This booklet from General Electric grandly proclaims that the world’s first steam-turbine electric locomotive was the “king of the rails.” Like other kings of the 1930s, this one didn’t last very long: Union Pacific used it for less than three months before returning it to GE due to frequent breakdowns. Other railroads tried it with similar lack of success.
Click image to download a 2.9-MB PDF of this 8-page booklet.
The lessons General Electric learned from this pair of locomotives may have contributed to the somewhat greater success of the gas-turbines it built for Union Pacific after the war. But even these were only modestly successful, lasting less than twenty years in service and never ordered by any other railroad.