#2855
Great Northern W-1
🇺🇸 United States ·built by General Electric· from 1947· class of 2 American electric locomotives
what is it?
The W-1 was a class of electric locomotive used by the Great Northern Railway. They were constructed to haul trains on the 73-mile (117 km) electrified portion of the railroad across the Cascade Mountains from Wenatchee, Washington to Skykomish, Washington, including the Cascade Tunnel. Only two locomotives were built, and they had an AAR B-D+D-B wheel arrangements.
who runs it
base stats
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 79 years ago, in 1947.
- 3.7 MW is about 44 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 54 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 30.8 m long: about 7 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 9 years (1947–1956).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1947
- in service from
- 1947
- retired
- 1956
- status
- retired
- number built
- 2
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- General Electric
- operators
- Great Northern Railway
- top speed
- 105 km/h
- power
- 3.7 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- 11 kV, 25 Hz AC
- wheel arrangement
- 0-4-8-8-4-0OE
- length
- 30.8 m
- weight
- 327 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q1486102, Wikipedia: Great Northern W-1 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.