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  • Pan Am GE DASH 8 Locomotives

  • Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1438929  by DogBert
 
johnpbarlow wrote:By all accounts I've seen, the GE-PAR lease deal seems to be a big win for Billerica (esp with GE doing maintenance). But given the prolific discussion on this forum of how little capital $ PAR management spends or has available to spend, why did GE strike this deal? Does GE regard it as low risk in that if PAR fails to live up to terms, GE will just reclaim the units? Or is there some other Pan Am asset securing the deal?
Another angle here is GE's number crunchers probably found it won't cost them anything, and it could be used to market other used GEs to other regions & short lines: "dump your tired old EMDs, take our GEs at a low price - save big on fuel & maintenance'. I could be way off but that's my theory. it cold also be as simple as 'what do they have to lose'? All of this power was going to be scrapped otherwise.
 #1438973  by MEC407
 
Do any of the Dash 8-40Bs that PAR is acquiring still have their red marker lights intact? If I'm not mistaken, the ex-NYSW ones also were originally delivered with orange bacons on the cab roofs — are any of those still intact?
 #1440335  by MEC407
 
Photo by Steve Weckstrom:

http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=239386" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1440365  by amtrakhogger
 
Since they are lettered for MEC, how about an Independence Class repaint
like the U18's?
 #1440432  by MEC407
 
I'm in favor of that, especially if one of them is renumbered 407. :-D
 #1440981  by amtrakhogger
 
newpylong wrote:mec 7552 in New pan am paint at wtvl
Good, anybody have pics yet?
 #1440985  by KSmitty
 
Surprisingly still numbered 7552...

Its the standard Pan Am dip blue body and black underframe. With one exception, the cab roof is white. Looks pretty nice. They are supposed to have done a real bang up job with it, lots of bodywork and some other "extras" so it has likely been picked to be the "show model."
 #1440986  by jaymac
 
White cab roof + 4-stroke exhaust = Dag!
Numbering might be cuzza GE, the GATX NewBlue 3400s as an example.
 #1440991  by KSmitty
 
jaymac wrote:White cab roof + 4-stroke exhaust = Dag!
Numbering might be cuzza GE, the GATX NewBlue 3400s as an example.
I've heard it has more to do with the computer. They do not have the equipment to change the number in the onboard computer (an issue not previously encountered since these units of theirs built in the digital age). Anyway, FRA says the computer has to show the proper number for the unit. Was hoping they would spring for the program to change that so we could have some MEC 7XX's running around...
 #1440994  by jaymac
 
by KSmitty » Wed Aug 16, 2017 3:34 p
I've heard it has more to do with the computer. They do not have the equipment to change the number in the onboard computer (an issue not previously encountered since these units of theirs built in the digital age). Anyway, FRA says the computer has to show the proper number for the unit. Was hoping they would spring for the program to change that so we could have some MEC 7XX's running around..
That makes too much sense, especially the part about them not being equipped to change the numbers.
 #1441006  by amtrak-wnd
 
KSmitty wrote:I've heard it has more to do with the computer. They do not have the equipment to change the number in the onboard computer (an issue not previously encountered since these units of theirs built in the digital age). Anyway, FRA says the computer has to show the proper number for the unit. Was hoping they would spring for the program to change that so we could have some MEC 7XX's running around...
Just wondering, didn't these all arrive on Pan Am with GECX 9000 series marks? Someone had to have changed them at some point because they all show up as MEC 7500 series on the system now.

Anyway it's easier to keep the numbers they already registered them under than go in and change them again.
 #1441009  by 690
 
GECX numbers were just temporary transit numbers; the numbers were never changed in the computers.
jaymac wrote:
That makes too much sense, especially the part about them not being equipped to change the numbers.
Why would they be? These are their first engines that have onboard computer equipment, and at the end of the day, the number isn't relevant to whether it can pull a train or not.
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