The GE U30CG was a passenger-hauling

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 ...

built by

GE Transportation Systems GE Transportation is a Division (business), 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 Rail transport, railroad, marine, mi ...

. It was a passenger variant of GE's U30C design purchased by the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

. ATSF had purchased ten U28CG locomotives in 1966, but while these locomotives were satisfactory operationally, they looked like freight locomotives, not passenger locomotives. Desiring smooth-sided passenger power, the railroad ordered the first

cowl unit A cowl unit is a body style of diesel locomotive. The terminology is a North American one, though similar locomotives exist elsewhere. A cowl unit is one with full-width enclosing bodywork, similar to the cab unit style of earlier locomotives, ...

s from both GE and

GM-EMD Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its sub ...

. GE produced the U30CG to meet this requirement. It was identical to a U30C except that the bodywork was replaced with a full-width long hood with fluted

stainless-steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's resis ...

panels, and a full-width rounded nose and slanted cab front were fitted. GE's original design had the rounded nose flush with the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

front, but the Santa Fe rejected this, and the locomotives were fitted with a front walkway. The locomotives were painted in the Santa Fe's famous Warbonnet colors, in exactly the same style as the railroad's

F unit EMD F-units are a line of diesel-electric locomotives produced between November 1939 and November 1960 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors-Diesel Division. Final assembly for all F-units was at the GM-EMD plant at La Grang ...

s — unlike the modified scheme used on the U28CGs. The six production locomotives were delivered to the ATSF (road numbers 400-405) in November 1967, a month before EMD's competing FP45s. The locomotives' initial primary assignment was to the ''

Grand Canyon Limited The ''Grand Canyon Limited'' was one of the named passenger trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. It was train Nos. 23 & 24 between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California. History In 1901 the Santa Fe Railroad complete ...

'' between Chicago and Los Angeles, but they were also seen on the ''

Super Chief The ''Super Chief'' was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The streamliner claimed to be "The Train of the Stars" because of the various celebrities it carried between Chicago, Ill ...

'' as well as secondary trains such as the ''

Texas Chief The ''Texas Chief'' was a passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway between Chicago, Illinois, and Galveston, Texas. It was the first Santa Fe "Chief" outside the Chicago–Los Angeles routes. The Santa Fe conveyed the ...

'' and the '' San Diegan''. All this came to an end on February 9, 1969 when a U30CG derailed hauling the ''Grand Canyon Limited'' on Edelstein Hill near

Chillicothe, Illinois Chillicothe is a city on the Illinois River in Peoria County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,097 at the 2010 census. Chillicothe is just north of the city of Peoria, Illinois, Peoria and is part of the Peoria metropolitan area, Peor ...

. The U30CG design was suspected, and both classes of GE passenger locomotives were placed on freight assignments, and never were reinstated to passenger service. Shortly, the U30CGs were renumbered to #8000–8005 and over time were repainted into blue and yellow (either the old freight scheme or Warbonnet), had their steam generators removed, the openings covered, and the shared fuel/water underbody tanks converted to fuel only for greater range. They were used mainly in Colorado freight service and other secondary assignments until September 22, 1980, when they were traded in to GE for new

GE B36-7 The GE B36-7 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by GE Transportation Systems between January 1980 and September 1985. 222 examples of this locomotive were built for North American railroads and eight units were built for a Colombian coal ...

locomotives.

References

External links

Photos of U30CG locomotives
{{Santa Fe Cowls C-C locomotives U30CG Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway locomotives Passenger locomotives Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1967 Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States

See also

References

External links