The GE U25B was
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
's first independent entry into the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
domestic
road switcher
A road switcher is a type of railroad locomotive
designed to both haul railcars in mainline service and shunt them in railroad yards. Both type and term are North American in origin, although similar types have been used elsewhere.
A road ...
diesel-electric locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conv ...
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
market for heavy production road locomotives since 1936. From 1940 through 1953, GE participated in a design, production, and marketing consortium (
Alco-GE
Alco-GE was a partnership between the American Locomotive Company and General Electric that lasted from 1940 to 1953. Their main competitor was EMD.
Arrangement
Alco produced locomotive bodies and prime movers while GE supplied the electrical ge ...
) for diesel-electric locomotives with the
American Locomotive Company
The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...
. In 1956 the
GE Universal Series
The GE Universal Series are a series of diesel locomotives intended for the export market introduced by General Electric in early 1956. General Electric had previously partnered with Alco, producing locomotives for export using Alco’s 244 engin ...
of diesel locomotives was founded for the export market. The U25B was the first attempt at the domestic market since its termination of the consortium agreement with Alco.
History
The U25B (nicknamed ''U-Boat'') was the first commercially successful domestic diesel electric road locomotive designed, built, and sold by General Electric after its split with the
American Locomotive Company
The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...
(Alco), a company dating back to the steam era. GE had developed internal combustion-electric generating, control, and drive systems in the early 1920s, which provided the foundation for the use of internal combustion engines in railroading. Early applications were in motorized railcars and switch engines. The 1930s saw that technology adapted to high speed mainline locomotives. In 1940 GE partnered with Alco, who by that time were well-established as a manufacturer of diesel switch engines and were introducing their first diesel road locomotives. They were successful in building locomotives for switching and short-haul applications, having introduced
the first road-switcher design in 1941 (which would supplant the
carbody design developed by the
Electro-Motive Corporation by the mid-1950s) and gained a 26% market share as of 1946.
Alco-GE's efforts in main line road locomotives had not been successful at breaking into
EMD's dominant position in that market, although they introduced a successful
gas turbine-electric locomotive
A gas turbine locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a gas turbine. Several types of gas turbine locomotive have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving ...
to market in 1952. In 1953 GE went independent from Alco in locomotive production, with their new subsidiary
GE Rail
GE Transportation is a division of Wabtec. It was known as GE Rail and owned by General Electric until sold to Wabtec on February 25, 2019. The organization manufactures equipment for the railroad, marine, mining, drilling and energy generation ...
taking over the gas turbine-electric venture while they sought a supplier of more reliable diesel engines suitable for road locomotives. Production of
Cooper-Bessemer
Cooper-Bessemer refers to the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation and the Cooper-Bessemer brand of industrial engines and compressors, manufactured in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The Cooper-Bessemer Corporation was formed when C. & G. Cooper (founded in 1833) an ...
powered Universal Series locomotives began in 1956 and some 400 export locomotives were sold before the U25B was offered in the United States. The U25B was announced by General Electric as a domestic model on April 26, 1960. It was the first locomotive powered by GE's highly successful
FDL-16
List of engines produced by GE Transportation Systems and GE Jenbacher (GE Energy). Where possible, recent examples of usage are shown.
Diesel engines
;FDL series engine.
The U-Boat put GE on the road to becoming the top locomotive producer in the U.S., much to the chagrin of
EMD. It introduced many innovations to the U.S. diesel locomotive market, including a pressurized car body and a centralized air processing system that provided filtered air to the engine and electrical cabinet, thus reducing maintenance. The U25B was also the highest-horsepower four-axle diesel road locomotive in the U.S. at the time of its introduction, its contemporaries being the
GP20
An EMD GP20 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between November 1959 and April 1962. Power was provided by an EMD 567D2 16-cylinder turbocharged engine which generated . EMD was initially hesi ...
(2,000 hp) and the
RS27 ().
Though many were produced and sold, the only remaining U25B locomotives are in museums, as many were retired or scrapped at the end of their service life by the end of the 1980s.
Rebuilds
Four Southern Pacific U25Bs were rebuilt by
Morrison-Knudsen with a
Sulzer V-12 prime mover
Prime mover may refer to:
Philosophy
*Unmoved mover, a concept in Aristotle's writings
Engineering
* Prime mover (engine), motor, a machine that converts various other forms of energy (chemical, electrical, fluid pressure/flow, etc) into energy ...
