Old Maude, Preface - Virtual Railroader

S-motor 1115 backs a string of empty passenger cars from Grand Central Terminal
to Mott Haven Yard, 29 June 1926. Kevin T. Farrell collection.
Few stories about the S-motors have made it to print, but one
from the early days bears retelling. Track workers along the
elevated mainline approach to Grand Central, near 125th Street,
one day dropped their tools in place as they stepped away from a
passing train headed by S-motors. When the train had passed,
their tools were nowhere to be found. Upon the train's arrival at
Grand Central, and the shutting off of its power, the clatter of
picks and crowbars falling to the ground solved the riddle. The
engine's intense magnetism near the track had snatched and held
the tools. The problem was solved by adding steel plates to limit
the scope of the magnetic pull.[27]
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27. Night Ride. Trains, February, 1944; 35, 36 (Reprinted from The Monogram,
General Electric Company).
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In 1913 the Central's need for greater hauling power to meet a
growing demand for service led to the building that year of a
larger, more powerful class of locomotives. These were assigned
the Class T designation vacated earlier when the original T's