| In 1946 the Soviet Railways placed an order for twenty massive 2-D+D-2 locomotives from General Electric. This was a continuation of the Lend-Lease program of the war years, as well as, the Marshal Plan for the post-war reconstruction effort. American industry had been spared the devastation of the other nations which made it critical during reconstruction and an important barging chip on the international stage. Construction of the units was already well underway when congress passed the Export Control Act of 1949, which prohibited export to the Soviet Union as well as eastern block countries, leaving GE with 20 units worth little more than scrap value. Initially all 20 were offered to the Milwaukee Road, which had electrified a portion of its transcontinental line to the Pacific Northwest and whose youngest electric locomotive was 30 years old. The Milwaukee passed, maybe hoping to get a better deal, however in the mean time GE managed to sell five to a Brazilian railway and three to the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend. The South Shore Line had taken advantage of the dense industry on the south side of Chicago to developed freight traffic and the class 800s, as they were know on the South Shore, served them until the early 1980s when diesel locomotives replaced them. On a side note, these locomotives are sometimes called “Little Joes,” this is an Milwaukee Road employee term though, on the South Shore they were referred to as the “800s” and in Brazil as the “Russians.” Number 803 ran in the 1980s at the museum but was put on static display in barn 9. Labor Day 2013 was its first operation in nearly 20 years. |