| One of a very few Panama Canal mules on display. The locks "mule" was built by GE in Schenectady, NY in 1914 and worked until retirment in 1964.The mule was a "Pacific Locks Mule which operated at the west end of the canal. It is 32' long, 8' wide, and weighs 42 tons with a wheelbase of 12 feet and operates on a track gauge of 5 feet. It was powered by a three-phase, 220-volt, 25-cycle motor geared to traction equipment. The towing capacity of the complete unit was 25,000 pounds. An unknown rail fan caught this mule as one of the outside exhibits at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in June of 1987. |