perhaps another question for jim B. the roster states Milw rd. U30B #6001 was built as U28B #138. what is the history on and whyso of that? thanks, mike.
Another ‘tangled’ story:
The U28B was in production from Jan 1966 - Dec 1966 - I featured a DC main generator and 2800 hp. The U30B started production in May of 1966 and featured an AC main alternator and 3000 hp.
The Milwaukee Road purchased U28B engines, taking delivering Jan 1966 through July 1966. These were delivered as 393-398 & 130-135. In Nov 1966, they took delivery of 4 additional engines numbered 137-140. These were ordered as U28B engines. but upgraded to U30B engines either at the factory, or as a field modification. Additional U30B engines were ordered and numbered 6004-6009. The original 4 transition engines were renumbered starting in Dec 1966 to 6000-6003. They were later again renumbered to the 5600-5609 sometime in the 1970’s to get all GE’s in a common numbering scheme. I think this happened when the U30C engines arrived in Aug of 1974.
So, basically they carried the 6000 series numbers from about Dec 1966 through 1974 when all the GE’s were renumbered again. Those 4 engines just happened to be built as GE was phasing out U28B production…Several other railroads had U28B/U30B upgrades in this transition time as well.
Jim
thank you for a very interesting and helpful history. so #138 only existed as such for about one month then as that number. i wonder why proto2000 modeled such a short lived #. Of course Proto ain’t always on the ball. comes to mind the CNW gp18’s modeled as most gp18’s with 2 48" fans. when the CNW used 4 36" fans from F units. thanks and regards. Mike.
P2K usually numbers the initial release of their models with the ‘delivery’ paint scheme and numbers. Follow-on releases explore later paint schemes/road numbers. Not sure if Walthers still follows that business model.
The C&NW GP18’s used re-cycled parts from F unit trade-in ‘donors’. It is rather impractical for P2K to make a separate shell just for one C&NW order. Some of the Rock Island GP18’s came with the old GP7/9 fuel/air tanks as well!
Jim