SOUTHERN PACIFIC Historic Diesels, Vol. 19: Post -1978 GE & Morrison-Knudson NEW For Sale

SouthernPacific Historic Diesels, Vol. 19
Post-1978General Electric and Morrison-Knudson Locomotives

by Joseph A. Strapac

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Published 2014
400+ Photos

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In January 1975,Southern Pacific took delivery of its last General Electric U33C locomotive;considering this model’s dismal maintenance record on the SP, observers couldreasonably expect “never again” for new GE locomotives on this railroad.

At the same time, control of the SPmigrated to Rio Grande Industries, then gearing up for a boom in transportationof Colorado-mined coal for power plants. GE was again able to meet the needs ofthe combined Rio Grande-SP, first with the “comfort cab” Dash 9-44CW (directcurrent) six-axle locomotive and, finally, with the dramatic capstone to theSouthern Pacific diesel roster of 279 AC4400CW diesels-delivered in the shortspan of seven months in 1995.In all, 620 modern General Electric diesel unitswere delivered to the SP and the Cotton Belt between 1978 and 1995.

Just three years later, however, GE came roaringback with their answer to Electro-Motive’s GP40-2, the B30-7, and SP was firstin line to buy a sample set. Ultimately, the SP/SSW was to buy 110 B30-7 andanother 20 B36-7 locomotives. Slipped in among these high-horsepower units werefifteen B23-7 locomotives delivered in 1980. In 1987-89, 95 new B39 and Dash 8“Techno Toasters” were added to the roster, along with 195 GP60s from GMLocomotive Group. Once a “tractive effort railroad,” the SP was re-inventingitself as a cross-country intermodal conveyor belt in competition with theUnion Pacific and the Santa Fe.Each delivery phase of each GE model is given its own chapter. While GElocomotives were not very popular in the resale market, many are documented inour popular “Graduates” chapter. Successor Union Pacific had dozens of earlyformer SP B-boats rebuilt to “green” 21st-Century switchers, as well asconverting dozens more into remote-control radio cars. Their stories aredocumented in these pages. Making a brief appearance in their own chapter arethe three Morrison-Knudsen MK5000 demonstrator locomotives that made a splashin the December 1994 Popular Mechanics magazine, but were banished indisgrace from SP rails after only a few months of unsuccessful tests.Contents:
Chapters include:
Introduction
1978 B30-7
1979 B30-7
1980 B30-7
1980 and 1984 B36-7
1980 B23-7
1987 B39-8E
1988-89 Dash 8-40B
1994 Dash 9-44CW
1995 AC4400CW
1994 Morrison-Knudsen MK5000 Demonstrators
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