Little Joe (electric locomotive)

Milwaukee Road EF-4/EP-4
A "Little Joe", preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum.
Type and origin Power type Electric Builder General Electric Serial number 29913–29932 Model 2-D+D-2 406/546 8-GE 750-3300V Total produced 20
Specifications Configuration: ​  • AAR 2-D+D-2  • UIC (2′D)+(D2′) Length 88 ft 10 in (27.08 m) Width 10 ft 7 in (3.23 m) Height 14 ft 5 in (4.39 m) Adhesive weight 406,000 lb (184,000 kg; 184 t) Loco weight 545,600 lb (247,500 kg; 247.5 t) Electric system(s) 3,000–3,300 V DC 1,500 V DC (South Shore) Current source Two pantographs Traction motors GE750 (8) Loco brake Air, 8-EL
Performance figures Maximum speed 68 mph (109 km/h) Power output One hour: 5,530 hp (4.12 MW) Continuous: 5,110 hp (3.81 MW) Tractive effort 75,700 lbf (337 kN)
Career Operators Milwaukee Road (12) South Shore (3) Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro (5) Numbers E20, E21, E70–E79 (Milwaukee) 801–803 (South Shore) 6451-6455 (Companhia Paulista) Nicknames Little Joe (Milwaukee) 800s (South Shore) Russa (Paulista) Disposition Five preserved, remainder scrapped.

The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) classes EF-4 and EP-4 comprised 12 electric locomotives built by General Electric as part of a larger 20-unit order for export to the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1946. The locomotives had twelve axles, eight of them powered, in a 2-D+D-2 arrangement. They were originally designed to operate on Soviet Railways (SZhD) 3,300 volt DC overhead line system.

GE built 20 locomotives of this type, but they were prohibited from delivering them to the Soviet Railways (SZhD) due to relations between the US and USSR deteriorating into what became known as the Cold War. Fourteen were built to the track gauge of 5 ft (1,524 mm) and the final six were built to 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge.

The Milwaukee Road had offered to buy all twenty, plus the spare parts inventory, for $1 million, little more than scrap value—an offer which GE accepted. However, the Milwaukee's Board of Directors would not release the money. After the start of the Korean War, the Milwaukee needed more locomotives on their electrified mainline, and was also beset by a coal strike which necessitated sending most diesels back East (Milwaukee Lines East steam engines still burned coal, unlike Lines West steamers which were oil-burning). The Board of Directors returned to GE only to discover that eight locomotives and all the spare parts had been sold, and that the price for the remaining twelve locomotives was $1 million. Of the eight sold, three had gone to the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad (the South Shore Line), and five to the Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro of Brazil.