Why N&W's Jawn Henry Was Steam's Final Stand, and Why It Failed
Locomotive Geek
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The Norfolk and Western Jawn Henry was the last serious attempt by an American railroad to prove that steam power could compete with diesel on purely economic terms — a steam turbine electric locomotive built by Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton in 1954 that replaced the conventional reciprocating engine with a turbine driving electric traction motors, eliminating the mechanical complexity that had always made steam maintenance more expensive than diesel. Norfolk and Western, the last major American railroad still committed to steam, invested in the Jawn Henry as a technological bridge between the steam era it had mastered and the diesel future it was resisting. The turbine worked. The economics didn't. The Jawn Henry was retired in 1957 and steam's final stand ended without a victory.
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Why N&W's Jawn Henry Was Steam's Final Stand, and Why It Failed
Locomotive Geek
5,147 views
The Norfolk and Western Jawn Henry was the last serious attempt by an American railroad to prove that steam power could compete with diesel on purely economic terms — a steam turbine electric locomotive built by Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton in 1954 that replaced the conventional reciprocating engine with a turbine driving electric traction motors, eliminating the mechanical complexity that had always made steam maintenance more expensive than diesel. Norfolk and Western, the last major American railroad still committed to steam, invested in the Jawn Henry as a technological bridge between the steam era it had mastered and the diesel future it was resisting. The turbine worked. The economics didn't. The Jawn Henry was retired in 1957 and steam's final stand ended without a victory.