The Milwaukee Electrification
A Proud Era Passes
Prepared by the Public Relations Department of the
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company as a special
supplement to the July-August 1973 issue of The Milwaukee Road Magazine.
Written by
RODNEY A. CLARK,
Assistant Manager-Public Information
Edited by
JOHN J. FELL,
JR., Editor, The Milwaukee Road Magazine
For more than half a century, the Milwaukee Road's electrified western
lines have ranked high on every list of the world's most intriguing
railroad operations. But on February 20, 1973, after a series of
exhaustive studies, and 57 years, two months and 21 days after the
mainline trolley wire was first energized, the railroad announced its
intention to phase out its remaining electrified operations.
Initially an unmatched technical marvel, the electrification gained
widespread fame as the apparent prototype for a new, electric, era in
railroading. That era never arrived, but the Milwaukee Road’s
electrification, highly successful as it was, became and for years
remained an object of intense interest as a unique, working railroad
operation.
While the interest continued, the electrification system gradually
became something of an anachronism.
In the end, however, two factors which had once been the source of much
of the electrification’s renown and were once its strongest virtues,
technical progress and economics, proved its undoing.
While a definitive technical statement in 1915, the Milwaukee’s
electrification was rendered obsolescent by vast advances in electrical
engineering made since then.
Although electrification was for many years a boon to the Milwaukee’s
finances, it was becoming a drain on the treasury, because spare parts for
its electrical system and locomotives are no longer readily available and
the increasingly frequent repairs have been growing more costly and more
difficult to perform. But the major economic factor was the need to
eliminate operating inefficiencies caused by the separation of the two
electrified segments by an unelectrified gap. An in-depth analysis based
on a wide variety of factors indicated that the substantial investment
needed to close the gap and acquire new equipment for electric operation
would have been economically unwise for the railroad. Switching to fully
dieselized operation thus became the only alternative.
Throughout its useful lifetime, the Milwaukee Road electrification
served well, but its inception was primarily a product of the need to
overcome problems which no longer exist. The more than 3,000 miles of
transmission, feeder and trolley wire still strung over 902 miles of
Milwaukee Road track in Montana, Idaho and Washington is evidence of how
well those particular problems were met in the early 1900s when the
project was undertaken.
The entire electrification project, consisting of the trolley and
feeder system, poles, transmission lines, electrical substations and
locomotives represented an investment of approximately $23 million, a
huge amount of private capital in pre-World War I America.
Its cost today would be several times the original figure, a
prohibitively large sum given the present traffic density of the line. But
the Milwaukee Road’s electrification has long since paid for itself, and
has rewarded the railroad many times over for the original investment
through years of economical, dependable and almost trouble-free service.
Specifically, the Milwaukee Road’s electrification crosses five
mountain ranges and covers 656 route miles of main line in two separate
divisions: 440 miles between Harlowton, Mont., and Avery, Ida., and 216
miles between Othello, Wash., Seattle and Tacoma.
When these sections were placed in full electrical operation (Harlowton
to Avery in 1917 and Othello to Tacoma in 1920) they represented the first
long-distance electrification in North America and were the longest
electrified lines in the world.
Importantly, they also represented the first electrification for solely
economic reasons. Other railroads had electrified to eliminate smoke in
tunnels and terminals, to increase track capacity or to help conventional
trains over difficult grades. But in these cases, electrification was
merely an adjunct to the then-prevailing steam power.
When the Milwaukee electrified, it abandoned steam entirely on the
electrified sections with the intention of saving money and improving both
passenger and freight service.
Besides offering passengers on the famed transcontinental Olympian an
unprecedentedly smooth and smoke-free ride through the grandeur of the
Belt, Rocky, Bitter Root, Saddle and Cascade Mountains and ensuring
dependable schedules year round, the Milwaukee’s electrical operation was
highly successful economically and led the way for other similar projects
around the globe.
In a span of just a few years, due to the Milwaukee Road’s innovative
efforts and electrical expertise, its electrified main line became the
“most widely known section of railroad track in the world… beyond
question,” according to one observer of the period.
Celebrities frequented the prestigious transcontinental Olympian
between Chicago and Seattle, providing pictures and quotes for the news
and publicity mills of the time.
