GE U25B
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2015) |
GE U25B | |
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kW) |
Career | |
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Disposition | most scrapped, a few in preservation |
The GE U25B is
History
The U25B (nicknamed U-Boat) is the first commercially successful domestic diesel electric road locomotive designed, built, and sold by General Electric after its split with the
The U-Boat put GE on the road to becoming the top locomotive producer in the U.S., much to the chagrin of EMD. It introduced many innovations to the U.S. diesel locomotive market, including a pressurized car body and a centralized air processing system that provided filtered air to the engine and electrical cabinet, thus reducing maintenance. The U25B was also the highest-horsepower four-axle diesel road locomotive in the U.S. at the time of its introduction, its contemporaries being the GP20 (2,000 hp) and the RS27 (2,400 hp or 1,800 kW).
Though many were produced and sold, the only remaining U25B locomotives are in museums, as many were retired or scrapped at the end of their service life by the end of the 1980s.
Rebuilds
M-K TE70-4S
Four Southern Pacific U25Bs were rebuilt by
U25BE
Two Southern Pacific U25Bs were rebuilt by the Southern Pacific Transportation Company themselves at their own Sacramento Shops into GE U25BE locomotives. Only SP #3100 was preserved while SP 3101 was scrapped in 1987.[4][5][6]
Preservation
Six U25Bs are known to be preserved today. Of these, only one remains in operating condition. Southern Pacific 3100 is now on permanent exhibit at the
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SP 3100, the only GE U25B still in working order, on display at the Orange Empire Railway Museum.
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Long hood end of SP 3100.
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The manufacturer's plate on the 3100.
Several more examples survive, all in varying states of preservation:
- Louisville and Nashville 1616 is stored at the Southern Appalachia Railway Museumin Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The unit is missing its main generator.
- Milwaukee Road 5056 is preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum and is being both cosmetically and mechanically restored for operation on the museum grounds.
- Milwaukee Road 5057 is being cosmetically restored by Cascade Rail Foundation to eventually be displayed at the South Cle Elum Rail Yard in Washington.[7]
- Thomaston, CT. It wears its original New Haven colors, however it is not currently operational.
- New York Central 2500 is on display at the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society museum in North East, Pennsylvania.
Original owners
Railroad | Quantity | Numbers | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
General Electric (XP-24 testbed) | 2 | 751–752 | Never sold, retained by GE |
General Electric (demonstrator) | 4 | 753–756 | High short hood; to Frisco 804–807 |
4 | 2501–2504 | to Union Pacific 633–636 | |
4 | 51-54 | to Frisco 812, 814, 815, and 813. | |
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway | 16 | 1600–1615 | renumbered 6600–6615 |
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway | 38 | 2500–2537 | renumbered 8100–8137 |
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad | 6 | 100–105 | to Burlington Northern 5424–5429
|
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("Milwaukee Road") |
12 | 380–391 | 380 retired 1966; remainder renumbered 5000–5010; renumbered 5050–5060 |
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad | 39 | 200–238 | 225–238 to Maine Central Railroad 225–238 |
Erie Lackawanna Railroad |
27 | 2501–2527 | to Conrail 2570–2596 |
Great Northern Railway | 24 | 2500–2523 | to Burlington Northern 5400–5423 |
Louisville and Nashville Railroad | 27 | 1600–1626 | |
New York Central Railroad | 70 | 2500–2569 | to Penn Central 2500–2569; to Conrail 2500–2569
|
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad | 26 | 2500–2525 | to Penn Central 2660–2685; to Conrail 2660–2685 |
Norfolk and Western Railway | 1 | 3515 | 3515 was renumbered to 8138 (wreck replacement for Wabash unit) |
Pennsylvania Railroad | 59 | 2500–2548, 2649–2658 | renumbered 2600–2658; to Penn Central 2600–2658; to Conrail 2600–2658 |
St. Louis – San Francisco Railway ("Frisco") |
24 | 800–803, 808–811, 816-831 | 804–807, 812-815 ex GE. Numbers 800–807 were high short hood units in black and yellow scheme; The next set (808–815) were low short hood units in black and yellow. The last 16, 816–831, were low hoods and delivered in the orange and white scheme. To Burlington Northern 5210–5233. |
Southern Pacific Company |
68 | 7500–7567 | renumbered 6700–6767 |
Union Pacific Railroad | 12 | 625–632, 637–640 | 633–636 ex GE demonstrators 2501–2504. The only railroad, other than the Frisco, to have high short hood U25Bs. |
Wabash Railroad | 15 | 500–514 | to Norfolk and Western 3516–3529; renumbered 8139–8152 |
Total | 478 |
References
- ISBN 0-395-70112-0.
- ^ "ALCo vs EMD". UtahRails.Net. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
- ^ Lustig 2003, p. 23
- ^ Model Railroad Craftsman: Volume 56 - July 1987. Carstens Pub. 1987. p. 74.
- ^ Shippen & Shine (1999), p. 24
- ^ "Former SP "Snowflake"". Railfan & Railroad. 7. Carstens Publications: 30. 1988 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Milwaukee Road 5057 Project". Cascade Rail Foundation.
- Shippen, Bill; Shine, Joseph W. (1999). Southern Pacific in Transition. ISBN 9781885614261.
- Marre, Louis A. (1995). Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years: A Guide to Diesels Built Before 1972. Railroad Reference Series. Waukesha, Wisconsin: ISBN 978-0-89024-258-2.
- Komanesky, John. "General Electric U25B Roster". Extra 2200 South. Retrieved January 27, 2005 – via The Diesel Shop.
- Lustig, David (May 2003). "Whatever happened to SP's 'Popsicles'?". ISSN 0041-0934.
- Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: ISBN 978-0-89024-026-7.
- "What's up with the U25B". Trains Magazine. August 1960. pp. 40–41.