This is one of the first handful of locomotives built which used an internal combustion engine rather than steam power.
It's name, the "Dan Patch", comes from its first owner the Dan Patch Electric Lines. Dan Patch was a famous race horse a hundred years ago, and the railroad was named after him because its tracks between Minneapolis and Northfield passed very close to his owner's farm.
Because fund-raising efforts for construction fell short of expectations, the railroad settled on self- propelled cars. They became an early customer of General Electric's fledgling line of gas-electric "doodle-bugs." In fact, they purchased the second demonstrator. By 1913 they owned eight. When the need arose for a straight locomotive, a General Electric product was a natural answer. From page 519 of "The Electric Railways of Minnesota" by Russell L. Olson comes this description of the new locomotive:
Measurements were: length overall 36' 4", length of cab 27' 0", width 10' 5.775", and height 14' 6.75".
Equipment consisted of : one GM-23 auxiliary engine driving a 5 KW generator for lighting (up to 3 or 4
passenger trailers) and powering a 25 cu. ft. air compressor for starting the main engine; each main
engine had a built-in 22.5 cu. ft. air compressor for the air brake system; Wason Mfg. Co. RM 54B
trucks with 6' 10" wheelbase and 33" diameter wheels; two 15 point series-parallel controllers (7 series
points, 6 full-field parallel points, and 2 shunted-field parallel points); mechanically vented rediators -
the generator shaft extentions drove fans in externally mounted cylindrical housings. Fuel capacity was
300 gallons in under-floor storage tanks. Each V-8 main engine was connected to a 600 volt D.C.
generator; the engine-generator sets operated in parallel. Either or both engines could be controlled from
either end. Either main engine could be started by compressed air or electricity; only the first engine had
to be air started, the second was cranked by motoring its main generator using electricity from the first
generator. The two traction motors on each truck were wired in parallel and the pairs of motors then
connected in series or parallel. Starting tractive effort was 30,000 pounds. Speed was rated at 38 m.p.h.
but 100 achieved 51 m.p.h. running alone and 45 m.p.h. with a five-car train. This locomotive was claimed
by G.E. to be the first in the world powered with an internal combustion engine that transmitted power to the
wheels through electric motors. However historians have determined that a 30" gauge 22-ton diesel-electric
built in late 1912 was actually the first.
No. 100 S/N 3763 Built 6-1913 Engines (2) GM-16C4 Motors (4) GE 205 D Weight 57 tons
In 1914 100 was damaged in a head-on collision with passenger motor car 7 which occurred between Orchard Gardens and Lakeville. Repairs were undertaken in the 60th St. shops and in the process the damaged end was modified in appearance. The cab was extended to fully enclose the former open platform which was also squared off. A finned-tube roof-top radiator replaced the mechanical radiator.
In late 1917 the locomotive was sold to the Central Warehouse Co., St. Paul, and assigned to switching service on that company's industrial trackage.
One C. P. Bratnober was receiver of the Dan Patch Electric Lines, President of the Central Warehouse Co., and President of the Minneapolis, Anoka, & Cayuna Range. Presumably he was instrumental in locomotive 100's journey from one to the next. The Central Warehouse Co. consisted of some industrial trackage north of University Ave in St. Paul, just west of the Minnesota Commercial (And the Amtrak depot of today.) In 1918 the operation was electrified and 100 converted to straight electric operation by removing its gas-electric innards and replacing them with streetcar technology - right up to the trolley pole. Here are two photos of its trolley-pole era, courtesy Mr. Dave Mewhinney at Dave's Train Pictures:
The story continues on pages 486-490. In summary, in 1943 the Northern Pump Co. received a defense contract, formed Northern Ordnance, Inc. to construct a new plant, and purchased the decrepit MA & CR to transport workers to and from the plant. There was some freight business, so in January 1944 the 100 was thoroughly rehabilitated. It was renumbered 1, but regained its familar 100 again in 1946. After the war the need to transport workers subsided and the streetcars were scrapped. "During August, 1957, a Waukesha Model 6 WAKDU (250 h.p.) diesel engine and 600 volt D.C. generator were installed inside locomotive 100 for conversion to diesel-electric operation. The overhead trolley wire was then dismantled and the MA & CR became a diesel-electric freight switching road." In 1964 the FMC Corp. purchased the assets of Northern Ordnance, Inc. Then in 1966 the Great Northern purchased some land and the MA & CR. Locomotive 100 was donated to the Minnesota Transportation Museum in 1967.
The MTM restored locomotive 100 to operating condition in the mid-1970's. General Electric participated in rebuilding its trucks. After restoration, it toured Minnesota on excursions with steam locomotive NP 328. Its destinations included Northfield and Duluth. In 1987 MTM acquired trackage in Stillwater and began regularly scheduled excursions. 100 was deemed too small, and was stored.
In 1998, volunteers took a new interest in locomotive 100. They set to work with the goal of operating it again. On Monday, October 26th, it moved under its own power for the first time in a decade. Their hope is it will be an operating exhibit in the new Jackson Street Roundhouse museum.
Technologically, the Dan Patch is very interesting. Its maker claimed it to be the first internal-combustion locomotive with a generator to drive electric traction motors. (Though in fact it was the second.) As such, it was a direct ancestor of the Diesel locomotive which replaced steam by 1960 on America's railroads. It was later converted to streetcar technology. Then, when converted to diesel in 1957, all the streetcar controls were retained and the diesel engine-generator set assumed the same role as the trolley pole.
Good photographs of the 100 appear on the following pages of "The Electric Railways of Minnesota":