This is the story of Old Maude, the New York Central Railroad's pioneering high-speed electric locomotive. More than a description of a locomotive, it's the story of an engineering feat brought on ahead of its time in the early 1900s by the need for safety in the smoky tunnel leading into New York City's major train station, the original Grand Central Station.

Clearly electric powered locomotives were seen as the way of the future, even before a tragic event forced the conversion of steam to electricity for trains operating in New York's Manhattan Island. The difficulty was that many variables in the design of electric railways were the subjects of heated discussion among the leading electrical engineers of the time, including Frank J. Sprague and George Westinghouse. The key questions involved the choices of alternating current vs. direct current and all that implied about transmission and distribution of power as well as the final form of the locomotive.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had already demonstrated the enormous pulling power of small electric locomotives in its Howard Street Terminal electrification in Baltimore, but no one had yet designed a high-speed electric locomotive for mainline operation.

The choice of direct current for the system by consulting engineer Sprague was countered by the New Haven Railroad's choice of alternating current for its line outside the confines of New York. The New Haven operated over the Central's New York tracks leading into Grand Central, thus the New Haven had little say on the matter.

More controversial was General Electric design engineer Asa F. Batchelder's selection of the previously tried and failed gearless drive for Old Maude, the project's prototype locomotive.

The design of the entire Grand Central Terminal project, including the new terminal design conceived and guided by the Central's Vice-President and Chief Engineer William J. Wilgus, the system electrification, and the locomotive design has been validated by its long-running success. Grand Central remains today as an important rail center and the electrification remains virtually intact and unchanged since it reached completion in the early 1900s. Old Maude and her 46 siblings continued to provide trouble-free economical service for many years. The last to leave service was number 115, which was retired in 1981.

This article is divided into eight parts:
1. Preface
2. Observations of a young boy
3. Grand Central electrification
4. A bold new locomotive
5. A fatal accident
6. Years of grace
7. Now you know
8. Notes

This article was originally written in 1992 for Electric Lines magazine. It was completed just as the magazine ceased publication. I've made a few trivial adjustments since then to account for the time gap since I first wrote the article. I've also added a few amplifying sidebars in recognition of the potentially wider audience the Internet affords as compared to the rail enthusiast focus of Electric Lines, but I have not updated any of the research.

Alfred Barten, 1 June 2001.