The GP-30 sits at the top of my list. Not exactly sure why it became my favorite engine...
maybe the different look to the lines... Maybe because it was a most impressive engine to me when
I first saw it come through Tyler Texas on the Cotton Belt in the early 60's...
The E-33 was the Penn Central and Conrail's designation for the engine. which started out life as a Virginian EL-C.
Used to watch these things as a kid from my grandparents apartment building in
the Queens, adjacent to the New Haven tracks heading for Hell Gate bridge.
A clear shot all the way up, with no obstructions, very cool, and with the binoculars
my grandfather had, you could watch the train action two miles away on the bridge
and the NB semaphore at Hell Gate change with the passing freight! And
yes, I know they aren't all designated as E-33's, but.....
Another diesel the New Haven used is also one of my favorites.... After the NH retired
the EF-4's, they replaced them on the runs out of Brooklyn with RS-11's, also known as a DL-701.
Now let's fast forward to the 2000's, and we love EMD's SD-70 and SD-90's. While GE's
"Dash-9's" equivalents are nice, but again, I stick with the GM version of these behemoths!
Not to be outdone by modern stuff, the Nickel Plate Berkshire 759 won my heart when I was 17,
and chased it coming back from the 100th anniversary of the Golden Spike Centennial out west, painted
up in the American Railroads baby blue and yellow paint scheme!
The GP30 was conceived out of the necessity of
matching new competitor GE's U25B. The U25B offered 2,500 hp
(1,860 kW) while EMD's GP20 and its 567D2 prime mover was only rated
at 2,000 hp (1,490 kW). The U25B also featured a sealed, airtight
long hood with a single inertial air intake for electrical cooling,
with a pressurized cooling system which kept dust out of the engine
and equipment area. Finally, the entire GE design was
optimized for ease of access and maintenance. The U25B
demonstrators were receiving much praise—and orders—from the
railroads that tested them. Meanwhile, ALCO had been producing the
2,400 hp (1,800 kW) RS-27 since 1959, though it had not sold well.
EMD's engineering department pushed their DC
traction system for an extra 250 hp (186 kW). The 2,250 hp
(1,680 kW) wasn't quite equivalent to the GE and ALCO offerings, but
EMD hoped the railroads' familiarity with EMD equipment would
improve their chances. The locomotive in which it would be
fitted was improved along the lines of the U25B; sealed long hood,
central air intake, and engineered for easier maintenance access.
The frame and trucks of the GP20 were carried across; the extra
equipment for the centralized air system required more space behind
the cab, and since the locomotive was not going to be lengthened,
extra space was achieved vertically by raising the height of the
locomotive, giving room for the central air system, turbocharger and
electrical cabinet all behind the cab. This extra height
behind the cab meant that the body style used for previous GP units
was not suitable.
Since EMD needed the new locomotive to be
visibly modern and updated, they turned to the GM Automotive Styling
Center at Troy, Michigan for help. The automobile stylists created
the GP30's trademark "hump" and cab roof profile. The
hump-like bulge started at the front of the cab and enveloped the
air intakes for the central air system and the dynamic brake
blister. Units ordered without dynamic brakes were the same
shape, but lacked the intakes to cool the dynamic brake resistor
grids.
A high short hood could be ordered, but only
holdouts Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway received
such units. EMD originally planned to name the locomotive the
GP22, but EMD's marketing department decided to leapfrog GE's
numbering to make the new locomotive seem more advanced. Marketing
literature claimed 30 distinct improvements from the GP20 and that
this was the reason for the number.
Sales and in service:
The GP30 successfully countered the
GE threat and kept EMD in the dominant position in the
North American diesel market. While losing a
little power to the GE and ALCO competition, the
solidity and reliability of the GP30—and the familiarity
of railroad mechanical departments with EMD
products—ultimately won many more orders for EMD. 948
were sold, in comparison to 476 U25Bs. In
addition, the GP30 was only sold until the end of 1963,
while the U25B was available until 1966.
Most major railroads ordered GP30s,
and many smaller ones did too. The largest orders
were from the SOU (120), UP (111), ATSF (85), and the
B&O (77).
The sole purchaser of B units (by
the mid 1960s generally an outdated concept) was the UP,
who kept the practice of running its locomotives in
matched sets much longer than others. Eight of those
GP30B units were fitted with steam generators for
heating passenger trains, the only GP30s to receive
them. Prior to Amtrak, UP would use a GP30 and two
boiler equipped GP30Bs on passenger trains when no E8s
or E9s were available.
