The NYC S Motor

Want to see the inside of our New York Central S Motor? I know you do!

These locomotives were made famous by the many toy trains modelled after them in the early days by American Flyer, Ives, and others.

Here's one of the control positions, with a close-up. Notice the phone. "Hello, Central?"

You have to step down to enter the hoods at either end. Please watch your head! These contain the control system.











Here are the huge contactors and the reverser, located inside the hoods.

This is the original pantograph. It's tiny because it was designed to contact an overhead third rail, not wire, so very little vertical adjustment is needed. No dome cars could travel into Grand Central!

Finally, here's a third rail beam; each truck had two shoes next to each other. And here's the huge 2500 amp fuse box, with its mechanism for breaking the arc. I'm sure I wouldn't want to be nearby when a 2500 amp fuse blows!