Thomas A. Edison marveled at the smooth ride, Babe Ruth posed in the
cab with an engineer, and President Warren G. Harding operated an electric
locomotive for a stretch, occasioning the installation of a plaque on the
side of the cab which read:
“Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Ry./To Puget Sound—Electrified/July 2,
1923/Warren G. Harding/President of the United States/Operated
Locomotive No. 10305/Westbound Sappington, Mont./to Avery, Idaho.”
More importantly, throughout the 1920s, a steady stream of engineers
and railway officials from all over the world came to observe this new
American engineering marvel. Representatives from at least 17 countries in
Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America visited the
Milwaukee Road’s western lines. That they were impressed with what they
saw was evident, because almost all of those countries built electrified
lines soon afterward and several, notably Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Spain
and France, adopted many of the Milwaukee’s new techniques.
Although the railroad gained great international fame and publicity for
its revolutionary passenger service and technological sophistication,
economics remained the primary reason for electrification.
Electrified operation provided great savings over steam operations, and
this occurrence came as no surprise to the railroad.
A. J. Earling, president of the railroad from 1899 to 1916, had headed
a study group in 1912 which determined that sizeable economies, primarily
in the form of greater hauling capacity over the mountains, lower
locomotive maintenance costs and better locomotive utilization, would be
realized if electrification was undertaken. The 1912 study proved
accurate, and by 1927 the electrification had more than repaid the initial
investment in operational savings.
Although far-sighted management played an important part, the Milwaukee
Road’s role as a leader in electrified railroading was to a large degree
determined by historical circumstance.
As the last transcontinental line to reach the Pacific, the Chicago,
Milwaukee and St. Paul (as it was then called) had at its disposal in the
first decade of the 20th Century a vastly different level of technology
than was available to earlier transcontinental builders.
By 1909, limited electrifications for terminal and tunnel operations
had been proved feasible elsewhere. At the same time, commercial demand
for electricity was growing and the vast potential for hydro-electric
power in western states was being developed. With this technology
available, the possibility of electrical operation was considered as
early as 1905 and 1906 while land for the extension was being acquired.
As they planned and surveyed the route, officials and construction
engineers learned for themselves the benefits which electrification could
provide. The long distances to Midwestern coal supplies, an abundance of
hydroelectric potential close at hand, the long, severe winters and
difficult terrain all underscored the advantages of electrifying.
As a result of these early considerations, parcels of land were
purchased and set aside for possible electrical substations, and flow
rights for generating dams were secured, all before the extension was
completed.
But construction of the extension as a conventional railroad
proceeded. Having the experience of earlier westward builders to draw on,
and having the advantage of the Northern Pacific Railroad already close by
to bring materials to work crews, construction of the extension proceeded
remarkably well. Well-planned and highly organized, the 1,400-mile Pacific
extension project was completed in slightly more than three years, from
Glenham, S.D., to Seattle.
Limited operations were underway in some places in 1908 and the line
was opened from Chicago to Seattle in 1909. However, the problems of
operating steam locomotives year-round through the mountains in Montana
and Idaho all too soon became apparent.
Steep grades, constant curvature and frequent tunnels made steam
operation on the extension trying even in good weather. But long, bitter
cold winters, bringing heavy snowfall and temperatures as low as 40
degrees below zero, compounded the difficulties. In cold weather, steam
locomotives were extremely difficult to maintain, often suffered
significant power losses, and sometimes simply wouldn’t run. Even in good
weather, mountain grades and curves caused steam locomotives to lose a
great deal of power.
The success of two other electrification projects in the Milwaukee’s
territory brought further impetus for electrifying. In 1909, the Great
Northern electrified its line through the Cascade Tunnel, and
demonstrated the superiority of electric over steam operation in the
difficult winter conditions. Of more direct impact was the highly
successful electrification of the ore-carrying Butte, Anaconda and Pacific
Railroad which connected with the Milwaukee. Watching the BA&P work out
the problems of mountain electrification on a small scale, Milwaukee
officials became certain that it could be done larger and better.
With electrification thus a very real technical possibility, and with
the problems of steam operations all-too-frequently demonstrated, research
was begun in 1912 to determine the feasibility of electrification from
Harlowton to Avery and the most advantageous system to adopt.
