East Troy Electric Railroad Museum

New Motive Power for the East Troy Electric Railroad An article from the Spring 1997 Wisconsin Trolley Gazette
Text and Photo by Scott Patrick

The month of April, 1997 saw the arrival of two new electric locomotives on the East Troy Railroad property. TE-1, a 60-ton GE steeple cab, arrived on Saturday, April 5th, and S-105, a 50-ton Baldwin-Westinghouse locomotive, arrived on Wednesday, April 9th. Both locomotives came from Toledo Edison Company's Acme Power Plant in Toledo, Ohio.

Toledo-Edison Locomotive #1

TE-1 was the only locomotive built specifically for TE's Acme Power Plant. It was built by General Electric's Erie (Pa.) plant in November of 1923. The locomotive has a higher weight and horsepower rating than East Troy Railroad L9 (TMER&T, 1944). This will probably make it the railroad's primary freight locomotive once it is thoroughly inspected and restored.

Like the museum's Milwaukee Electric locomotives L8 and L9 (from the Port Washington and Lakeside power plants), TE- I was used to switch coal and ash cars in and around its home power plant. The locomotive was in active service until just a few years ago and thanks to the diligent record-keeping of Acme employees, it comes complete with its original paperwork and manuals.

The second locomotive to arrive was the former Northwestern Elevated Railroad Company (later Chicago Transit Authority) S-105. Built in 1920 at Baldwin's Philadelphia plant, this locomotive spent its lifetime hauling freight cars for customers located along Chicago's north side rapid transit lines.

Both it and sister locomotive S-104 were sold and moved to the Acme plant in the early 1980s, but only the S-104 remained in active service. The S-105 was designated "parts locomotive" and was used to help keep the S-104 running. Future plans for the S-105 are not yet set; it could be restored or traded. (S-104 was sold to the RAIL Foundation in Michigan City, Indiana, where its future is unknown at this time.)

TE-1 has been renumbered to METW 457 as a result of its identical nature to North Shore Line 457 and is undergoing heavy restoration in the East Troy Shop.  It is planned that the refurbished 457 will become the East Troy Railroad's front-line freight locomotive.