Anselmo Railroad Display
The pioneering role of the Butte-Anaconda area in railway electrification is best represented by an electric engine and connected booster on display at the Anselmo Mine yard.
The effective power of a railroad locomotive depends on both the energy developed and the number of wheels conveying power to the rails. When the BA&P electrified, it ordered booster units to be permanently coupled to three of the “boxcab” engines for slow switching service. The railway called each of the paired engine and booster a “tractor truck,” while the crews use the nickname “cow and calf.” The booster increased the wheels delivering power to the rail from eight wheels on the engine to twelve wheels. The engine and booster were built by two companies, both with manufacturing plants in Schenectady, New York. General Electric manufactured the unseen electrical components of the engines, and the American Locomotive Company supplied the visible structural body and undercarriage.
Former BA&P employees Leno Bazzanella and Kevin Shannon restored the combined unit to display condition. Also on display are an open-top hopper car for carrying ore, a wooden boxcar, and bay-window caboose. Less visible, under the tipple, is a former line car—built with an insulated platform on the roof for working on the overhead catenary—modified in the late 1980s for carrying tourists.
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