im sure 4241 would cry about her sis in this shape (4240 in the background)
http://www.getphpbb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=887&mforum=ntres2
links of pictures to 4241 are at the bottom.
put that in perspective, that alco is still around 45 years after it was built. not bad for a builder who went out of business in 1969. and the fact that there are still quite a few c424s running even to-day is testimony to the fact that alco built a pretty good locomotive in the later years. the general electric u25bs, which were built at the same time, have all been retired for years and only exist in museums. matter of fact, the entire u boat series is almost extinct, and the dash 7s which replaced them in 1977 are also mostly gone from major railroads. to have a 45 year old locomotive sitting around as a parts source is sad, but to be expected, and a small sacrifice to make if it will keep its sisters on the road for a few more years....
and that bl2! the fact that any of them even exist to-day is a miracle. they were only made for anbout a year, and numbered about 60, before being superceded by the gp7.....
The reason there's a good amount of BL2s in existance is because BAR's rolling museum continued into the 80s, when 1st generation diesels became more valuable to preservation groups. Even in the mid 80s BAR had a good amount of GP7s(they still do), F units(still have 1), BL2s(all gone) in service, with the newest power being GP38-2s.
the 2 western maryland bl2s both still exist also. they were a similar situation to the BAR, well maintained first generation power, with their fleets of rs2s, rs3s, f7s, bl2s, gp7s and gp9s intact up until about 1976 when chessie system forever changed the railroad. matter of fact, the only first generation locomotives they got rid of before chessie were either baldwins or switchers.
having spent so much time on the western maryland out of elkins, wv in the 1970s, it came as a shock to me that other railroads considered rs3s and f7s to be junk power to be replaced asap. wm's locomotives remained in road service until pulled from service and replaced by b&o gp9s that were in much worse shape than the alcos! i have even seen photos of wm rs3s in ohio on the b&o, after the wm motive power was freely intermixed with that of the b&o. ironically, c&o locomotives, though a much larger railroad than wm, were relatively rare on the b&o in western pa until the early 1980s.
Yes, the WM also had a nice amount of 1st gen power mixed in with SD40s and SD35s. It was my impression that the BL-2s were mainly limited to the Hump Service by that point. It may have been something to do with the weak frames.
yes. they were banished from road service, unlike on the BAR. they were first paired up as helpers on williamsport hill, just west of hagerstown. later they were each given a yard slug and worked the hagerstown yard until their retirement. reportedly one was donated to the state of west virginia and moved to cass via the wm's durbin branch. after that line was abandoned, it made the trip up the 10% grades and switchbacks to spruce, on cass's original line normally only used by shays and similar geared steamers. that woiuld have been a sight to see, especially if it made the run under its own power.
the bl2s were about the only locomotives wm babied like that. the rest of the first generation fleet often worked its way down to elkins, and hauled coal trains out over 3% grades. the newer locomotives were not used down that way on account of the sharp curves, though in later years chessie ran locomotives as large as a gp40 down there. sadly, much of this trackage is long gone, as is much of the rest of the wm........