The GE U25B is

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

's first independent entry into the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

domestic

road switcher A road switcher locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive designed to both haul railroad car, railcars in mainline service and Shunting (rail), shunt them in railroad yards. Both type and term are North American in origin, although similar t ...

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

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 that operated from 1901 to 1969, initially specializing in the production of locomotives but later diversifying and fabricating at various time ...

. In 1956 the GE Universal Series 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'') is the first commercially successful domestic diesel electric road locomotive designed, built, and sold by General Electric after its split with the

(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 Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. Electro-Motive ...

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 was a brand of industrial engines and compressors manufactured in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The Cooper-Bessemer Corporation was formed when the C. & G. Cooper Company (founded in 1833) and the Bessemer Gas Engine Company (founded in 189 ...

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 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 (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

M-K TE70-4S

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 or motor), a machine that converts various other forms of energy (chemical, electrical, fluid pressure/flow, etc.) into ener ...

. These locomotives, designated M-K TE70-4S, operated from 1978 to 1987. The experiment proved unsuccessful, and no additional units were rebuilt.

U25BE

Two Southern Pacific U25Bs were rebuilt by the

Southern Pacific Transportation Company The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

themselves at their own Sacramento Shops into GE U25BE locomotives. Only SP #3100 was preserved while SP 3101 was scrapped in 1987.

Preservation

Six 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 movi ...

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, skydiving, the Southern California Railway Museum, and its sunny dry cli ...

. 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 so ...

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 often includes elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...

and was donated to the

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

. 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, is operated at the

Southern California 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 ...

. Image:GE U25B rear.jpg, Long hood end of SP 3100. Image:GE U25B plate.jpg, The builder’s plate on SP 3100. Several more examples survive, all in varying states of preservation: *

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 t ...

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 Southern Appalachia Railway Museum was founded in 1990. The museum collects antique locomotives and rolling stock to run on ...

in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The unit is missing its main generator. *

Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), better known 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 from 1847 ...

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 ...

and is being both cosmetically and mechanically restored for operation on the museum grounds. *

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 of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

2525 has been preserved by the

Railroad Museum of New England The Railroad Museum of New England is a railroad museum based in Thomaston, Connecticut. Through its operating subsidiary known as the Naugatuck Railroad, the museum operates excursion and freight trains on the Torrington Secondary between Wate ...

Naugatuck Railroad The Naugatuck Railroad is a common carrier railroad owned by the Railroad Museum of New England and operated on tracks leased from the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The original Naugatuck Railroad was a railroad chartered to operate t ...

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 often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

North East, Pennsylvania North East is a borough in North East Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States, northeast of Erie. Its name comes from its position in the northeastern corner of Erie County, despite being near the extreme northwest of Pennsylvani ...

Original owners

References

* * * * * *

External links

Orange Empire Railway Museum; Southern Pacific preservation roster

Cascade Rail Foundation

Lake Shore Railway Historical Society museum
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