After this exhaustive study of all the factors and possibilities was
completed, the board of directors voted to electrify with a 3,000-volt,
direct current, overhead supply system.
On the railroad’s board of directors at this time was John G. Ryan,
president of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company and a director of a local
power company. Ryan’s interests in these inter-related fields undoubtedly
helped sway the rest of the board toward electrifying, and his special
expertise and influence helped ensure that it would be done smoothly and
efficiently.
Late in 1912, the first contract for power supply was signed with the
Montana Power Co. Work on the electrification began in April of 1914.
On November 30, 1915, the trolley wire was energized for the first
electrically-operated train to run on the Milwaukee Road, a 112-mile
special from Three Forks to Deer Lodge, Mont. Electrical operations were
gradually extended over the entire line from Harlowton to Avery, and steam
locomotives were almost completely supplanted by the end of 1916. Full
electrified operation from Harlowton to Avery began in early 1917.
From the outset, the electrification was far more successful than had
been anticipated. With this success, authorization was quickly given in
1917 to electrify the Coast Division from Othello to Tacoma, Wash. On this
line through the Saddle and Cascade Mountains, tunnels, curvature and
snowfall made steam operation difficult for a large part of the year. The
steepest grades on the mainline are also on the Coast Division.
Quite naturally, the same electrical system was chosen, and by the fall
of 1919, electrical helper service was started on several of the grades.
The line to Tacoma was completely electrified by March of 1920, and the
last leg, a nine-mile section from Black River Junction, Wash., into
Seattle, was electrified in 1927.
Between the two electrified sections, from Avery, Ida., to Othello,
Wash., is a relatively flat 210-mile stretch of track which is not
electrified. The “gap,” as it is known, was at one time scheduled to be
electrified, and electric power for it was once reserved with local
suppliers.
The planners’ intent to electrify the railroad all the way to the
Pacific is also reflected in the present numbering of the substations.
Substations are numbered westward, starting with No. 1 at Two Dot, Mont.,
and continuing on the Rocky Mountain Division to No. 14 at Avery, Ida.
Substations 21 through 28 are on the Coast Division between Taunton,
Wash., and Tacoma. The allowed for six numbered stations in the gap were
never built.
The line through the gap, relatively flat and straight, lacked the
immediate operating difficulties of the other two segments. The gap
therefore had the lowest priority for electrification, since steam power
could do the job well.
Shortly after the Coast Division electrification was completed, the
national economy took a downturn. Due to a resulting lack of traffic
development on the extension, a concurrent difficulty in obtaining
capital, and the fact that through passenger and freight traffic moved
over different routes near Spokane, Wash., all plans for electrifying the
gap were dropped by 1921.
Traditionally, the “gap” has posed several problems, but the primary
one has been locomotive utilization. With electric locomotives restricted
to only parts of the 900-mile run between Harlowton and Tacoma, the
railroad has been restricted in its operational flexibility. Because of
the need to improve flexibility, conversion to all electric or all diesel
on the western lines has been discussed for many years but neither had
been found advantageous prior to now. Branch line operations on both
electrified sections have always been non-electrified.
But in the 1920s, results from the two sections which were electrified
were no less than astounding. Immediately, the railroad experienced
drastic cost savings and the electrification rapidly began to pay for
itself.
At the time of the electrification, fully 14 per cent of the railroad’s
equipment was doing nothing but hauling coal for steam engines in the
West. Most of this equipment was immediately released for revenue service.
Also, the expense of maintaining coaling and watering facilities for
steam engines was eliminated on these sections.
Since the Milwaukee did not have extensive coal resources in the West,
the burdensome expense of hauling coal from the Midwest to points in
Washington, Idaho and Montana was also greatly reduced.
Following a large forest fire in Idaho, laws were passed prohibiting
the use of coal or wood-burning locomotives through National Forest lands.
Although a number of locomotives had already been converted to oil burning
operation, under electrification the railroad was freed from dependence on
oil, the price of which rose sharply during and after World War I. To a
large extent it was also spared the expense of storing and hauling fuel
oil in this area.
The over-all cost of fuel, comparing the cost of coal burned per
ton-mile to the cost of electricity used per ton-mile, was cut by
two-thirds. Maintenance costs, always sizeable with steam engines, were
cut 75 per cent. In addition, because of the rapid turn-around time of the
electric locomotives, their 24-hour-a-day availability for service, and
their higher speeds and hauling capacity, locomotive and train crew
productivity rose sharply.