Some units for the GM&O, MILW and
SOO were built with from ALCO trade-ins and ride on ARR
type B trucks instead of the standard Blomberg Bs.
An indisputable tribute to the quality of the GP30
design is the fact that a good number are still in
service as of 2007, which is a service lifespan of over
40 years and well in excess of the design life of 25–30
years for the average diesel locomotive.
Furthermore, when life-expired, some railroads chose to
give them major rebuilds instead of scrapping them.
Specifically, the Burlington
Northern rebuilt GP30 (and GP35) units to the
specifications of the later GP39. These rebuilds
(known as GP39Es, GP39Ms and GP39Vs) came not only from
the ranks of the units the BN inherited from its own
merger, but from the Union Pacific, Southern Pacific,
SAL, and others.
The Chessie System rebuilt its GP30
units into GP30Ms, and they lasted with CSX into the
mid-to-late 1990s, long after Seaboard System GP30s had
been sold, retired and scrapped, or turned into road slugs.
Rebuilds:
The Burlington Northern Railroad
was the most extensive user of rebuilt of GP30s.
Finding a need for modernized units of lower power, it
sent GP30s, both its own and units purchased from other
railroads, to be rebuilt. Seventy units were sent
to EMD, 65 to Morrison Knudsen (now Washington Group
International) and 25 to VMV for rebuilding, and the
rebuilds are known as GP39E, GP39M, and GP39V
respectively. The changes included new generators,
Dash-2 modular electronic control systems and 567D3
engines upgraded with EMD 645-series power assemblies,
rated at 2,300 hp (1,720 kW) and designated 12-645D3.
These units are still in service on local and smaller
lines throughout the BNSF Railway system.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
Railway (ATSF) had previously, performed a similar
upgrade in its own Cleburne, Texas shops, stripping the
locomotives down to bare metal and rebuilding with new
equipment. The 567D3 engines were upgraded to a
2500 horsepower rating by the use of 645-series power
assemblies. The generators and traction motors
were upgraded and control and electrical equipment was
replaced. The trucks received Hyatt roller
bearings and single-clasp brake systems. Rooftop air
conditioners and new horns were added. The
locomotives were repainted in the blue and yellow
Yellowbonnet scheme, and designated GP30u (for
upgraded). 78 of these survived until the BNSF
merger, and most are still in use in secondary service.
The Soo Line Railroad rebuilt three
GP30s with CAT 3515 engines rated at 2,000 horsepower
(1.49 MW). These were designated GP30C,
My favorite electric engine. I know I'm wrong calling ALL of the models as
the E-33, but what the heck, it's my page and it rolls off the tongue easier :-)
The E-33 is supposed to be the only engine that wore the colors of five Class 1 railroads:
-- the Virginian
-- the Norfolk & Western
-- the New Haven
-- Penn Central
-- and finally, Conrail.
AI got got right, for once.
As for models:
-- Bachman came out with all five road names in HO, maybe around 2010? Not sure. Got all 5 of them puppies!
-- Someone brought New Haven 301 and 302 out in HO brass in the early to mid 90's. They went for $625 at the time. Got #301, been looking for #302.
-- MTH brought them out in 7 O-scale versions in the early 2000's?, got the VGN and NH ones. The PRR and NYC never had them, BTW.
A few shots of New Haven freights in Queens, about a mile and
a half from Hell Gate bridge. The left picture shows southbound E-33's in
10/68 - a year later they were gone as evidenced in the right picture.
These pictures were taken when I was in my teens when I would stay with my
grandparents over the summer. Nice view from the sixth floor of the apartment
building - trains, planes, and subways! These are scans of Instamatic
pictures, which were square 35mm pictures. If I had taken the picture a second earlier, we also would have
a plain view of the semaphore blocked by the pantograph!
3 of the pictures are of Bachman's HO scale loco's
About the EL-C / EF-4 / E-33
The Virginian EL-C was a type of electric locomotive built
for the Virginian Railway by General Electric in August 1955. They were
the first successful production locomotives to use Ignitron (mercury arc)
rectifier technology. Although they proved to be a very successful design,
no more EL-C's were ever built, due to the small number of railroads that had
electrification and the advent of improved electric locomotive technology.
The Virginian electrified a section of its line
through the Appalachian mountains in the mid-1920s with a 11,000
volt, 25 Hz AC system. The electrification was widely regarded
as a success, but probably because of its huge cost, the Virginian
never extended this electrification.
