Why no "B" Units?

NellieBly wrote:The last order of B units of which I'm aware was by Burlington Northern, for 50 or so B30-7 cabless units. The actually didn't last as long as their cab counterparts before being retired. Santa Fe rebuilt some GP60s as B units after derailment damage, and for a while some railroads effectively made B units by plating over the cab windows of certain units and declaring them "non lead qualified". That saved a bit on maintenance and inspection..

The DD35 was never intended to be built with a cab when it was first cataloged by EMD but by request 15 DD35's were built for Union Pacific and 27 DD35's were built with out Cabs for Union Pacific and 3 for Southern Pacific.

As is here is the totals for all Factory built B Units and the dates in which they were built:
GP7B----5----3/53-4/53
GP9B----165-2/54-12/59
GP30B---40--4/63-7/63
SD24B---45--7/59-9/59
DD35B---30--9/63-5/65
F2B-------30--7/46-11/46
F3B------696--7/45-2/49
F7B------1483-2/49-12/53
F9B-----154---1/54-4/57
EB------6------5/37-6/38
E1B-----3-----6/37-4/38
E28-----4-----1/37-12/37
E3B-----2-----3/39-9/39
E4B-----5-----10/38-12/39
E5B-----5-----2/40-3/40
E6B-----26---4/40-2/42
E7B-----82---2/45-4/49
E8B-----39---12/49-5/53
E9B-----44---5/54-12/63
GP60B--23---7/91-9/91

General Electric
B30-7A(B)----120----6/82-10/83

Montreal Locomotive Works
M420B----8----6/75-7/75

ALCO
C-855B---------1---6/64
FB-1------------233---1/46-10/50
FB-1------------16----3/50-8/50
FB-2, FPB-2----227---10/50-6/56
FPB-4-----------14----10/58-3/59
PB-1------------41----6/46-8/49
PB-2------------8-----3/50-5/53

Baldwin
DRS-6-6-15B----1----1950
AS-616B---------1----1951
DR-6-4-20B-----9----1948
DR-6-4-15B-----2----1947-1948
DR-4-4-15B-----47---1947-1950
RF-16B----------51----1950-1953

Fairbanks Morse
B-ERIE---------29----12/45-2/49
CFB-16-4------25----1950-1953
CFB-20-4------3------1950-1953
CPB-16-4------8------1952-1954
CPB-16-5------6------12/54-2/55

USRailFan wrote:

NellieBly wrote:Santa Fe rebuilt some GP60s as B units after derailment damage

Uhm, no. Santa Fe's GP60Bs were delivered as B-units - the last B-units built new in the US.

Correct. They were delivered around the same time as the GP60M's and were meant to be used with them on high speed intermodal jobs. They were the last B units made for the US by EMD or GE.

From a cost standpoint, a B Unit costs upwards of $100,000 less then a cab version. And with that initial cost savings, you also have much less to maintain. No windows to clean and replace, no Climate Control System, no toilet facilities, no seats, doors, gauges, controls, etc etc. But as has been mentioned, the issue is flexibility. With those cost savings, you in turn get a unit that is really only good to be buried inbetween two cabbed units. With todays higher horsepower units, many trains are running with only two units making a B unit more trouble then it's worth.

I caught a rare run a few years ago with 3 GP60's on the point of a Mixed train on CSX once the Lead unit was a Red and Silver GP60M the middle Unit was a Pumpkin GP60B lettered for BNSF and the 3ed was a standered ATSF GP60 in Blue and Yellow vary intresting to see.

On few occations I have seen BNSF GP60B's on CSX mated with anouther BNSF unit and a CSX unit on point of stack trains here in the Central New York area.

Appearently CP has boarded up the windows on some of their SD40s and are using them as B-units.

Tom6921 wrote:Appearently CP has boarded up the windows on some of their SD40s and are using them as B-units.

I've seen a few of these while in North Bay, Ontraio the one that I saw had all but the engineers frount and back cab windows blanked out.

Not just CPR, but lots of railroads have converted units to trail only. Some older units, which are running out the last miles get used in trail only, as cab appliances wear out. Why replace them, when the unit may have a career ending failure soon?