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Title: Tubas and a Bipolar Locomotive
Source:
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
URL Source: http://blog.seattlepi.com/wetrails/archives/220540.asp
Published: Nov 24, 2010
Author: spi reader blogs(?)
Post Date: 2010-11-24 21:14:48 by Dakmar
Keywords: None
Views: 46
Sometimes the the archives give up some amazing items. Recently the University of Washington Digital Collection shared this photo by adding it to my Flickr Group King County Creative Commons. The picture - with no known copyrights and taken by an unknown photographer - shows a group of Tuba players from Seattle's Franklin High School standing at the nose of locomotive on Snoqualmie Pass in 1938. While the purpose of this photo is lost to the ages, the class assignment seems to have tubas mimicking a loud train horn. Catchy! While locomotives do have loud horns, it is interesting to note that the picture was taken with possibly the most silent railroad locomotive ever made. To conquer the Cascade Mountain Range, the Milwaukee Road used General Electric Class EP-2 bi-directional locomotives. The "bipolar" nickname did not come from its capability to be used in two directions; it came from having axles that were integrated parts of the electric motors. I'm told this was an advanced design for its day. With no gears between motor and drive wheel, the design made these monsters nearly silent - so much in fact that they could be dangerous to anyone near the tracks and not paying attention. There is a timeless message that transcends decades: "Always expect a train." The same issue has arisen on the streets of America, as electric hybrid cars are sometimes too quiet around pedestrians. The Bipolars were operational from 1919 to 1960 - mostly in passenger service. They spent a bulk of their careers running between Othello and Seattle over Snoqualmie Pass, the only stretch of the Milwaukee Road in Washington that had overhead wires for electric operations. The wires remained until the early 1970s, long after the the Bipolars were gone. By 1957 time was catching up with the EP-2 Class, brought on by shoddy electrical repairs on all units during a massive refit around 1950. Every Bipolar - except one - were scrapped by 1962, and the surviving unit has been on static display in Missouri's Museum of Transportation ever since. And what of the tubas in the first picture? Knowing how long school districts use their equipment, chances are they are still booming like a train horn to this day. Poster Comment: Happy easter everyone!
GE Bipolar
Leaving Seattle's Union Station, ca.1925
Tubas and Bipolar Photo - Courtesy of University of Washington Digital Collections
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