Nostalgia & History > B&O GP-30, Brand New at EMD in 1962

In the fall of 1962, my Dad and I attended an open house at the EMD plant at LaGrange, Illinois, to see the Civil War-era 4-4-0 "General," which was touring the country as part of the nation's Civil War Centennial activities. My shots of the General have apparently disappeared, but I took a shot or two of some "plain old diesels" sitting around the facility.

This new GP-30, headed for the B&O, caught my eye. Fresh out of the shop, it doesn't even have its road number yet applied.

Amazingly, 47 years later, CSX is still using a few of these engines as road slugs.

Art House

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That is a very basic paint scheme on the B&O back then especially with the number missing. What other photos do you have to share from that visit? Nice that EMD opened their doors fairly often over the years.

Never knew EMD hosted an open-house prior to 1972. Very interesting...thanks for posting.

The GP30's were the first B&O units delivered in the then new "Sunburst" scheme. No doubt in my mind they didn't have time to get the number of the unit on the cab sides, for whatever reason. Five will get you ten it was in the numberboards, though.

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

atsf616 Wrote:
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> Never knew EMD hosted an open-house prior to 1972.
> Very interesting...thanks for posting.

I also went to the one in '62 and one in the 50s in which an F9 was the outdoor display unit.

In '62, one of the interesting features of the plant was a huge vat of degreaser into which a crane would lower an entire Alco truck from a trade-in unit, for cleaning and use under a new EMD unit.

TAW