B&M TEBUs (slugs)

Kinda interested in this concept.
Does anyone know how many were built and what happened to them (it?)
I have a copy of the original proposal for the TEBU project, and it seemed like a "can't miss" project!
Thanks for the help!

The B&M had only one road slug, numbered 100, which was rebuilt at Billerica from a Union Pacific GP9 in 1983. It ran as part of a trio with parent units 300 and 301 (GP40-2s), usually working between Portland and Mechanicville/Rotterdam Junction. It apparently wasn't a huge success because it was retired fairly early in the Guilford era after having run for only a year or two.

Tom, B&M had planned to make more from various dead units, like the last of the F units. Keep in mind that the slug program was before Guilford. The 300 class were kept in standard 3 unit sets. The slug was to remove 1 300 from each set, then have extra units handy. Before the program really began to roll, Guilford came in. Now the 300s could be found anywhere from Pot Yard, to Mattewamkeak. They were mixed with any kind of power available too. In this mix and match power assignment, the slug was not very flexible. There was just one power block. It could not be made bigger, or smaller. With conventional units, more could be added, or subtracted, depending on need. The need was based on tonnage.

Thanks for the info. A futher question...does anyone know if Guilford still has this road slug?
Do they use it?

CHECKIT wrote:Thanks for the info. A futher question...does anyone know if Guilford still has this road slug?
Do they use it?

As I wrote above, it was retired more than twenty years ago after a relatively short life and was later scrapped.

TomNelligan wrote:

CHECKIT wrote:Thanks for the info. A futher question...does anyone know if Guilford still has this road slug?
Do they use it?

As I wrote above, it was retired more than twenty years ago after a relatively short life and was later scrapped.

The scrapping of BM 100 actually happened somewhat recently... within the last 3-5 years, I believe. There are plenty of photos of it on the NERAIL Photo Archive, including "after" photos from right after it was scrapped.

TomNelligan,
Thanks. Your prior post only mentioned that it was retired. Knowing how Guilford can be, it could have well been sitting out behind a shop somewhere!

Good Afternoon,

Is there a source (other than the files at UMass Lowell) for the specs for B&M 100?
I am interested in scratch building an HO model of it and I would like to know the height of the hood, the location of the doors, and all of the other unique details.

Has anyone built (or seen) a model of this unit?

Thank you very much,
Stephen

The 300's you see now are not the same as the two that ran with the slug.

doublebell wrote:The 300's you see now are not the same as the two that ran with the slug.

Correct. The original BM GP40-2s were returned to the lessor, and eventually replaced by ex-Conrail GP40s (non Dash-2).

doublebell wrote:The 300's you see now are not the same as the two that ran with the slug.

Yes, that's what I understood. I am interested in the details of the (now long gone) TEBU (#100).

Thanks,
Stephen

There was an article in Model Railroader in the late 80s I think, pretty sure the author was Carl Carlson, on modeling it. The big thing is to start with a geep 7/9 frame and trucks, and then the top was 12' over the railhead. There are a fair amount of photos of it out there, and the B&M Bulletin had an article on it that was 3 or 4 pages I think.

SLR 393 wrote:There was an article in Model Railroader in the late 80s I think, pretty sure the author was Carl Carlson, on modeling it. The big thing is to start with a geep 7/9 frame and trucks, and then the top was 12' over the railhead. There are a fair amount of photos of it out there, and the B&M Bulletin had an article on it that was 3 or 4 pages I think.

Great, thank you very much, I'll look for the moderl railroader article and B&M Bulletin article. Does anyone know about when the B&M Bulletin article was run.

Thanks!

Stephen

Stephen-
The March 1985 B&M Bulletin has a two-page article by the late H. Bentley Crouch titled " 'Sluggo,' Nancy and Fritz," a reference to the "Nancy" comic strip of more than long ago that had Sluggo as one of its characters. The article may have been only two pages in length, but as was standard for the author, it was crammed with information, including one of his photos showing the slug set plus another original 300 on MEPO passing Lowell tower.

jaymac wrote:Stephen-
The March 1985 B&M Bulletin has a two-page article by the late H. Bentley Crouch titled " 'Sluggo,' Nancy and Fritz," a reference to the "Nancy" comic strip of more than long ago that had Sluggo as one of its characters. The article may have been only two pages in length, but as was standard for the author, it was crammed with information, including one of his photos showing the slug set plus another original 300 on MEPO passing Lowell tower.

Thank you very much! I will get that issue as soon as I can.

- Stephen