The design of the M-1 was a collaboration between the C&O, the Baldwin Locomotive Works and Westinghouse.[4]: 202 The C&O possessed substantial coal-hauling revenue and was loath to abandon it as a fuel source.[5]: 109 Further, C&O's engineering staff expressed concern that oil reserves would be exhausted within 25-30 years.[3]: 109 The locomotive contained a single Westinghouse turbine which in turn drove four direct current (DC) generators, mounted in pairs.[6]: 116 Each generator produced 1,000 kilowatts (1,300 hp), and the four generators collectively turned eight traction motors.[1]: 161
Defying the usual convention, the M-1 was arranged with its boiler in the rear and the coal bunker in the front. The turbine-generator system meant that the M-1 contained no cylinders. The reduced number of moving parts meant that, in theory, the M1 required far less maintenance than a conventional steam locomotive. Its designers predicted that it could make a round trip between Washington and Cincinnati without servicing.[3]: 110–111
The locomotive's throttle included eleven settings, ranging from one (idling) to eleven (full speed). The locomotive's cruising speed was 70 miles per hour (110 km/h), at which point the throttle was on "seven." During a trial run with a reporter from Popular Mechanics aboard, a C&O engineer expressed his dissatisfaction with a local speed limit of 75 miles per hour (121 km/h), noting that he would "sure like to be able to pull it back to eleven!"[3]: 110, 252 Not including research and development, the three locomotives cost US$1.6 million.[7]: 45
Career[]
The C&O cancelled the Chessie in 1948, before it ran in revenue service, depriving the M-1s of their reason for existence. The M-1s themselves proved expensive to operate and mechanically unreliable.[4]: 202 They spent their short careers operating between Clifton Forge and Charlottesville, Virginia.[8]: 62 The locomotives were scrapped in 1950.[2]: 141