On the Electric Boxcab (Survivors) Continuation Page 2:

On the Electric Boxcabs (Survivors) Continuation Page 3:

Still on Continuation Page 5:
  ODD BOXCABS

Now, let's consider the Piedmont & Northern classic electric boxcab #5103 noted on the Survivors page, preserved at the North Carolina Transportation Museum's historic Spencer Shops in Salisbury, North Carolina.  She's a beauty (if you like boxcabs) and appears largely original; she's a sort of southern dual-power loco, sporting both a huge pantagraph AND a trolley pole!  Here is the Museum's postcard view (the card is available from their Gift Station):

(left picture {only} is a thumbnail image; click on picture for larger image)
[All four pictures reproduced by specific permission of NCTM; all rights reserved to NCTM.]

Because the Museum kindly sent more information than could fit on the main Electric Boxcabs page, I moved #5103 coverage to a new Electric Boxcabs continuation page 3 but then decided it deserved its own page.

The NCTM, a North Carolina Historic Site, is in Spencer, just off I-85 near Salisbury, and just south of Winston-Salem.

Here's a home-grown very-big (100-ton) brother (#5602?) built by the P&N shops using Westinghouse equipment:   (restored 16 Aug 04)

(photo from TRAIN SHED CYCLOPEDIA #15)
[Thumbnailed image - click on picture for larger image]

The NCTM came through magnificently with the following description of #5103 (given verbatim):

"Piedmont and Northern Boxcab 5103 - Built by the General Electric in 1913 as an electric locomotive.  Power was supplied either through a 600-volt D.C. trolley pole or a 1500-volt D.C. overhead catenary shoe.  The P&N was the only mainline Class 1 railroad in the south to use electric locomotives.  They also had a divided right-of-way, with part operating Charlotte to Belmont, NC and the other Spartanburg to Greenwood, SC.  The 5103 worked first in SC then ended its service running old trolley tracks in downtown Charlotte in 1958.  The 5103 was chosen to be restored by the P&N at their Greenville, SC shops in 1963 and donated to the Atlanta, NRHS Chapter.  The NCTHC purchased the locomotive in 1995, to be placed on display in the roundhouse to interpret this unique railroad owned by James Duke."

From other Museum sources, the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC has P&N #5103 on display in the roundhouse.  It came from the Southeastern Railroad Museum in Duluth, GA, purchased in 1994/95.  It is a true boxcab, able to draw from the catenary or 600 volt trolley pole.  The 5103 and 5101 were the last two P&N boxcabs left when the railroad took these two and made one complete unit for donation in 1963, after diesels had taken over.  NCTM obtained the locomotive since it operated in the Charlotte area during the late 1950s.

Readers interested in Ontario's railways are directed (by Don Ross) to Rob Hughes' Ontario Railway History Page.