Steeplecab

In railroad terminology, a steeplecab is a style or design of electric locomotive; the term is rarely if ever used for other forms of power. The name originated in North America and has been used in Britain as well as the alternative camelback.

A steeplecab design has a central (or nearly central) driving cab area which may include a full-height area in between for electrical equipment. On both ends, connected to the full-height cab areas, lower (usually sloping) "noses" contain other equipment, especially noisy equipment such as air compressors not desired within the cab area. When overhead lines are used for power transmission, the cab roof usually supports the equipment to collect the power (either by pantograph(s) bow collector(s) or trolley pole(s)), although on some early designs (such as the North Eastern Railways Electric number 1 -- later known as an "ES1") a bow collector might be mounted on one of the bonnets (or "nose hoods") instead.

The steeplecab style was developed in America, and in 1900 Thomson-Houston and General Electric designed and built a 650v DC 3rd rail locomotive of this type for use between Milan and Varese in Italy, becoming FS420.001 (in 1937 this engine was sold to the Cumana railway, Naples). In 1902, the British North Eastern Railway placed an order for two steeplecab locomotives of virtually identical design, the ES1 (although they had a dual collection system, using both 3rd rail and pantograph) . These were for the Tyneside Electrics system in North East England, where their job was to haul very heavy mineral trains relatively short distances but over a route that included gradients as steep as 1 in 27. These locomotives started work in 1905 and were only retired in 1964. The North Shore Railroad in California built a standard gauge, steeplecab locomotive in its own shops in 1902-1903 which was used until 1906 when it was apparently sold to the United Railroads of San Francisco.

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