KG&E ELECTRIC
LOCOMOTIVE

Kansas Gas & Electric (KG&E) purchased this used electric locomotive in 1913. Built in 1910 by St. Louis Car Company, this 250-horsepower locomotive was used in Wichita to pick up loaded coal cars from, and deliver empty coal cars to, the Missouri Pacific railroad and switch cars at KG&E’s Wichita Generating Station located at 777 West Central Avenue. It also hauled freight cars loaded with bricks, oil and large electric transformers.

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Electricity generated at the plant provided power to the electrified interurban railroad operating between Wichita and Hutchinson via Newton – the Arkansas Valley Interurban Railway (AVI). AVI operated from 1910 to 1938.

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A cantilever pole atop the locomotive’s cab area connected with overhead electric lines to provide the locomotive with power for electric traction motors mounted in the wheel trucks. The concrete platform served as weight to help provide traction for moving freight cars. As built in 1910, the locomotive had control cabs at both ends. At some point in its long career, the locomotive was reconfigured with a centered control cab atop the concrete base, prompting some to say it looked like an outhouse mounted atop a concrete platform.

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The locomotive was retired in spring 1969 and donated to the museum. Referred to as a steeple-cab due to its configuration, this locomotive is a rare piece of railroad and industrial history.

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