up6943
Muskingum Electric Railroad #200
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Tommy posted a Dave McKay shot and it caused me to reflect back to one of the first trips I took with my friend Dave McKay.
I was still in college at Case Institute of Technology when Dave and I took a trip to the Muskingum Electric Railroad. The MERR was the first automated railroad in the United States and normally run without a crew. As luck would have it, they were doing trackwork and running the locomotive manually. Dave talked the crew into a cab ride and we rode the entire line from the loader to the dumper.
From Wikipedia: The Muskingum Electric Railroad was a private coal-carrying railroad owned by American Electric Power, and started operation in 1968. MERR shuttled coal in two trains from the mine to a powerplant at Relief, Ohio a distance of 20 miles. The trains were driverless and powered by automated General Electric E50C's.The coal was harvested by the largest dragline ever to be built, "Big Muskie".
Also from Wikipedia: Big Muskie is a giant electric-powered Bucyrus-Erie dragline owned by the Central Ohio Coal Company, a division of American Electric Power. Taking three years to build, she started her career in 1969 removing overburden from coal formations. The Big Muskie is a model 4250-W Bucyrus-Erie dragline (the only one ever built). With a 220 cubic yard bucket, she is the largest single-bucket digging machine ever created.
Muskingum Electric Railroad #200
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Tommy posted a Dave McKay shot and it caused me to reflect back to one of the first trips I took with my friend Dave McKay.
I was still in college at Case Institute of Technology when Dave and I took a trip to the Muskingum Electric Railroad. The MERR was the first automated railroad in the United States and normally run without a crew. As luck would have it, they were doing trackwork and running the locomotive manually. Dave talked the crew into a cab ride and we rode the entire line from the loader to the dumper.
From Wikipedia: The Muskingum Electric Railroad was a private coal-carrying railroad owned by American Electric Power, and started operation in 1968. MERR shuttled coal in two trains from the mine to a powerplant at Relief, Ohio a distance of 20 miles. The trains were driverless and powered by automated General Electric E50C's.The coal was harvested by the largest dragline ever to be built, "Big Muskie".
Also from Wikipedia: Big Muskie is a giant electric-powered Bucyrus-Erie dragline owned by the Central Ohio Coal Company, a division of American Electric Power. Taking three years to build, she started her career in 1969 removing overburden from coal formations. The Big Muskie is a model 4250-W Bucyrus-Erie dragline (the only one ever built). With a 220 cubic yard bucket, she is the largest single-bucket digging machine ever created.