Just got interested in B&O and got a B&O SD 9, B&O SD 7 (thanks ED) and a B&O GP 30. After reading a post by Road Slug I saw B&O ran there tunnel motor engines long hood forward. Well I can sort of see that with the SD’s.
But, did they run the GP 30 long hood forward? That would just be stupid with the windshield if you ask me! But backing up would be easy in the yard to pick up a train.
Did they run the long hood forward in case there was a derailment or a head on?
Breaking in the GP 30 backwards just in case and now I need to re speed-match the SD’s! [|(]
The B&O did have some passenger GP7s and/or GP9s with control stands on both sides of the cab, but, IIRC, even these had the long hood end designated as the front.
After the B&O/C&O “merger” the C&O sent some GP7s or GP9s over to the B&O. They were set up with the short hood as the front. I don’t remember if any of them ever got lettered for B&O or not. They were good engines, even if they were “backwards”
I once operated a Conrail Geep (35, I think) with a low nose and the control stand placed to operate long hood forward. At first I thought it was odd, but soon realized I could easily see trackside signals regardless of which direction I was running.
Conrail had some ex-PC GP38-2s with low short hoods but set up to run long hood front. Word was they were ordered that way to make them sort of bi-directional without the expense of a second control stand. I guess it worked out OK as don’t remember anybody complaining about them.
Come to think of it, Conrail also had at least a few GE engines with the same arrangement. Don’t know where they came from. PC?
First let’s get the facts straight…The C&O took control of the B&O by buying 51% of its stock…The merger did not come until '86 or '87 under CSX…C&O and B&O operated independently of each other.B&O took control of the WM…None of the Chessie roads was merged under the Chessie banner… The Chessie System was the parent company of the C&O,B&O and WM.
The C&O also sent other units besides the Geeps…F7s I believe.
Ken, not sure what make the GP30 is, however, it is most likely 14:1 gearing (P2K) as is most newer offerings. Your P2K SD 7/9s are 18:1 they run great but prototypically quite slow. If you don’t mind “slowing” that GP30 to play well w/ them that’s fine. About any other EMD GP 7/9, 35, 38 and especially the bulk of the roster (GP40 and dash2) offered in B&O will be quite comparable in speed to that GP30 out of the box. So if you do decide to collect Atlas, P2K, Athearn and other B&O, you will need to set the speed back to defaut to work w/ may be the majority of your future B&O fleet. I find the same situation w/ my Chessie P2K SD50s as they run close to the SD7. Many times I like to run one of the many Atlas Geeps, The Atlas runs much faster and I find the only way it plays well in consist is to place it behind so that it pulls the majority of the train helping to slow it somewhat. I won’t speed match (slow down) 30+ engines just to occasionally run w/ the half dozen SDs. I don’t mind an older GP40 etc trailing the newer SD50s.
A few spotting features for the ex-C&O geeps: (1) They had their bell mounted directly above the headlight on the short hood; (2) they often still had their original side ‘skirts’ over the fuel tank; (3) the horns are mounted on the short hood, engineer’s side, and (4) their spark arrestors were not the “mushroom” shaped type used on most early B&O EMD units, but rather like a double “T” platform ( you can see one in the photo of #6666).
Also these exC&O Geeps carried their C&O numbers…IMHO it would be better to use the numbers and the normal C&O spotting features and some of these Geeps that was painted into Chessie colors had the Chessie Cat emblem on the nose of the short hood while the Chessie B&O Geeps had the Cat on the nose of the long hood.
It gets better.
If one models the Chessie they need to run a number reference to ensure the proper road name and color since the number sequence for a locomotive class could vary from locomotive to the next and back again…Example: C&O,C&O,B&O,B&O WM and then back to C&O or C&O,B&O and then back to C&O…
All SD40-2s was sublettered for the B&O,all GP39s was C&O.There are other locomotives that carried one road name such as WM BL2s.
Be sure to use the Chessie Photo archives for number and road name reference.
Ken,IIRC C&O never had Geeps in the 6600 series…I believe they stopped with 6400.
I had a company roster booklet but,can’t locate the fool thing…I’m sure its in one of my storage totes in the basement along with my Chessie books.
I saved the booklet from being tossed by the power desk clerk-it was outdated(a CSX thing) but,gives the tonnage ratings for each class of engine it also includes the restrictions-curves,rail,speed etc.
That’s why I put “merger” in quotes. It’s a B&O thing. As a C&O man you wouldn’t understand[;)]
There were also C&O EMD yard shifters used on the B&O, including some of the cabless calf units in the Baltimore area. IIRC that was several years after the “merger”, but before the (no quotes) merger.
That’s right Larry, but the B&O did! [swg] They re-numbered some of the earlier gp9’s they got from C&O, here’s another example - note the bell, spark arrestors, horn placement…http://rr-fallenflags.org/bo/bo6670goa.jpg
I don’t remember any tunnel motors on the B&O. Seems like they were a little farther west than B&O territory. GP-30’s ran low hood forward in road service unless they were trailing units or unless doing some switching. They sure looked great in the Sunburst paint scheme! Roger Huber Deer Creek Locomotive Works
