Nostalgia & History > how's this AT&SF U25B yellow bonnet paint 'modification'?

Both shots taken in Denver, #1 on 9/19/77 #2 on 10/18/77 .... what do you think of the maybe-not-so-random panel substitutions of the yellow bonnet on #6601? The 6610 scheme is how all my other AT&SF U25B yellow bonnets look. Extended bonnet instead of extended cab????



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/17 11:09 by valmont.

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I dunno, was that intentional or not. Wonder what the other side of the loco looked like?

On this Father's Day, seeing those U-boats brings back memories of chasing trains with my Dad. Thanks for posting.

Doors is doors. GE doors were crap like the rest of the locomotive and suffered from from fatigue fractures of hinges and latches. So if one door fails the nearest spare pair at hand on a parked or retired GE gets applied paint be damned. Today you still see miss matched door sets on GE units which have suffered carbody fires.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/17 12:32 by fbe.

Looks like a real kluge. Note also that lingering bit of the old pinstripe scheme on the radiator section.

fbe Wrote:

> Doors is doors. GE doors were crap like the rest
> of the locomotive and suffered from from fatigue
> fractures of hinges and latches. So if one door
> fails the nearest spare pair at hand on a parked
> or retired GE gets applied paint be damned.

Take for example the "GE" F45, SD75M, and SD45-2 in the following photos ;^)

http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?//february99/02-08-99/atxsf5922billweibel.jpg
http://atsf.railfan.net/oddities/bnsf8224.html
http://atsf.railfan.net/oddities/atsf5830.html

After I filed a copy of your 6601 image I discovered I had shot the other side of the same unit on 9-8-77 in Argentine. The blue area is only into the first door, just as the 6610 shows. No doubt someone got either careless or a little frisky with them...

Lance/199

It is not like door swaps did not happen with EMDs, they were just more common on the Erie products. The GE doors were lighter gauge steel so they would tear where the hinge and door were welded. The latches were a cheap knock off of the knuckle busters EMD used. They were lighter gauge steel and the pins in their mechanism would wear the holes wider so the latch would not stay tight causing more wear to the latch and hinges. The carbody was bolted to the floor just inside the walkways. Over time it was like the bolts wore or not all were replaced and tightened so the carbody would sway when moving. GEs were a high vibration machine which tended to loosen all the securement.

GEs had a bad rep with train crews for ergonomics, ride, reliability and comfort but roundhouse employees hated them even more. It took more employees a longer time to repair and maintain items which were easier on an EMD.

GE has gotten better in the last 40 years but they had no other option.

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
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> Take for example the "GE" F45, SD75M, and SD45-2
> in the following photos ;^)
>
> http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?//february99
> /02-08-99/atxsf5922billweibel.jpg
> http://atsf.railfan.net/oddities/bnsf8224.html
> http://atsf.railfan.net/oddities/atsf5830.html

Wow, looks like the work of a Rock Island, I mean ROIS LACKND man!

I remember the U25 story in Trains a few years ago talking about going back in the consist to re-start a dead GE at speed and having to avoid getting decapitated or having your hands amputated by the wildly swinging GE carbody doors....

Note also that the shape of the curve behind the cab is different as well. I don't know if there was any rhyme or reason to it, but Santa Fe's blue and yellow GE's continued to carry a couple of different curve shapes (semicircle vs. flattened semi-circle) for the rest of the railroad's existence.

For that matter, note that the ends of the noseband stripes are square on 6601 and rounded on 6610, the front stepwell skirt is yellow on 6601 and blue on 6610, etc. Nothing like standardization!