The GE U36B was a four-axle B-B

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 ...

produced by

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 ...

from 1969 to 1974. It was primarily used by the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...

and its successors, although thirteen provided the power for the original ''

Auto Train ''Auto Train'' is an scheduled daily train service for passengers and their automobiles operated by Amtrak between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.), and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando). ''Auto Train'' is the only motorail service in ...

''. The U36B was the last GE high-horsepower universal series locomotive.

Design

General Electric's "high-horsepower" universal series locomotives were built around improvements to the 16-cylinder GE FDL-16 prime mover. The U36B, rated at , was the most powerful of the four-axle universal series and the last such design. It was visually indistinguishable from the GE U33B, both of which were long. The locomotives rode on Blomberg trucks from traded-in EMD general-purpose (GP) locomotives. Each locomotive weighed . In common with other high-horsepower locomotives of its generation the U36B had large "bat-wing" radiators at the rear. The Seaboard locomotives had an 81:22 gear ratio, permitting a maximum speed of . The U36B and the six-axle

GE U36C The GE U36C was a 3600 hp diesel-electric locomotive model built by GE Transportation Systems 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. T ...

were designed to operate with the MATE (Motors for Additional Tractive Effort)

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. The MATE had four traction motors, allowing power from the locomotive to be distributed over a total of eight traction motors for double tractive effort. The Auto-Train locomotives did not have

steam generators A steam generator is a form of low water-content boiler, similar to a flash steam boiler. The usual construction is as a spiral coil of water-tube, arranged as a single, or monotube, coil. Circulation is once-through and pumped under pressure, ...

for passenger comfort; this was supplied by a separate steam generator car behind the locomotives.

History

The primary purchaser of the U36B was the

, which ordered 108 locomotives. The

Auto-Train Corporation Auto-Train Corporation , stylized ''auto-train'', was a privately owned passenger railroad that operated from 1971 to 1981. Its trains included autorack cars, enabling passengers to bring their own vehicles on their journey. The company used its ...

, whose ''

'' ran primarily over the Seaboard, ordered another 17, for a total production run of 125. Four of these would be delivered to

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 ...

after Auto-Train ran into financial difficulties. The Conrail U36B locomotives were fitted with AAR Type B trucks. The unit price was $285,000. The intended use of the U36B was "high-priority, fast freight services, such as intermodal trains." GE manufactured the U36B between January 1969 and December 1974, during a period when railroads in the United States moved away from high-horsepower designs. There were multiple reasons for this change: rising fuel prices because of the

1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...

, higher locomotive maintenance costs, and poor wheel adhesion, resulting from the primitive state of wheel-slip control at the time. With its per axle, the U36B was the "ultimate in adhesion-limited locomotives." GE would not market another such type until the Dash 7 series in the late 1970s. Seaboard No. 1776 was painted in a red-white-and-blue color scheme to honor the

United States Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...

and made numerous special trips. The 13 Auto-Train locomotives were painted in that company's distinctive purple-white-and-red color scheme, devised by Carol Settles.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

leased car six of Auto-Train's locomotives during the unusually harsh winter of 1976–1977 to provide power for the

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–

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

'' Floridian''. At least one U36B has been preserved 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 ...

Original owners

General Electric manufactured 125 locomotives between 1969–1975:

Notes

References

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External links