These operational economies allowed the Milwaukee to quickly recoup
its investment and have provided ongoing savings that have helped cushion
the railroad during some financially difficult times.
Today, the electrical system remains in operation largely as it was
built. Wires, poles, signal and electrical equipment have been replaced as
needed, but the bulk of the system endures intact.
Electrical power for the system is provided by the Montana Power
Company, the Washington Water Power Company and the Puget Sound Power and
Light Company.
The power is almost exclusively hydroelectrically generated from dams
on various rivers in Montana and Washington.
Electricity from these utility companies is delivered to the railroad
at 10 of the 22 substations in the form of 100,000-volt alternating
current. All the substations on each division are connected by a
100,000-volt high-tension transmission line which parallels the track.
Through electrical equipment and transformers, the substations convert the
current to the necessary 3,000-volt D.C. current.
At 3,000 volts D.C., electricity is fed from the substations into the
copper feeder cable which parallels the track. The feeder is connected at
frequent intervals to the two copper trolley wires suspended approximately
24 feet above the track from a steel messenger cable. The messenger cable
in turn hangs from cross-arms attached to 40-foot poles alongside the
track.
Each of the substations is primarily responsible for energizing a
certain section of catenary, and intervals between substations were
determined by probable power demand on that section of track. They are
closer together on steep grades, for example, where power requirements are
greater.
To obtain electricity from the catenary, the locomotive is equipped
with a device called a pantograph. Spring-loaded, the pantograph rides
underneath the wire, collecting energy and feeding it through control
devices to the electric motor. When electricity is introduced into the
motor, a magnetic field is created, causing the motor’s armature to
revolve and, usually through gears, propelling the locomotive.
Strictly speaking, the term “electric locomotive” is a misnomer.
Locomotive implies a completely self-driven machine, but the electric
units contain no energy producing mechanism, only a motor. They convert
electrical energy supplied from the wire into mechanical energy which
moves the train.
The twin catenary supply system, developed especially for the
Milwaukee, was designed to provide a steady supply of energy to the motor
and eliminate sparking by ensuring that constant contact between the
pantograph and the catenary would be maintained. Secondary tracks, yards
and passing tracks normally have only one trolley wire.
To complete the necessary circuit, electricity is returned to the
substation through the rails and in some areas through supplementary
feeder cables atop the poles.
Of the 22 substations in the two zones, 11 are operated by supervised
remote control and one is fully automated.
Although the eight substations on the Coast Division and the 14
substations on the Rocky Mountain Division are interconnected electrically
on each division, each substation is equipped with circuit breakers,
disconnect equipment and bypass circuits to allow continued operation on
other parts of the line if the substation, wires or circuitry in one
section should become inoperative.
Included in the railroad’s original investment in electrification were
42 electric locomotives, 30 for freight and 12 for passenger service.
Ordered from General Electric Company, which built the electrical
components, and American Locomotive Company, which built the mechanical
part, these 42 locomotives, each capable of developing 4,050 horsepower,
consisted of two semi-permanently coupled cab units. Delivered between
1915 and 1917, they have proved themselves lasting tributes to the men who
designed and built them, as well as those who have operated and maintained
them. Although changing motive power requirements have brought
modification of the units, 23 of the original 84 single units were still
available for use when the phase-out was announced.
Subsequent purchases in 1920 and 1950 brought the total number of
electric locomotives acquired to 128. As late as 1960, 98 of those units
were still operating.
Several of the original units were altered at various times, some
having cab and pilot wheels removed for use as non-control units, some
rebuilt as shorter freight units, and some redesigned and modified for
streamlined passenger service.
Originally designated EP-1 and EF-1, the first GE-Alco units are today
used in various combinations of two, three or four cab and cabless units,
as switchers, helpers and local freight locomotives with the designations
EF-2, EF-3, ES-3 and EF-5.
The first electric locomotive to arrive on the system was No. 10200,
proudly heralded by the railroad and the builders as the largest electric
locomotive in the world. Not only was it the largest, but it was the
first direct current electric locomotive to operate at a potential as high
as 3,000 (later 3,400) volts, and the first to employ regenerative
braking.
