The History of the Electric Locomotive
The early development of electrification was entirely different from that of steam railways.
While the invention of the steam engine coincided with a general world industrialization, the first electric locomotives were either the output of firms producing electrical machinery who were seeking new markets, or produced specifically for lines on which steam traction was impractical, such as on mountain lines, underground railways or in urban transport. It was only after considerable hostility that the electric locomotive came to be considered as a viable alternative to steam, but the first electrifications were still limited to a small scale, and it took a world war, with its resulting coal shortages, to convince many countries that it was indeed cleaner and cheaper than its steam counterpart.
This most comprehensive book describes the development of the electric locomotive from the late nineteenth century, and then details the attempts to use electrification where steam traction had become obsolescent. From the start of the twentieth century onwards, the ever-growing competition of other transport has finally persuaded the railways that electrification of their main lines, and total electrification in smaller countries, would modernize the railways and make them successful competitors with air and road. The book concludes with a review of the technical components of an electric locomotive and a world-wide catalogue of electrification schemes.
Mr. Haut, who was for ten years assistant to the editor of The Locomotive, has been interested in railways from childhood, and is now a consulting engineer and the managing director of an engineering business. His unique work will prove fascinating to all ferologists, and an unrivalled source of reference.
Hardback with dust jacket, 22x29cm, 148 pages, black & white photographs
Condition: Good with some age-related discolouration to edge of book
ISBN: 9780043850428
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Updated: 7 April 2025