in total

Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.

fun facts

• 🎂First built 88 years ago, in 1938.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• ⏱️At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 12 minutes.
• 🚗1.9 MW is about 22 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
• 🐘Weighs about as much as 41 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 📏27.4 m long: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
• ⌛Served for 4 years (1939–1943).

steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.

spec sheet

built

1938

in service from

1939

retired

1943

status

retired

number built

2

kind

Steam turbine

traction

steam

origin

🇺🇸 United States

builders

General Electric

designer

General Electric

operators

Union Pacific Railroad, New York Central Railroad, Great Northern Railway

top speed

201 km/h

power

1.9 MW

gauge

1,435 mm standard gauge

wheel arrangement

4-6-0+0-6-4T

length

27.4 m

weight

249 t

From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.