After the Milwaukee discontinyed their electric oprations Iknow a couple of the Little Joes went to the South Shore in Chicago but were any of them saved and placed on display anywhere and were any boxcabs or bi polar motors saved Thanks Larry
One is at the Northeast, PA museum. It’s located east of Erie right along the CSX and NS mainlines. It may still be pained in Milwaukee livery.
Dale
When the Milwaukee Road shut down electric operations in 1974, one Little Joe was saved, and it is in Deer Lodge, MT. The CSS&SB had three Joes, which were never on the CMSP&P. Two of those were saved, one is at the Illinois RR Museum, and the other is in North East, PA, as Ohio Dale mentioned.
There is a CMSP&P Bipolar saved in St. Louis, and Boxcabs in Harlowton, MT, and Duluth, MN.
Thank You for the info CNW FOREVER
Thanks for the information on the one in North East. I remembered it being in orange paint and of course South Shore would have been orange.
Dale
The National Museum of Transportation, housing the only remaining prototype Milwaukee Road Bi-Polar, is located near the western/southwestern edge of metropolitan Saint Louis. The Museum is near a place called Barretts Station and is hard by the MoPac mainline that runs west to KCMO.
I’ve seen the engine painted in both the Union Pacific livery and the classic Milwaukee Road orange and maroon. Unfortunately it’s not under any kind of shelter, so it’s exposed to the weather elements daily. Every few years this old locomotive is in a dire need of a paint job.
When I first saw pictures of Bi-Polars as a kid, I thought their dimensions were on a par with those of the R.M.S. Titanic. Surprisingly, they’re not as large as one might expect. And another surprising truth is this: the Erie Lackawanna SDP45 on display there could develop more horsepower than the electric. Still, the Bi-Polars were awesome machines! God bless The Milwaukee Road for having them!
If someone ever asks, “Did the Pennsylvania Railroad ever have any Challengers?” the answer would be yes. The “Mighty Penn” did have a whole fleet of locomotives with the Challenger wheel arrangement, i.e., 4-6-6-4, but the PRR called them “GG1”!
Likewise we could also point out that the Union Pacific wasn’t the only railroad to have “Big Boys,” which is to say locomotives with a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement. Both the South Shore and the late, great Milwaukee Road had them as well, but their’s were made by the General Electric Company. Yes, the “Little Joes” have the same wheel arrangement as their ALCO sisters.
If I remember correctly, the Little Joe that’s preserved by Milwaukee Road is the first one built of the locomotives and originally number 750… I could be wrong though. [:-^][(-D]
Excellent points, Bob. Growing up as I did less than a mile up Barrett Station from the MOT, I got to know the exhibits there VERY well, indeed. Milwaukee Bi-Polar #E2 always fascinated me as a kid - like yourself, I thought it was HUGE at first sight. That, and it’s “centipede” running gear always made me wish I could have seen one operate.
One thing I must point out, however. While it’s true that the EL SDP45 is far more powerful than the #E2, keep in mind that the Bi-Polar dates from 1919, when 2000 or more horsepower from ANY type of locomotive was considered