Electric railroad engineIn 1895, an electric engine for passenger trains began regular use on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, Maryland. This was already the first railroad in the U.S. to use an electric engine instead of a steam engine in regular service for freight trains (beginning 4 Aug 1894), which travelled on a route 3.6 miles through the Baltimore tunnel. It was also the first U.S. railroad where an electric locomotive made a trial round trip on 29 Apr 1851, on the Washington branch of the B&O Railroad, travelling five miles each way between Washington, DC and Bladensburg, Md. However, this earliest trial used galvanized storage batteries, which could not be practical for great distances. |
