The Last MEC Painted Locomotive Is Leaving

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 924675.jpg

It sat in Billerica for years.

Love the paint scheme...

Chris

Hopefully someone has plans for it besides the scrapper's torch.

Probably fodder for a new genset unit. That's what happened with the 259.

I don't claim to know much about locomotive mechanics. But it looks pretty well trashed, my guess would be recycling.

If by "recycling", you mean that at least the frame will be re-used, you are likely correct. If it was headed for scrap, it mostly likely would have been cut up at North Billerica.

Dick

Dick H wrote:If by "recycling", you mean that at least the frame will be re-used, you are likely correct. If it was headed for scrap, it mostly likely would have been cut up at North Billerica.

Dick

Correct. It would have been far easier and cheaper to scrap it on site as opposed to building blocking and bracing out of wood and steel and then getting a crane strong enough to lift it. The prime mover is still in the loco, just no main generator. So it's not going to be scrapped.

The 254 should be resurfacing in the future as Pacific Harbor Lines 4?.
rebuilt to a MP20B-3.

Dave

That makes sense. The carbody looked to be in OK shape overall, so they'll probably reuse at least some of it (particularly the cab, nose, etc.).

According to a PHL press release, these units will have a 2,000 HP MTU-Detroit Diesel engine under the hood.

After the necessary mods are done, it should look something like this (with different paint, obviously):

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=384234

That loco is a MP20GP -- same concept, same builder, except the engine is a Cat rather than a MTU-Detroit, and the "donor" loco was a GP50.

Should be PHL 41

D

I am surprised that Guilford did not keep this class up. Maybe it was because they had much better power in the early days, such as the B&M 200, 300, and D&H 7600, 7300, 7400 classes. I still say that anything is better than the SD26, and GP 7,9.

It has always been something of a big mystery, as to why they would rid themselves of almost all of the MEC GP38s, except for the 252... which seems to keep going and going just like the Energizer Bunny. One theory is that they wanted to standardize on turbocharged locos... GP40s, GP35s, etc... but then you wonder why they kept the GP7s and GP9s around.

Who knows. Nobody ever said Guilford was easy to figure out.

One thing is for sure: a decent number of the MEC GP38s have continued to earn their keep on other railroads. Even Union Pacific has a couple of them (rebuilt to GP38-2 specs).

In regards to the B&M and D&H units you mentioned: all of those were leased, and all of them were returned to the lessor as soon as the leases ran out.

MEC407 wrote:It has always been something of a big mystery, as to why they would rid themselves of almost all of the MEC GP38s, except for the 252... which seems to keep going and going just like the Energizer Bunny. One theory is that they wanted to standardize on turbocharged locos... GP40s, GP35s, etc... but then you wonder why they kept the GP7s and GP9s around.

Who knows. Nobody ever said Guilford was easy to figure out.

One thing is for sure: a decent number of the MEC GP38s have continued to earn their keep on other railroads. Even Union Pacific has a couple of them (rebuilt to GP38-2 specs).

In regards to the B&M and D&H units you mentioned: all of those were leased, and all of them were returned to the lessor as soon as the leases ran out.

I would bet that the 7s and 9s were kept around for exactly the service they are used for, powering trains on the branch lines, where a larger engine is impractical. Of the engines that Guilford once ran that are no longer in service, roughly half were sold/returned to leasor, and the other half scrapped. A few were repossessed by Helm in the early 90s due to defaulting on payments. Four of the GP38s (255, 256, 258, 263) left this way.

Of the units mentioned:
BM 200 series Left 1/89. All units now on KCS.
BM 300 series I don't have a release date, but all units went to HATX,
and were scattered from there. Many ended up on CP.
D&H 7300 series Left in 6/88. To D&H/CP.
D&H 7400 series Left in 6/88, likely as part of the D&H breakoff. All units
are still in service on CSX. This series are GP39-2s, which
use turbocharged 12-645s.
D&H 7600 series Left property 5/96. Again, this series are GP39-2s.

emd_16645 wrote:A few were repossessed by Helm in the early 90s due to defaulting on payments. Four of the GP38s (255, 256, 258, 263) left this way.

Do you happen to have a source for that information? I'm not questioning your honesty, and I've heard that from other people as well, but I've never seen or heard a reliable source... e.g. newspaper clipping, or anything in print. So I'm just wondering if it's hearsay that has gotten passed on over and over again.

http://www.trainweb.org/emdloco/

Shows the units going to Helm. I'd have to do some digging to find where I got the information from about the units being repossessed.

I also show B&M GP40s 320, 321, 323, 324, 341 leaving the same way.

The 256, 258 and 263 are still rostered with HELM as HLCX units.

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20071 ... 126546.jpg

The color in the rain on this unit is amazing! Wouldn't it be nice if Guilford did heritage units... just dreaming again as always