Can someone please tell me if any railroads are still using the U30C 's or have they all gone to the big railroad in the sky??? If there are any left , where are they now . ?? Are there any preserved.??? CPPedler
The Reading Company Technical and Historical Society has one of the Reading’s U30C locomotives. I do not believe that it is currently operable, but they are restoring it.
The vast majority did not make it to 1990, but there are alway stragglers.
Is the LS&I using U30C or C30-7? I believe most are ex BN.
Most U30C’s are long gone on the Class 1 roads. There were two versions:
Early - Longer battery boxes, sometimes a small ‘fillet’ from the radiator to the carbody, and many had the infamous 16 position 1/2 notch throttle.
Late - Later production usually had a standard 8 notch throttle, smaller battery boxes, and lost the ‘fillet’.
in 1972, GE came out wth the ‘XR’ series of options. Carbody changed little…
In 1977, the ‘Dash 7’ line was released, and the U30C was replaced by the C30-7. Even the C30-7 is getting rare to find.
Jim
The EMD SD40-2 came out just 5 years after the U30C, and most are still going strong - tells me something about GE quality !!!
The ‘U boat’ line of engines, as well as the ‘Dash 7’ line were many times considered junk and therefore have little resale value. GE really ‘got it right’ with the ‘Dash 8’ line of engines, and the Dash 8-C40 was their ‘standard’. There really has been no serious attempt at rebuilding GE’s other than GE’s own ‘Super 7’ program. Maybe some day we will marvel at 30+ year old ‘Dash 8’ engines still running, but in the meantime get your photo’s of those SD40-2’s!
Jim
The U30Cs were crushed by the superiority of the SD40-2. The good 'ole 40-2s still have another good 20+ years ahead of them, so we don’t have to worry about them dying off any time soon.
One question, do any RR’s still use C30-7s? I know CSX still used them in 1995.
Start worrying - BNSF is retiring thiers, and UP is converting them into SD38-2 for yard service…
Stop worrying - the regional roads (such as DME & ICE) are buying them up !!!
Also “rental” companies, such as FURX.
THEY know a good thing when they see it !!!
It wouldn’t surprise me to find some of those U30C’s (maybe now U30BB’s) running in Brazil or other places in South America. They’ve got a lot of -7s and are now getting SD40(T)-2s as well.
And a -9 here and there.
C30-7. if i can locate my roster book i’ll see if i can find any C30s on any rosters.
I’ll second that one George. I think DME & ICE start drooling anytime somebody gets the idea about getting rid of their fleet of SD40-2s.
Josh