Apparently, those traction motors must have been quite unreliable too. Or perhaps it was other parts of the traction power system - memory fails. At least that is what I remember my grandfather telling me back in 1959-1961 or there abouts - if memory serves. might have been a bit later though.

He had been giving me trade journals (Modern Railroads) to read, and I kept seeing ads touting Fairbanks-Morse's change-over to using GE electrical equipment. They were claiming that their reliability problems were thus solved. Even as a kid I was surprised at the apparent candor in publicly declaring that they had ever had reliability problems.

He replied that ever since the late twenties, Westinghouse Electric had increasingly become the bane of the railroad industry - cutting the design margins way too tightly, leading to frequent breakdowns. He also said that everybody in the industry knew it - except seemingly the likes of Fairbanks-Morse, Baldwin Locomotive Works, and the some others I don't remember; but that they had finally caught on and were switching electrical suppiers.

I seem to recall that it all came too late, and that there were still no takers. Thus no such engines were ever purchased. Don't know if any were actually built. The end of F-M locomotive business soon came - though F-M kept on in the non-railroad diesel engine business for some time. Too bad!


Since Grandpa had worked the electrical systems on Sacramento Northern's westinghouse equipped engines for many years, I presumed he knew what he was talking about. My own subsequent experience with westinghouse ship board electrical equipment while I was in the Navy was not far different. I also remember a common gag that he and other railroad electricians often pulled, often referring to the company as "We-Sting-Youse". I sometimes used that same gag in the Navy, when the equipment was screwing up.

Anyways, I've always had the impression that it was problems with westinghouse electric equipment that sank F-M, and Baldwin. An impression that was surely born out by the massive problems BART had with westinghouse equipment. Damn near sunk them too!

Problematic westinghouse electrical equipment required BART to do a complete rebuild of each car's traction power system themselves - with completely new motor and chopper re-designs. And don't forget the problems they had with the westinghouse signalling and train control systems. "We-Sting-Youse" indeed! You have no idea of how close BART came to a disastrous total failure to function. It was only the pure grit of BART's M&E division that overcame all that; preventing BART's total collapse in those early years.