High-hood GE's?

[SSW9389]

There were 10 UD18s with high short hoods exported to Mexico by GE in 1956. The two U25B (XP24) demos of 1959 were high short hood. If there is someone who knows GE’s export business from the late 1950s I am sure many more examples of high short hood GEs will be found. Y’all just scratchin’ at the surface of this subject.

ALCO built 83 high short hood RSX-4s for GE in 1953. You more commonly refer to them as ALCO MRS-1s. ALCO was GE’s subcontractor on this military contract. Scratch, scratch.

[wgnrr]

The GBW had at least one, and possibly two RS-2/3s that were chop-nosed and re-classified as “RS-20”. I assume there was some re-engine work done as well. One was working their Mason St. yard in Green Bay when I was there in 1991. I’m unaware of any other lines that did that to RS-2/3’s.

The Delaware & Hudson Rwy. lowered the short hoods also when they rebuilt some of theirs with Model 251 engines. Also Penn Central and Conrail removed the short hood when they rebuilt some with EMD 12 cyl. 567B engines salvaged from scrapped E-units.

GB&W also stuck a 251 in their RS-20s.

Along with the GB&W…

–The D&H had their RS3us

–Amtrak had a couple RS3ms rebuilt with a EMD 567

–The British Columbia Railroad had a few chopped RS3s

–The Atlanta & St. Andrews Bay had a few chopped RS-1s (really odd ducks)

–The Milwaukee Road had their RSC-2Ms

–The TTI had a RS3 with EMD guts

–Alberni Pacific 8427 is a low nose, and might have a different prime mover (if not, IDK what happened to it)

–The Detroit Mackinac had 2 RS3Ms rebuilt by M-K

–The Little Rock & Western had one that was rebuilt by the GB&W

–Continental Grain might have had one…

Any additions???

Phil

[wmiller263]

Hey guys, don’t forget GE’s High-hood E-33’s of Virginian, New Haven, Penn Central, & Conrail lineage. Also GE’s E-44 of Pennsylvania, Penn Central, and let’s throw in a few GG-1’s.

[Cris_261]

Regarding N&W’s high-hood U28B and U30B models, did both models live out their 15 year lifespan on their original owner, or did N&W get rid of them early? Just wondering as I recall seeing a photo of a former N&W U30B in N de M colors in the Diesel Locomotive Rosters book from the early eighties.

[Anonymous]

yes the frisco had high hood u-25s these engines also had the control stand mounted from

the ceiling rather than to the floor.

A former Frisco Engineer

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

This website shows various high-hood GE export models (among other things): http://www.locopage.net./ge.htm

I checked this site and found high-hoods in South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Greece and Spain. Especially interesting are the endcab models that look like miniaturized FM switchers.

[SSW9389]

Thanks for the link Paul, that is some excellent work on GE Exports there.

This website shows various high-hood GE export models (among other things): http://www.locopage.net./ge.htm

I checked this site and found high-hoods in South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Greece and Spain. Especially interesting are the endcab models that look like miniaturized FM switchers.

[NSlover92]

yes the frisco had high hood u-25s these engines also had the control stand mounted from

the ceiling rather than to the floor.

A former Frisco Engineer

Really, I would love to see some in cab shots of these locos, Mike

[Flint_Hills_Tex]

This website shows various high-hood GE export models (among other things): http://www.locopage.net./ge.htm

I checked this site and found high-hoods in South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Greece and Spain. Especially interesting are the endcab models that look like miniaturized FM switchers.

I’ve got a great book called U-Boats by Greg McDonnell. According to the author, after discontinuing their collaboration with Alco, GE disguised their efforts to enter the domestic diesel market by claiming that they were building for the export market. This gave them the chance to work out most bugs before touring the country with demonstrator sets. Other than the UD18 demonstrators, the first 19 U25Bs built were high nose; UP bought 11, while the remaining 8 were sold to the Frisco. The first low-nose U25B left the Erie shop in February 1962. After that, all series U25Bs were low nosed.

[SSW9389]

. . . and the two high short hood XP24s which were actually the first U25Bs built, though never sold by GE. So there were 21 U25Bs with the high short hood.

This website shows various high-hood GE export models (among other things): http://www.locopage.net./ge.htm

I checked this site and found high-hoods in South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Greece and Spain. Especially interesting are the endcab models that look like miniaturized FM switchers.

I’ve got a great book called U-Boats by Greg McDonnell. According to the author, after discontinuing their collaboration with Alco, GE disguised their efforts to enter the domestic diesel market by claiming that they were building for the export market. This gave them the chance to work out most bugs before touring the country with demonstrator sets. Other than the UD18 demonstrators, the first 19 U25Bs built were high nose; UP bought 11, while the remaining 8 were sold to the Frisco. The first low-nose U25B left the Erie shop in February 1962. After that, all series U25Bs were low nosed.

[MILW205]

. . . and the two high short hood XP24s which were actually the first U25Bs built, though never sold by GE. So there were 21 U25Bs with the high short hood.

This website shows various high-hood GE export models (among other things): http://www.locopage.net./ge.htm

I checked this site and found high-hoods in South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Greece and Spain. Especially interesting are the endcab models that look like miniaturized FM switchers.

I’ve got a great book called U-Boats by Greg McDonnell. According to the author, after discontinuing their collaboration with Alco, GE disguised their efforts to enter the domestic diesel market by claiming that they were building for the export market. This gave them the chance to work out most bugs before touring the country with demonstrator sets. Other than the UD18 demonstrators, the first 19 U25Bs built were high nose; UP bought 11, while the remaining 8 were sold to the Frisco. The first low-nose U25B left the Erie shop in February 1962. After that, all series U25Bs were low nosed.

IIRC there was a Trains article a couple of years ago showing one of the XP24’s still at the factory, being used for paint testing purposes; and clamoring (understandably) that the unit be preserved. Does anyone know what the current status of that historic unit is?

[SSW9389]

Scrapped.

. . . and the two high short hood XP24s which were actually the first U25Bs built, though never sold by GE. So there were 21 U25Bs with the high short hood.

This website shows various high-hood GE export models (among other things): http://www.locopage.net./ge.htm

I checked this site and found high-hoods in South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Greece and Spain. Especially interesting are the endcab models that look like miniaturized FM switchers.

I’ve got a great book called U-Boats by Greg McDonnell. According to the author, after discontinuing their collaboration with Alco, GE disguised their efforts to enter the domestic diesel market by claiming that they were building for the export market. This gave them the chance to work out most bugs before touring the country with demonstrator sets. Other than the UD18 demonstrators, the first 19 U25Bs built were high nose; UP bought 11, while the remaining 8 were sold to the Frisco. The first low-nose U25B left the Erie shop in February 1962. After that, all series U25Bs were low nosed.

IIRC there was a Trains article a couple of years ago showing one of the XP24’s still at the factory, being used for paint testing purposes; and clamoring (understandably) that the unit be preserved. Does anyone know what the current status of that historic unit is?

[Ted_Marshall]

Scrapped.

…Unceremoniously[V]

[Flint_Hills_Tex]

Also of interest were the GE U50s, a 4 truck, 2 prime mover, 5,000 hp model built for UP (23 units sold) and 3 or 4 for the SP. If you can find a photo, these are definitely the first wide cab units!

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The U50’s and U50C’s are not the only GE’s with a bus-like cab. Pacific National in Australia has a fleet of CV40-9i’s: http://locopage.railpage.org.au/photos/PacificNationalNR13.jpg

for the specs: http://locopage.railpage.org.au/sra/pn_nr.html