I was sitting around and this question popped into my mind. Why does it seem that its a rarity to find GE U boats anywhere, but it seems like there are tons of GP7’s and 9s and SD9’s. I knwo that U boats were built between the 1950’s through the 1970’s and Early EMD’s from even the 1940’s are still chugging along. What’s even funny is that there are even Alco’s running longer than U boats and C30-7’s. What are we going to find in ten years? Dash 9’s deadlines?
Just a thought.
Because when compared to a EMD GP unit the GE U-Boats were pieces of crap. It has only been about ten to fifteen years that GE has been making somewhat reliable units and that is why they have been able to displace EMD as #1 in the business. The older GP units just keep on ticking like a Timex watch but the U-Boats seem to have self destructed after only a few years.
The interesting thing is that the GE’s always were more efficient , if the old U boats were around now they would be in demand. ( until the price of fuel goes own) Too bad they rusted into the ground so quickly. Today there would be clever ways to upgrade them to microprocessor control , eliminate the overly complex GE systems, build in some reliability and have a fine fuel efficient locomotive !
Randy
Randy,
By “efficient” do you mean lower fuel consumption per unit, more work done per unit, or lower fuel comsumption per work done? Just curious.