This same unit, perhaps the oldest working locomotive in the country,
is still available for service in Deer Lodge, Mont. as No. E-5OAB.
Regenerative braking, little understood in 1915 except by electrical
engineers, is a technique which simplified and increased the safety of
mountain operation, reduced wear on brake shoes and actually recovered
electrical power and returned it to the overhead system for use by other
trains.
The Milwaukee has long been proud of this feature. The Milwaukee Road
Magazine in 1916 described regenerative braking as “a process of
producing electrical current within the motors of the locomotive by
converting the motors into generators, and the current thus produced being
returned to the trolley; and the force of gravity which tends to make the
train run away down grade is the power that drives the generators, and the
work thus performed operates to hold the train back.”
Once on a down grade, the engineer throws a switch in the cab and
regeneration takes over. The desired speed is maintained by use of the
line current control. The trains are equipped with air brakes, but air is
used only while switching into regenerative braking and as a back-up
system in case of emergency.
Returning current to the line has proved an economic boon, since 40 to
60 per cent of the power used ascending a grade can be returned while
descending. With the numerous grades in the Milwaukee’s mountain
electrification, the railroad recovers about 12 per cent of the total
energy used by its electric locomotives and returns it to the system,
powering other locomotives or receiving credit from the power suppliers.
Regenerative braking is now widely used throughout the world and has
been a feature of all other types of Milwaukee Road electric locomotives.
A second type of electric used by the Milwaukee Road was the now-famed
“bi-polars,” Class EP-2. Unique in both appearance and design, the five
bi-polars were passenger locomotives with a long record of outstanding
service.
They were gearless electric locomotives, meaning that the armature of
the motor was also the driving axle. When current was introduced and the
magnetic field forced the armature to turn, it turned the wheels directly,
not through gears as was the case in other types of electrics.
Long, low, and multi-wheeled, the bi-polars were once called
“centipedes on rails.” They were built by General Electric-Alco and were
delivered in 1919 and 1920.
The unique appearance of these locomotives made them the star
performers of the railroad’s electric passenger fleet. The low curved
hoods of the massive bi-polars showed up on almost all of the railroad’s
transcontinental passenger advertisements from the 1920s into the 1950s.
Designed to run at 70 m.p.h. and capable of up to 4,120 horsepower, a
single unit could handle a whole train over any grade on the line with
smooth, silent, smokeless power.
The simple but rugged bi-polars gave years of almost trouble-free
service in the Cascades. A railroad policy change ended their use on the
Olympian Hiawatha in 1956, and eventually they were put in storage at the
railroad’s Deer Lodge, Mont., shops. An attempt to convert the units to
freight service was unsuccessful, and as a result, in the early 1960s,
four of the units were scrapped. The fifth was donated to the National
Museum of Transport in St. Louis, Mo., in 1961.
Probably the most famous exploit of a Milwaukee Road hi-polar was a
“tug-of-war” held at Erie, Pa., in 1920.
Fresh off the production line, No. 10251 was coupled nose to nose with
two modern steam engines at the General Electric plant. Actually it was to
be a pushing rather than a pulling contest since drawbars of the time
would not have been able to withstand the tremendous stress.
From a standstill, the throttles of the steam engines were opened first
and the bi-polar was pushed slowly backwards down the track. Then the
electric began to draw power. Simultaneously, the throttle of the electric
was opened further and the steam engine throttles were advanced to their
last notch. With a tremendous effort, the steam engines smoked and pushed
and strained, but they came to a complete halt. As the controller of the
bi-polar was advanced still further, the steam engines, with drive wheels
still churning, were pushed backwards.
In a similar test of regenerative braking, the two steam engines pushed
the electric until regenerative braking was switched on. As regeneration
was turned to full power, the pushing locomotives slowed down. With
throttles wide open, the steam engines could scarcely budge the electric
which, besides winning the contest, was returning electricity to the
overhead trolley wire.
Similar tests were later held on Milwaukee Road track in the west, with
the bi-polars emerging victorious each time.
At the same time the five bi-polars were ordered for use in the
Cascades, ten passenger locomotives for use in Montana and Idaho were
ordered from Westinghouse and Baldwin Locomotive Works, the only electric
locomotives not purchased from the Alco-GE combination. The railroad split
its order between Alco-GE and Westinghouse-Baldwin for faster delivery,
since the rapidly rising cost of fuel oil used for steam engines then in
service was a severe financial drain.