The Virginian originally used a fleet of three-unit boxcab
locomotives designated EL-3A. These were supplemented in 1946
by two pairs of two-unit streamlined locomotives designated as
EL-2B. By the 1950s, the EL-3A fleet was becoming
life-expired, and Virginian went to GE for new locomotives as
replacements. The locomotives were delivered to the Virginian
between October 1956 and January 1957 and numbered 130-141. GE used
then-new Ignitron rectifier technology, first used on the
experimental Pennsylvania Railroad E2c and E3b locomotives.
Although this same technology was used with less-than-optimal
success on the earlier EP-5 locomotives built for the New York, New
Haven and Hartford Railroad, it worked flawlessly on the Virginian’s
EL-Cs due to the much larger area available in the EL-C (which
lacked the steam generator/fuel tank and weight restrictions
necessitated in the EP-5).
In December 1959, the Virginian Railway merged
with the Norfolk and Western Railway. The N&W renumbered the
locomotives 230-241. Only one of the locomotives was
repainted, it being No. 235, which required it, after an accident.
The N&W only routed eastbound traffic over the former Virginian,
with all westbound traffic going over the N&W’s original route.
The electrification system became surplus to requirements and was
shut down in June 1962. Locomotive #230 was
rebuilt as a road slug the next month and renumbered 180. All
of the locomotives were sold to the New Haven which classified them
as EF-4, and renumbered them 300-310 (N&W #180 was used as a parts
source for the others). In 1969, new owner Penn Central re-classed
them as E-33 and renumbered the 300-310 as 4601-4610 except for #301 (#301 was
damaged in an accident and scrapped). Retained
and repainted by Conrail, all 10 E-33s were retired at the end of
March 1981 when Conrail shut down its electric freight operations.
My second favorite diesel locomotive is the Alco RS-11, aka a DL-701.
Part of the charm, for me, are those angled/notched noses!
A Penn Central local freight in Cockeysville MD, on a cold winter day back in February, 1972, with RS-11 #7634.
The freight is coming out of an industrial park, headed back up to the mainline siding.
Very little evidence of the siding still exists - as of 2026, there is still some rail showing
thru the pavement where the siding "came out of the hole".
What a difference a month makes! This picture, from March, 1972, is only a
couple hundred feet away from the above photo, with the train being on the
mainline between Baltimore and Harrisburg. If we only knew then what was
coming six months later, this boy would have been out every day taking pictures
along the NC, for that's when hurricane Agnes hit Maryland and tore up the Northern Central.
Up until 2005 or so, the MTA kept a speeder in a small shed on the left side of this grade crossing,
so MOW could inspect the entire north end of the light rail system.
Everything in the picture is completely overgrown now - it's amazing the track
still exists! The "no turn on left sign" disappeared years ago
(maybe 2000?), along with the crossing gate and equipment cabinets.
As of DEC 2006, NS filed for abandonment of the NC line, due to the fact that the
MTA had the line torn up for double tracking and nothing was moving.
You can't really tell from the photo, but those are New Haven DL-701's pulling a northbound Penn
Central freight through Queens, New York in May of 1969. It was really impressive to watch a NB and SB
freight pass each other here, and I never caught it on film :-(
The track is no longer a straight shot,
as they curved the track maybe around~1997??? so they could straighten the terrible "S"
curve on the BQE (on the very left of the photo).
If you notice the jet flying over, my grandparents were also under the approach
for runway 04 at LaGuardia. One time around 2001, I was coming into
LaGuardia on this approach, in the clouds, and popped out just in time to catch
a picture of the apartment building they lived in. That pictures is here
about 2/3 of the way down the page: https://www.railroadsignals.us/trips/trip3/index.htm
759 ran an awful lot of excursions back in the late 60's and early 70's. A lot of them were
based out of Baltimore MD, once it returned from it's engagement as the American
Railroads ambassador to the Centennial celebration in Promontory Utah in May of 1969.
Nickel Plate Road 759 is an S-2 class 2-8-4 Berkshire class fast freight steam locomotive.
NKP 765 is a sister engine and is still running, and Pere Marquette #1225 is
very similar Berkshire with a class designation of N-1 and built in 1941.
Above: 759 crosses Starrucca (AKA Lanesboro) Viaduct in Lanesboro PA, when the
D&H had tracks that ran underneath. The tracks below were removed in 1986 after
work on the Belden Hill Tunnel was completed to allow for high and wide loads.
