BAR switching power

[Cowford]

A couple of questions about the old B&A diesel-electric roster. 1) How long did the the F-3B units survive before being sold to the Pennsy? 2) Why did the road buy a slug of SW-9s in 1972? Half (five) of them were reportedly sold three years later. Was this an attempt to get into the rebuild/resale market?

[S1f3432]

None of the books in my library listed a date for the sale of the F3B's altho they all mention the sale
to the PRR. One photo of a line of F3A's at Northern Maine Junction dated September 1958 mentioned
the B's were all gone by that date. A PRR roster I found online claims the sale was in 1951 when the units
were 3 years old: http://pennsyrr.com/kc/data/diesels/detail.php?q=9530B" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In the book "Bangor and Aroostook", by Angier and Cleaves, 1986, it is stated that the SW9's were
purchased in 1972 to release road units to be leased to other railroads which resulted in an annual
income of $300,000. It goes on to mention leases of GP7's to PC, CP, LIRR, LV and BCOL. It is curious
that 6 of the units were resold within 3 years. Hope this helps.

[Cowford]

Thank you!

[fogg1703]

The only info I have in regards to when F3B 600B-603B were sold to the PRR was sometime before 1958.

As for the P&LE SW-9's:
According to George Melvin's excellent book BAR in Color Volume 2 a direct quote from Walter Travis, then Asst Executive Vice president said "We're working at the leasing business. During the past year and a half, we've examined any idea that would bring us extra dollars." The leasing of 10 geeps to LV, BCOL, CN and CP brought in $500,000 in 1973 which took care of any surplus locomotives. Of the 10 SW-9's bought from P&LE in 9/72, 3 immediately went to work the hump in Allentown on lease, 3 came and stayed on the BAR (32, 33, 36) and the remainder were leased by various roads before being sold off before 1975. The purchase of the SW-9's "allowed the BAR to operate during the winter without recalling any of the geeps." According to any other reading on the subject, it would appear that the lease units received very little if any repair or modifications from the P&LE days, save for a small BAR stencil, in fact some never made it to Maine.