MEC GP38 254 leaving Billerica?

Rumor has it that #254 is finally leaving Iron Horse Park in Billerica. Bound for somewhere out west. Anyone have any info?

The 254 is headed to Boise, Idaho minus its fuel tank, trucks
and a few other parts/portions. Loaded on a CP Flatcar and
rumored to be in Lowell at this time.

Probably Motive Power, Inc bought it as a core or for the frame
for some rebuild project. It'll be interesting to see what it ends
up as.

The 259 went to Brookville Equipment and rebuilt as a BL20GH -
Co-Generation unit. May or may not eventually go to Metro-North.

Dave

New set of pictures on NERAIL shows the 254 on the CP flatcar.

Why the air filter box between the DB and cab was removed and
left behind is a mystery. The fuel tank as well.

It lost its trucks ages ago, so there was no need to ship it with
the freight car/shop trucks it rested on since November 1998.

D :P

GP40MC1118 wrote: Why the air filter box between the DB and cab was removed and
left behind is a mystery. The fuel tank as well.

Vertical clearance issues, maybe? Perhaps it would have sat too high on the flat car if the fuel tank had remained underneath the unit... and perhaps they removed the air filter box to further improve vertical clearance. That'd be my best guess.

That's as good as a guess as any, but looking at the photos, the air filter box area really isn't all that higher than the cab roof. I suspect that's
why the fuel tank was removed though.

In a way its too bad it isn't going to Brookville, seeing as how the
259 turned out!

Dave

Mr. Dave Eade posted a photo of the 254 canned on the siding at Hoosac Tunnel Station:

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

The picture gives a really good illustration of the height difference of the 254 compared to the locomotives and the boxcars. Vertical clearance could definitely be an issue as to why the air filter assembly was removed.

Or... maybe they decided to keep it in case the 252 ever needs a new one... or maybe it was removed in order to gain access to other internal parts that needed to be removed, and they felt there was no point in reattaching it...

(I'm 99% certain that the radiator fans were removed long ago to be used on other units)

Now, as far as its destination is concerned:

Rumor has it that it's going to MPI, and that they're going to rebuild it as an MP20B-3 for Pacific Harbor Line. What that means is that it'll have a lot of work done on it, including a brand new Detroit Diesel 2000 HP engine under the hood... but most important of all, it'll still look like a Geep! Here is an idea of what we can expect it to look like when it's finished:

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=838327

That unit is an MP20C-3 -- same concept, except it's six axles instead of four.

I think Pacific Harbor Line is ordering only two 4 axle units.

GO RED SOX

Figured I'd pass this along, former MEC 254 is now Pacific Harbor Lines PHL 21:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPi ... ?id=122084

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:_tI ... clnk&gl=us