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The Milwaukee Road E-70 ‘Little Joe’
By admin | March 21, 2009
Class EF-4 Electric Locomotive
This year marks the 100th Anniversary of the driving of the Milwaukee Railroad’s ‘Last Spike’. A celebration will be held at the Old Montana Prison Museum on June 19th (details to follow). In the meantime you can read about our very own piece of Milwaukee Railroad history, the last surviving Class EF-4 Electric Locomotive E-70 ‘Little Joe’. This engine can be seen on static display in our Parking Lot to the south of the Museum buildings.
CLASS EF-4 3,000 VOLT DC ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE
A brief history of The Milwaukee Road #E-70
The E-70 on display at Deer Lodge, Montana is a proud symbol of the Electric era on The Milwaukee Road. “Little Joe” E-70 served on The Milwaukee Road for more than a quarter century. It was built by General Electric in late 1947/48 as one of twenty electric locomotives originally intended for the Soviet Union’s Trans-Siberian Railway. The beginning of the Cold War and the breakdown in East-West relations prevented the locomotives from being delivered to Russia. With this situation, General Electric had to find other buyers.
The best potential customer for the motors, which had earned the nickname- “Little Joes”-a reference to the Soviet leader Josef Stalin, was The Milwaukee Road. The railroad was able to purchase twelve of these units at bargain prices. This permitted the Milwaukee to update its electrified operations without cutting into the acquisition of diesel engines.
E-70 was the first “Little Joe” to operate on The Milwaukee Road. General Electric converted the unit from 5 foot wide Russian gauge to American Standard gauge of 4 foot 8 1/2 inches. It was then delivered to Harlowton, Montana in December, 1948 for a 4 month trial. During this period the engine wore G.E. colors of dark green with white stripe and the number GE-750.
All twelve “Little Joes” were assigned to the Rocky Mountain Division Headquartered at Deer Lodge, Montana, and were painted in the Milwaukee Road’s then standard colors of Orange, Black, and Maroon. Two units were equipped with train heating boilers for use in passenger service. The other Joes, including the E-70, were used exclusively in freight service.
The Locomotives did yeoman service for the Milwaukee from 1950-1974. Electric operations were discontinued on June 16, 1974, and the system was scrapped in favor of an all diesel operation. The E-70 was painted, donated to the city of Deer Lodge in 1975, and placed on display near the County Courthouse.
Due to 20 years of deterioration at that site, a restoration plan was initiated. Project E-70 started out as an idea of several ex-employees in 1984 but did not get much attention, and only about $300 was raised. The Historical group “MILWEST” entered the project in 1992. Working with Powell County Museum and Arts Foundation over $60,000 was raised to move and paint the locomotive. It was moved to it’s present location in October 1993, thanks to a Grant obtained through the U.S. Forest Service. Painting was done by J & S Painting Service of Deer Lodge, with details being applied by Milwest members during several volunteer work sessions in 1994.
E-70 HAS NOW BEEN RESTORED FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS TO SEE AND ENJOY!
You can read more about the E-70 on the Powell County Chamber of Commerce website (follow this link)
Click on the picture above for a larger version
A range of collectible Railroad souvenirs are available from our online store. All proceeds from gift shop sales help support the Museum.
Topics: Deer Lodge, Museum News | No Comments »
