ELECTRIC LOCOS.

Shannon News, 2 August 1927, Page 3

ELECTRIC LOCOS.

FOR CHRISTCHURCH-LYTTELTON LINE. The Railway Department has accepted the tender of Cory, Wright and Salmon, Wellington, for the supply of six electric locomotives for use on the electrified section of the Christchurch line. The locomotives will be built by the English Electric Company, at their Preston works. This company built the Otira electric locomotives, which are similar in appearance to those just ordered, but the new- locomotives will be materially different in other respects. Thev embody improvements as the result" of later electrical developments and, unlike the .Otira engines, which were designed for haulage on a heavy grade, will be built for high speed. The guarantee is that they will pull at forty miles per hour a full passenger train of 400 tons weight, which is equivalent to the heaviest through express running to Lyttelton. They will handle, good trains up to 600 tons. High acceleration is another feature needed in suburban short-run traffic, uid the whole weight of the locomotive is carried on the driving wheels. Power will De taken from overhead lines, 1500 volts direct current drawn from the Lake Coleridge supply. The camshaft method of control is stated to be “fool-proof.” The Railway Department Avill send in ’’electrical engineering representative to England to supervise the contract .