<p>In 1909, the Great Northern Railway Company began using electric engines to pull trains and their steam locomotives through the Cascade Tunnel in Washington's Cascade Mountains. Smoke from the coal-fired steam engines had nearly killed 100 people in the tunnel in 1903. On the steep downhill runs, the electric engines actually generated power which went back into the system.
This May 1927 photo shows a new Great Northern electric engine, here called a motor, near the Cascade Tunnel at Stevens Pass, Washington. The extensions on top of the locomotive, called pantographs, connect it with the electric lines running above.</p>
<p>Original title: New G.N. motor at Cascade Tunnel.</p>
<ul><li>Subjects (LCTGM): Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.); Electric railroads; Passes (Landforms); Railroad employees; Railroad locomotives;  Railroad tracks; Tunnels</li></ul>
Pickett Photo Co.
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/imlsmohai/search">Museum of History and Industry</a>