# Boxcab

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Type of locomotive

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A 2-unit boxcab [electric locomotive](/source/Electric_locomotive) of the [Milwaukee Road](/source/Milwaukee_Road)

[Alco](/source/ALCO_boxcab) [diesel-electric](/source/Diesel%E2%80%93electric_powertrain) boxcab at the [North Alabama Railroad Museum](/source/North_Alabama_Railroad_Museum)

Preserved Victorian Railways (Australia) E class electric boxcab locomotive

A **boxcab**, in [railroad terminology](/source/Railroad_terminology), is a term for a [locomotive](/source/Locomotive) in which the machinery and [crew areas](/source/Cab_(locomotive)) were enclosed in a [box](/source/Box)-like [superstructure](/source/Superstructure). Deriving from "[boxcar](/source/Boxcar)", the term mainly occurs in [North America](/source/North_America). The term has rarely been applied to diesel locomotives. It was also applied in Australia to [Victorian Railways](/source/Victorian_Railways)' ["E" class second series](/source/Victorian_Railways_E_class_(electric)#Design_modification) electric locomotives.

The majority of boxcab locomotives were electric but they could also be diesel locomotives such as the case of the many AGEIR ([Alco](/source/ALCO_boxcab), [General Electric](/source/GE_boxcab), Ingersoll-Rand) boxcabs and [British Rail Class 28](/source/British_Rail_Class_28), but as stated, the overwhelming majority of them were electric.

Most North American boxcabs were built a few years before and after 1930, the most prominent builders being [Baldwin and Westinghouse](/source/Baldwin%E2%80%93Westinghouse_electric_locomotives), GE and Alco.

## Design

Locomotives had either a box-like body of equal height along their whole length including the cabs, the boxcab; or else the cabs were inset from the ends and a lower nose or 'hood' section protruded beyond.[1][2]

Boxcabs did not have heavily styled ends or a superstructure consisting of multiple structures, although the prototype diesel/oil-electric, GE no. 8835, had one end prominently rounded – attributed to its trolley ([tram](/source/Tram)) car ancestry – and the second and following 100-ton [ALCO boxcabs](/source/ALCO_boxcab) had semi-cylindrical ends.

## See also

- [Trains portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Trains)

- [Box motor](/source/Box_motor)

- [GE three-power boxcab](/source/GE_three-power_boxcab)

- [GE 57-ton gas–electric boxcab](/source/GE_57-ton_gas%E2%80%93electric_boxcab)

## References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Boxcab locomotives](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Boxcab_locomotives).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Ransome-Wallis, P., ed. (1959). "Electric Motive Power". *Concise Encyclopædia of World Railway Locomotives*. New Horizon Books. p. 175.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Haut, F.J. (1969). "VI. The development of the electric locomotive and its components". *The History of the Electric Locomotive*. London: George Allen and Unwin. p. 121. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-04-385042-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-04-385042-1).

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