MPI’s HSP46 and MP32PH-Q have now been released, and pictures are on the web:
Some I found;
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=454654&nseq=8
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3600117
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3603212
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3638788
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3658842
Thank you to all the photographers!
Any thoughts?
Thanks for posting!
Well, I think they’re all ugly as sin, but what the hell, the average commuter doesn’t care what the locomotive pulling his or her train looks like, just as long as it gets them where they want to be.
According to reports on other sites the first delivery unit of the MPI/GE locomotives for the MBTA has just been delivered to the contract shop which is setting them up;The Providence & Worcester R.R’s main shops in Worcester, Ma.
Apparently it was the second unit built, the first is at the AAR test facility in Colorado.
The SunRail power looks like the offspring of an MP36 and an SD45. The noses of the various locomotives may not have the panache of a bulldog nose or flatnose but they do meet crashworthiness requirements, something that wasn’t around when the old noses were being built.
I’m impressed by the engineering involved to shoehorn the MP8 into the NYCTA’s clearance diagram.
Thanks for posting! More design in these than in many other American diesels…
I’d say GP40X with Blombergs…[;)]
That said, it is an interesting “locosmash”. Currently there aren’t many HSP46 photos online, but I’ll keep looking.
Naaaah, it was made with the parts left over from making the GP40FH-2s… ;-}
Aaaah Yes…the FH-2s. Probably one of the most interesting “locomotive combinations” I’ve seen. People say they’re ugly, but I think they are beautiful in their own way. I think the cabs from the F45s went to the GP40WH-2s. Speaking of odd diesel combinations, take a look at this! Apparently there are at least three of them, and they are successful. But not something I would think of!
Just an SD38 on tri-mount trucks… Acutally looks like it might be an SDL38 with the short frame.
I believe it is the hood, cab and prime mover of a geep mounted on the trucks, fuel tank, frame, and traction motors of a GE U18C. (See the locomotive behind it to compare the pilot and frame).
The Sunrail unit is a recycled ex-MARC GP-40 with new cab.
That is unfortunate, the GP40WH-2s were much better looking! Hope one gets preserved.
An update, more HSP46 pictures are online; thanks to the photographers.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3575857
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3669104
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3679141
Don’t see the ‘burgular bars’ that MBTA seems to afix to all their locomotives.
Recent photos I have seen indicate they have vanished from F40PHs, as well.
It’s been years since I’ve seen an MBTA unit with “Ghetto Bars”. It has also been a long time since I’ve heard any reports of serious damage to a locomotive by miscreants dropping debris off of bridges.
I suspect that is a combination of factors: The railroad overpasses have improved fencing (solid barriers in the case of bridges over the NEC catenary) and increased law enforcement efforts by both the Boston P.D and MBTA own police force.
Back in the “bad old days” there were injuries and (IIRC) at least one fatality from attacks on trains in the Boston area involving chunks of concrete and other heavy objects dropped from above…
What unit is that for MTA?
The unit in this picture?
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3600117
That is a MP8AC-3 for the NYC Subway system, where it is an R156.