Panama Canal
—1914 —
General Electric built this lock-towing locomotive as part of the original equipment for the Panama Canal, the first of a fleet that grew to over 100. Three locks at each end of the canal raised and lowered the ships 85 feet as they passed through it. The cable drum between the locomotive cabs holds 800 feet of one-inch steel hawser, used to control the movement of the ships, which does not use their own power. At first four of these "mules" were used per ship, one per side at each end. As ships grew larger up to 10 were needed. Pulling and braking power came from a toothed cog wheel and rack rail under the locomotive, similar to what was used on railroads climbing mountains like Colorado's Pikes Peak. The rack rail also allowed it to climb the 44-degree inclines between the lock chambers. No. 662 has dual electrical and mechanical controls, permitting operation from either end. The gearing for its two 75-horsepower traction motors gave it a top speed of 5 miles per hours, used for moving between towing jobs. A manual gear shift changed its speed to 2 miles per hour for rack-and-pinion operation while towing ships. Two 20-horsepower motors control the cable. One, producing 25,000 pounds of pull, is used to adjust the position of ships. The second runs at a faster speed to take up slack or to pay out or reel in the cable. Three-phase 220-volt/25-HertzHM Number | HM2G3W |
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Tags | |
Placed By | Museum of Transportation |
Marker Condition | No reports yet |
Date Added | Saturday, April 27th, 2019 at 8:02pm PDT -07:00 |
UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 15S E 720998 N 4272304 |
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Decimal Degrees | 38.57173333, -90.46321667 |
Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 38° 34.304', W 90° 27.793' |
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 38° 34' 18.24" N, 90° 27' 47.58" W |
Driving Directions | Google Maps |
Which side of the road? | Marker is on the right when traveling East |
Closest Postal Address | At or near , , |
Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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