Nostalgia & History > A Case of "Locomotive Incest."

Hard to believe the creators at MK mated a U25B with an F7.  This is what they got.  It was not pretty.  And you want to eat genetically altered food?

MK5302 Kansas City, MO Aprtil 24, 1977  - Yukon Yeti



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/15 14:42 by YukonYeti.

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I just threw up in my mouth.

That's a butt baby, not incest......

Good taste in horns!

Nathan M3.

Regards, Jim Evans, Choudrant, Louisiana -Meridian Speedway

Looks like the front door slides?  Weird!
 

I like it, but then I like any oddball equipment!

Scott

That is almost as ugly as Family Lines GE 5 person cab whose designation I prefer to forget..

The front of the nose looks very much like the rebuilds NS is putting out today, 37 years later but minus the sliding door.

Jay

Posted from Android

Doesn't even begin to resemble an F-7, let alone an F-40 or F-59.

A verp (vommitburp) unit for sure, but what a rare catch.
JB

Isn't one of these units still on the roster of the BM&LP at Page, Arizona?

Looks better then a CF-7. 
CJV in ILLINOIS

There's probably nothing external that's related to an F7, but this loco, which is an MK TE53, is powered by an EMD 16-567B engine and D12 generator from a retired F7.

Even the number boards are funky!

davew833 Wrote:
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> There's probably nothing external that's related
> to an F7, but this loco, which is an MK TE53, is
> powered by an EMD 16-567B engine and D12 generator
> from a retired F7.
The only obvious F7 remains is the anticlimber.

Look up the word "ugly" in the dictionary and this locomotive's photo is next to it.

They should jack up the horn and put a new locomotive under it !
Tom

I guess I'm in the minority as I like the way it looks.

Even back when this unit was "new" EMD and GE had been putting out "cookie cutter" units with little personality. MK comes along and kit-bashes a unit together and comes up with something different enough that stands out. Ascetically it may not be the nicest looking unit but that homeliness is what makes it look good (to me).

 

A good friend of mine was a machinist at Sharon Yard in Sharonville OH (NYC/PC/CR) and cursed these units when they were leased to Conrail because the sliding doors would easily fall off the track.

On a different note, he also said that the seasoned mechanic before opening the access doors on an ALCO would open the door on the far end of the prime mover and look down the side of the block to make sure that no valve covers had become dislodged.  The ALCO had cast aluminum covers that were secured with a starwheel and after a long trip the starwheel would unscrew itself and the valve cover would drop down and be captured by the engine access door.  

He said after the first time one of those valve covers either hit you on the head or dropped on your leg/foot, you learned to take the simple precaution of checking they weren't set up as a trap.

A rather handsome locomotive.