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The General Electric steam turbine locomotives were two steam turbine locomotives built by General Electric (GE) for Union Pacific (UP) in 1938. The two units were streamlined, capable of producing , and reputedly able to attain speeds of . Stylistically, they resembled contemporary Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC) diesel designs, especially the UP's M-10003 through M-10006 trainsets. The two locomotives were delivered to UP in April 1939, and they completed test runs and participated in a variety of publicity events for the railroad, including the grand opening of the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, the world premier of Cecil B. DeMille's film ''Union Pacific'', and even an inspection by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. While the locomotives displayed excellent acceleration and an ability to maintain schedules better than conventional steam locomotives, they also demonstrated serious reliability problems and relatively high maintenance costs; they never entered regular revenue service. In June 1939, UP returned the locomotives to GE; by December 1941, the railroad had given up on the project. In 1941, the GE steam turbine locomotives were tested by the New York Central, and they were operated by the Great Northern in 1943 during the World War II "power crunch" before being retired from service later that year. Ultimately, they were scrapped before the end of World War II. == Background == Development of the General Electric steam turbine locomotives began in late 1936, when GE and UP began collaborating on an oil-powered steam turbine-electric design that they termed a "steam-electric locomotive".〔 To produce an altogether new type of locomotive, GE hoped to adopt mature steam turbine technology from maritime and stationary applications for railroad use. Early GE specifications detailed a streamlined shape, 2+C-C+2 wheel arrangement, and production of and of starting tractive effort.〔 While GE had initially hoped to deliver a prototype steam turbine locomotive to UP in 1937, none were completed until December 1938, which were then delivered for testing in spring 1939.〔 In total, the two prototype locomotives had taken almost two years to complete.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「GE steam turbine locomotives」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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