MTH ELECTRIC TRAINS

The Virginian Railway opened for business on July 1, 1909 with one purpose: to move coal from its West Virginia mines to its Chesapeake Bay coal docks. When the nearby C&O and N&W railroads demanded exorbitant rates to haul their coal, mine owner Henry Huttleston Rogers and his business associates had simply built their own railroad. The mountains on its West End division were the Virginian's biggest challenge. Despite the use of massive articulated engines - including a 2-8-8-8-4 Triplex - average speed on the West End was 7 mph, and the railroad could haul only half the daily production capacity of its mines.

Electrification was the answer. In the early 1920s, wires were strung over 132 miles of main line from the mines to Roanoke, Virginia. Twelve EL-3A electrics arrived on the property in 1925. Built by Alco and Westinghouse, the three-unit, 7,125 hp engines were the most powerful locomotives in the world at that time. Nicknamed "square heads," the EL-3As had two constant speeds, 14 and 28 mph; trains hustling down a mountain were said to be "twenty-eighting" it. A motor at each end turned a jackshaft and side rods to power the drivers, and the up-and-down motion of the rods gave the engines a distinctive side-to-side rocking gait. The squareheads instantly doubled the freight capacity of the West End division and became a sterling example of successful electrification. They served for over three decades until the last EL-3As were replaced by newer electrics in 1959. New for 2007, these massive mountain machines join the Premier line, ready to haul the heaviest trains on your layout.