#2900
Virginian EL-2B
🇺🇸 United States ·built by General Electric· from 1948· class of 4 American electric locomotives
what is it?
The Virginian Railway's class EL-2B comprised four two-unit electric locomotives with AAR (B+B-B+B)+(B+B-B+B) wheel arrangements. The locomotives were used on the 133-mile (214 km) electrified portion of the railroad, from Roanoke, Virginia to Mullens, West Virginia. These large motor–generator locomotives weighed 1,033,832 pounds (468.938 t), were 150 feet 8 inches (45.92 m) long, and were capable of producing 6,800 horsepower (5.1 MW).
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 78 years ago, in 1948.
- 5.1 MW is about 60 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 78 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 45.7 m long: about 10 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 11 years (1948–1959).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1948
- in service from
- 1948
- retired
- 1959
- status
- retired
- number built
- 4
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- General Electric
- operators
- Virginian Railway
- top speed
- 80 km/h
- power
- 5.1 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- 11 kV, 25 Hz AC
- wheel arrangement
- (4-4-4-4)+(4-4-4-4)
- length
- 45.7 m
- weight
- 469 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7906905, Wikipedia: Virginian EL-2B (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.