Built for the same high-speed, heavy-duty passenger service as the bi-polars,
the EP-3s, as they were designated, had a much more conventional box-cab
design.
Although they performed well, the EP-3 locomotives were scrapped
shortly after the Korean War due to high maintenance costs and a general
decline in passenger traffic.
The present mainstays of the Milwaukee Road’s electric power fleet are
the “Little Joes,” the EF-4 locomotives.
These Alco-GE units, dubbed “Little Joes” after Josef Stalin because
they were originally built for use in the Soviet Union, were acquired in
1950.
With the advent of the Cold War, essential equipment going to Russia
was embargoed and the locomotives, ordered by the U.S.S.R., were never
delivered. Twelve of the units were purchased by the Milwaukee Road, with
others going to the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad and the
Paulista Railroad of Brazil.
Built for the Russian 5’ gauge track, the “Little Joes” were modified
for standard American 4’-8½” gauge at the railroad’s Milwaukee Shops and
put into service. Train heating boilers (since removed) were also added to
two of the units for passenger service.
Purchased at very favorable prices, the powerful EF-4s have proved
highly versatile and reliable.
Each unit develops 5500 h.p. and is capable of running at 70 m.p.h.,
making them valuable additions to the motive power fleet. But now even the
“Little Joes” are nearing the end of their life expectancy.
The fortuitous availability of these units in 1950 may have
single-handedly extended the life of the electrification. At that time the
original electric locomotives were rapidly wearing out and a policy
decision seemed in the offing on whether to invest heavily in new electric
units or to broaden the dieselization program to include phasing out the
electrics as well as steam locomotives. But the decision never had to be
made.
Because of the cost and the wide variety of difficulties involved with
it, electrified operation has decreased steadily in recent years. Advances
in diesel locomotives have negated many of the onetime advantages of
electrified operation.
Use of electric locomotives on the Rocky Mountain Division has for
several years been limited to helper, booster and yard service. No
electrically powered trains have moved on the Coast Division since 1971.
Electric operations on the Rocky Mountain Division accounted for about
19 per cent of the locomotive miles operated on that division in 1972.
Only three per cent of the total locomotive miles operated on the entire
Milwaukee Road system in 1972 were electrically operated.
Viewed in this context, the announcement of the decision to phase-out
the electrification was not a major change in policy, but was rather
official acknowledgement of the inevitability of existing operational
realities.
No hard date for the end of the electrification has yet been set. The
exact date will depend on several factors, including the availability of
diesel motive power to replace the electrics. But Milwaukee Road crews are
at work on the Coast Division taking down overhead wires. The scrap value
of the metal in the wires is sizeable, and the wires are being kept “hot”
to discourage vandalism and theft on sections the salvage crews have not
yet reached.
Ironically, the Milwaukee Road’s announcement of the end of its
electrification came close in time to announcements by several other
railroads that they were seriously considering electrifying portions of
their lines.
Superficially this seems to put the Milwaukee in the role of bucking
the trend of the future. But realistically, the Milwaukee’s phase-out is
simply the closing chapter in a different era of railroading. The other
electrified operations which existed when the Milwaukee’s was built,
except for the commuter-oriented Long Island Railroad and the Penn
Central’s high-density passenger corridors, have been long since
dismantled because of difficulties similar to those now facing the
Milwaukee Road electrification.
New electrifications with highly advanced technology and
sophisticated new equipment may well lie ahead for some railroads whose
economics and traffic patterns justify the enormous investment.
But for the Milwaukee Road, its electrification is part of the past for
which economic justification can no longer be made.
The Milwaukee’s electrification, beloved by generations of railroaders,
railfans and travelers, will be missed. It has long been a proud part of
the railroad’s heritage, and its demise will leave a void. But the
stories, the lore and the memories will live on long after the last
trolley wire is carted off for scrap and the last boxcab shell is broken
up.
The electrification has done its job and done it well, and now the job
is over. The concession to progress is being made quietly and with
dignity.
Those who have been concerned about the fate of the Milwaukee Road
electrification in recent years can rest easy.
Its niche in history is secure.
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