Battery-Powered EMUs in 1923

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

I was thumbing through Ron Ziel’s book The Long Island Railroad in Early Photographs when I came across a photo of battery-powered EMUs running on the West Hempstead Branch. They were equiped with pickup shoes and could run of either their batteries or the third rail. The photo is dated 1923.

If B-EMUs could be built and used in regular service with 1920’s technology than why not today with modern NIMH or LI-ION batteries?

Also the book provides a facinating look ata bygone era in railroading; its ISBN number is: 0-468-26301-0

2

One should keep in mind that the Green Goat switchers were based on existing lead-acid battery technology. I’m not sure that the battery types mentioned above have been manufactured to power equipment with a greater current draw than a laptop computer.

3

Actually, NIMH batteries powered the second-generation of GM’s EV1 and LI-IONs are used in the Tesla Roadster.