. These locomotives, designated
M-K TE70-4S
The M-K TE70-4S was a four-axle AAR wheel arrangement#B-B, B-B diesel-electric locomotive built by Morrison-Knudsen. The locomotive was a rebuild of the GE U25B with a Sulzer (manufacturer), Sulzer V12 engine, V-12 Prime mover (locomotive), prime ...
, operated from 1978 to 1987. The experiment proved unsuccessful and no additional units were rebuilt.
Preservation
Seven U25Bs are known to be preserved today. Of these, only one remains in operating condition.
Southern Pacific 3100 is now on permanent exhibit at the
Orange Empire Railway Museum
The Southern California Railway Museum (SCRM, reporting mark OERX), formerly known as the Orange Empire Railway Museum, is a railroad museum in Perris, California, United States. It was founded in 1956 at Griffith Park in Los Angeles before movin ...
in
Perris, California
Perris is an old railway city in Riverside County, California, United States, located east-southeast of Los Angeles and north of San Diego. It is known for Lake Perris, an artificial lake, skydiving, and its sunny dry climate. Perris is wit ...
. Built in 1963, this locomotive was first numbered SP 7508. Later numbered SP 6800, it became a goodwill
ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...
for the railroad in 1976 when it was painted in an elaborate red, white, and blue color scheme in celebration of the nation's
bicentennial __NOTOC__
A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to:
Europe
*French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...
; it was later renumbered and repainted in standard SP
livery
A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...
and was donated to the
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
. The 3100 is fully certified to run on any of the nation's railroads and is frequently used as motive power for offsite work trains.
Image:GE U25B front2.jpg, SP 3100, the only GE U25B still in working order, on display at the Orange Empire Railway Museum.
Image:GE U25B rear.jpg, Long hood end of SP 3100.
Image:GE U25B plate.jpg, The manufacturer's plate on the 3100.
Several more examples survive, all in varying states of preservation:
*
Conrail
Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...
2510 was to be preserved by The Great Northeastern Rail Road Foundation, but the plans fell through and after sitting in Glenmont, NY for many years, the engine is set to be scrapped in December 2022. It is currently owned by the
National Railway Historical Society
The National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) is a non-profit organization established in 1935 in the United States to promote interest in, and appreciation for the historical development of railroads. It is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsyl ...
. It was built as New York Central 2510 in May 1964.
*
Louisville and Nashville
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.
Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the ...
1616 is stored at the
Southern Appalachia Railway Museum
Southern Appalachia Railway Museum is a railway museum headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States.
History
The museum collects antique locomotives and rolling stock to run on their 7 miles of track from the K-25 facility in Oak Ridge, ...
in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The unit is missing its main generator.
*
Milwaukee Road
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States fr ...
5056 is preserved at the
Illinois Railway Museum
The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago.
Overview
Histo ...
and is being both cosmetically and mechanically restored for operation on the museum grounds.
*
Milwaukee Road
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States fr ...
5057 is being cosmetically restored by
Cascade Rail Foundation to eventually be displayed at the
South Cle Elum Rail Yard in Washington.
*
New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
2525 has been preserved by the
Railroad Museum of New England/
Naugatuck Railroad
Founded in 1996, the Naugatuck Railroad is a common carrier railroad owned by the Railroad Museum of New England and operated by Naugatuck Railroad on tracks leased by Naugatuck Railroad from the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The origi ...
of
Thomaston,
CT. It wears its original New Haven colors, however it is not currently operational.
*
New York Central
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...
2500 is on display at the
Lake Shore Railway Historical Society museum
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
in
North East, Pennsylvania
North East is a borough in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States, northeast of Erie. Located in the county's northeastern corner, the name comes from the geographical location. The population was 4,114 at the 2020 census, down from 4,294 ...
.
Original owners
References
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External links
Orange Empire Railway Museum; Southern Pacific preservation rosterCascade Rail FoundationLake Shore Railway Historical Society museum{{GE diesels
U25B
B-B locomotives
Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States
Railway locomotives introduced in 1959
Freight locomotives
Standard gauge locomotives of the United States