The Milwaukee Road Dynamometer X-5000 

The Dynamometer Car was originally designed and built by the Milwaukee Road (designers Vern Green and Leonard Lentz) at the Milwaukee Shops in 1930 to measure steam locomotive output by means of a large hydraulic unit spliced into the center sill called a dynamometer unit that generates a hydraulic pressure proportional to the drawbar pull or buff (push) measured at the coupler of car.

Milwaukee Road Dynamometer Car Video

The car is 70’ long and weights 77.5 tons.  It is said by some to be one of the strongest cars ever built with structural supports every 12-18” throughout the car. The car has a complete kitchen/dining area, 9 bunks, washroom, and an office.

Immediately after being built, it was sent out West to the Rocky Mountain Division as a prop in the move Danger Lights, a story about a tough division manager and the people he encounters. Scenes from the movie can be seen in the video below.

According to the car's log book, by 1952, the car had logged over 350,000 miles of testing. At the end of the steam era, most railroads phased out their dynamometer cars, however, the Milwaukee Road did not.

The car was upgraded in 1969 with then modern electronic chart recordings and other measuring equipment and served in a wide variety of track, locomotive, and operating tests throughout the system.

During the late 1970's the railroad was experiencing a lot of derailments on its Montana Division. The car and crew were sent to test track conditions and operating procedures, especially of Locotrol (mid-train radio controlled booster locos) operations where operating procedures were established that minimized the derailments.

The X-5000 resides at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL since 1992 and is a restoration/conservation project under the direction of Warren A. Newhauser. Warren's Father, Warren R. Newhauser, worked on the Dynamometer Car from 1967-85 and in '87 and wrote many of the documents on this site including the X-5000 Details.

You can view the Monitoring Capabilities chart of the Dynamometer Car and get a feel for the purpose of the X-5000.