N&W in 1904 -- Motors

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WILL PROVIDE ELECTRIC MOTORS TO REPLACE PUSHER ENGINES
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Norfolk and Western to Build Plant for Elkhorn Grade
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    It is said that the Norfolk and Western proposes to use electricity in pushing the heavy coal trains up Elkhorn Grade.  Motors will be used and they will be more powerful than three locomotives combined.  It is estimated that one of the motors will push more tonnage up the hill than two locomotives of the "G" type [rated 390 tons each] and one of the "W" type [rated 580 tons] all combined.  It has taken considerable power to get trains up this grade, and the inauguration of electricity for this purpose on the heavy grades of the Norfolk and Western will mark a new era in railroading here.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
November 27, 1904

[Surprisingly, this newspaper account corresponds to surviving N&W files, which reveal the first serious electrification proposal was taken up in October 1904.  The idea then was for pusher service only from Vivian up to Ruth, which is at the east end of Elkhorn tunnel, a distance of 14.8 miles.  In the summer of 1909 the study covered Vivian to Bluefield, and comtemplated purchasing electricity from some local water power company.  The matter was taken up earnestly in 1911.  During 1912, Gibbs & Hill, consulting engineers. was engaged, and construction started in 1913.  Operation was started by Gibbs and Hill in April 1915, and by the N&W in July 1915.]
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