P&W eco-430/50-eb #1508 as delivered

By 2024, the Providence & Worcester finished their electrification, putting the entire railroad under wire except for the section around Norwich that had restricted clearance due to the Taft & Laurel Hill tunnels.

The railroad didn’t want to maintain a diesel shop for two diesels (dual-power DP2s), so went shopping for a dual power battery & electric locomotive, and ended buying a pair from ILW. The eco-430/50-eb locomotives they got were a variant on the eco-435/50-e locomotives that the Parsons Vale system had been buying to run on light-traffic lines that were partially electrified. (The variation replaced the QSK78’s with two traction battery banks and put the charging electronics into the bay that held the radiators on the stock electro-diesels.)

Both units are, not surprisingly, in service.

  • Copyright © 2024 by Jessica L. Parsons (orc@pell.portland.or.us) unless otherwise noted
    Wed Nov 29 21:10:45 PST 2023