759 was built in August 1944 by the
Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio for the New York,
Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, better known as the Nickel
Plate Road. 759 was one of 80 2-8-4 Berkshire type
steam locomotives built for the Nickel Plate between
1934 and 1949 for fast freight duties. The Nickel
Plate had 4 sub-classes of 2-8-4s corresponding to which
order the locomotive was in, these were designated S
through S-3, 759, is a member of the third order of
2-8-4s and is therefore an S-2 class.
Much of 759's original career on
the Nickel Plate is obscure at best, but it is known
that in May 1958, 759 entered the Nickel Plate's
Conneaut OH shops for a complete overhaul which turned
out to be the last overhaul of a steam locomotive on the
Nickel Plate. After the overhaul was completed,
759 was never fired up and instead was put into storage.
759 was purchased by steam locomotive enthusiast, F.
Nelson Blount on October 16, 1962 and subsequently moved
to Steamtown U.S.A in North Walpole NH with the rest of
his collection. She would later be moved to
Bellows Falls, VT.
In 1967 a commodities broker from New York named Ross E.
Rowland Jr., who had previously leased another one of
Blount's locomotives, made a deal that would return the
759 to service for steam powered fan trips hosted by
Rowland's High Iron Company. 759 was taken to the
Norfolk & Western Railroad's former Nickel Plate
roundhouse in Conneaut, OH, the same place the 759 was
last serviced. After a short restoration and subsequent
testing, 759 pulled her first excursion for the High
Iron Company on August 30, 1968 when she pulled a 15 car
excursion to Buffalo NY.
In 1969, 759 was painted blue and
gold for a special train celebrating the 100th
anniversary of the driving of the golden spike.
This train, dubbed the Golden Spike Centennial Limited,
would take 759 as far away as Omaha, NE. After
returning home from the Golden Spike Centennial Limited,
759 was returned to her Nickel Plate Road livery and ran
two excursions for Steamtown, one of which was to
Scranton PA, Steamtown's future home.
After a few excursions over the
Boston & Maine and Central Vermont in late 1973, 759 was
placed into storage at the Delaware & Hudson's
roundhouse in Rouses Point, NY for the winter. While she
was in storage, the D&H had neglected to completely
drain the 759's boiler and left water in it which froze
causing a considerable amount of damage to 759's boiler
tubes. As a result, Steamtown sued the D&H for the
damage it caused to the locomotive and won. As
settlement for the damage, the D&H had some repairs made
to the 759 and after some followup work back at
Steamtown, 759 was test fired in 1975. In 1977
some more repairs were made to get 759 legally
operational, but after a boiler flue failed during a
hydrostatic test, it was decided that 759 would remain a
static display.
The 759 would join the rest of the
Steamtown collection in 1984 when it was move from
Bellows Falls, VT to Scranton, PA. After the move to
Scranton, 759 would be placed on display in the former
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western rail yard with the rest
of the collection. In 1988, Steamtown and most of its
collection became part of the newly formed Steamtown
National Historic Site.
Today
Today, NKP #759 is a static display at Steamtown, more
often than not being on display inside the
refurbished DL&W roundhouse. 759 is easily
seen from the walk way Steamtown put inside
the roundhouse to allow visitors to see the
work going on. She is also the largest
locomotive in the roundhouse with only a
foot or two of clearance at either end
making it notoriously difficult if not
impossible to get a photo of the whole locomotive.
759 was one of the two
American built steam locomotives considered
by Steamtown to be restored to operating
condition, the other being Boston & Maine
3713 which was ultimately chosen over 759,
most likely due to clearance issues on the
turntable (in order for 759 to fit, all of
the safety railings that surround the
turntable pit in the areas open to visitors
have to be removed). In 2010, 759 was among
the several steam locomotives in Steamtown's
collection to undergo removal of her
asbestos insulation. Asbestos was used
by railroads and locomotive manufacturers as
boiler insulation. In addition to
having the asbestos removed, 759 had all new
jacketing (cladding in UK terminology)
applied as well as having her bell, which
had been in storage re-installed.
While it is possible for Steamtown restore
759 to operational condition and a lot of
railfans would love to see that happen
Steamtown has stated that they have little
interest in restoring 759, citing that she
is too large for their use and that another
Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4, Nickel Plate 765 is
already operational. For now 759 sits
safely on display out of the elements in
Steamtown's roundhouse.
Disclaimers:
New format 10/26/23: Please check out my disclaimer page for my standard
dribble and contact info here
AI got got right, for once.
3 of the pictures are of Bachman's HO scale loco's
