Is there still GE hyrbird on the rails today
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Dylan posted:Is there still GE hyrbird on the rails today
Well, one may be "on the rails" someplace, but I don't believe any are still in operation.
I suppose the real question is did any railroad buy one or was it a proof of concept locomotive whose time has come and gone.
Rusty
Would be quite the catch for a RR museum.
Nobody bought one and I doubt GE will be donating a locomotive they spent several millions developing any time soon.
GE has a LONG history of scrapping anything they no longer have a use for. At least one if not both of the prototype U25Bs sat outside at Erie for YEARS, and then were hauled off for scrap when it should have been donated to a museum, even if it was just an empty shell. I can't think of ANY significant or even interesting GE locomotive product that GE has played a part in preserving.
645 posted:Dieselbob posted:GE has a LONG history of scrapping anything they no longer have a use for. At least one if not both of the prototype U25Bs sat outside at Erie for YEARS, and then were hauled off for scrap when it should have been donated to a museum, even if it was just an empty shell. I can't think of ANY significant or even interesting GE locomotive product that GE has played a part in preserving.
GE did temporarily store restored Chessie System B30-7 #8272 at the Erie plant including having access to it by GE employees last year when it was not able to be delivered directly to the RR museum in North East, PA. So GE did play a small part in helping preserve this particular locomotive.
However you are correct in that GE did nothing to preserve what was in their back lot. I'm not aware of them even offering anything to a museum or making anything available for sale. You would think it would be a natural to have saved one of the original U25B demonstrators at the very least - it would have made a great advertisement for GE on display at a museum in those flashy red/white colors complete with big GE emblem/lettering. So that's an opportunity lost now...
I could be wrong, but I don't recall EMD actively saving anything. Certainly Alco and FM didn't save anything when they were in business either.
EMD may have helped after the fact, like painting the FT back into demonstrator colors, but most everything that wasn't used for trade-in or rebuild went to the Pilet Brothers for scrapping.
And while it may not be the first unit or a demo unit, IRM has Milwaukee Road U25B 5056.
Rusty
Rusty Traque posted:645 posted:Dieselbob posted:GE has a LONG history of scrapping anything they no longer have a use for. At least one if not both of the prototype U25Bs sat outside at Erie for YEARS, and then were hauled off for scrap when it should have been donated to a museum, even if it was just an empty shell. I can't think of ANY significant or even interesting GE locomotive product that GE has played a part in preserving.
GE did temporarily store restored Chessie System B30-7 #8272 at the Erie plant including having access to it by GE employees last year when it was not able to be delivered directly to the RR museum in North East, PA. So GE did play a small part in helping preserve this particular locomotive.
However you are correct in that GE did nothing to preserve what was in their back lot. I'm not aware of them even offering anything to a museum or making anything available for sale. You would think it would be a natural to have saved one of the original U25B demonstrators at the very least - it would have made a great advertisement for GE on display at a museum in those flashy red/white colors complete with big GE emblem/lettering. So that's an opportunity lost now...
I could be wrong, but I don't recall EMD actively saving anything. Certainly Alco and FM didn't save anything when they were in business either.
Although EMD didn't save any of their old, experimental stuff, EMD was involved in the saving/donation of a number of "historic diesels", i.e. the CB&Q E5A at IRM (EMD management allowed Herb Hansen to legally purchase the E5 from Pielet Brothers at a VERY friendly price), plus a former RF&P E unit that went to some museum in the south.
EMD may have helped after the fact, like painting the FT back into demonstrator colors, but most everything that wasn't used for trade-in or rebuild went to the Pilet Brothers for scrapping.
And while it may not be the first unit or a demo unit, IRM has Milwaukee Road U25B 5056.
Rusty
Can someone, perhaps Hot Water, explain why the GE Evolution did not sell? What do the newest diesels do, in terms of performance, that the railroads prefer? I really am out of the loop. Thanks !
Scrappy
Dieselbob posted:GE has a LONG history of scrapping anything they no longer have a use for. At least one if not both of the prototype U25Bs sat outside at Erie for YEARS, and then were hauled off for scrap when it should have been donated to a museum, even if it was just an empty shell. I can't think of ANY significant or even interesting GE locomotive product that GE has played a part in preserving.
I could be wrong, but I don't recall EMD actively saving anything. Certainly Alco and FM didn't save anything when they were in business either.
Rusty
Not only manufacturers, but there has been a lot of comment over the years that most of the railroads in the U.S. have had a less-than-sterling record of saving anything. Typically, a "if we're not using it, scrap it" mentality seemed to be the norm. History didn't seem to have much of a place in the railroad business. Among those, I've read that the management at New York Central couldn't spell heritage, let alone consider it, which is one reason no thought was given to saving even one Hudson.
Even the UP, which has made some effort to preserve, once they acquired other roads, proceeded single-mindedly to obliterate any reminents of the acquired road. They certainly did a slash and burn with the SP after that merger. The only real exception has been the relatively recent heritage paint jobs on single engines, but even those have non-prototypical paint jobs. Kudos to Norfolk Southern in that regard.
Rusty Traque posted:645 posted:Dieselbob posted:GE has a LONG history of scrapping anything they no longer have a use for. At least one if not both of the prototype U25Bs sat outside at Erie for YEARS, and then were hauled off for scrap when it should have been donated to a museum, even if it was just an empty shell. I can't think of ANY significant or even interesting GE locomotive product that GE has played a part in preserving.
GE did temporarily store restored Chessie System B30-7 #8272 at the Erie plant including having access to it by GE employees last year when it was not able to be delivered directly to the RR museum in North East, PA. So GE did play a small part in helping preserve this particular locomotive.
However you are correct in that GE did nothing to preserve what was in their back lot. I'm not aware of them even offering anything to a museum or making anything available for sale. You would think it would be a natural to have saved one of the original U25B demonstrators at the very least - it would have made a great advertisement for GE on display at a museum in those flashy red/white colors complete with big GE emblem/lettering. So that's an opportunity lost now...
I could be wrong, but I don't recall EMD actively saving anything. Certainly Alco and FM didn't save anything when they were in business either.
EMD may have helped after the fact, like painting the FT back into demonstrator colors, but most everything that wasn't used for trade-in or rebuild went to the Pilet Brothers for scrapping.
And while it may not be the first unit or a demo unit, IRM has Milwaukee Road U25B 5056.
Rusty
Jack would know better than I, but I don't think there was that much stuff on the EMD backlot to save. Most of their firsts and demonstrators got SOLD to customers. Many of those were indeed saved after their service career was over. The first FT, the first GP7, the first SD7, all of the pre- production SD40's were all sold to customers and were saved later. Lackawanna 426 (second EMD diesel ever built( survives too. The ONE loco I am curious about is the former KCS 637, the first production SD40-2. That unit is clearly worth saving, if it hasn't already bit the dust. I also feel the first production SD70MAC is worthy of preservation, and possibly one of the SD60MAC units also.
