Nostalgia & History > Were these to be MARC's B&O E's?

Back in 1993, there were rumblings in the Baltimore railfan community that MARC might repaint a BN E unit in B&O colors.  I came across these in a CSX yard in July, 1993.

Did the project get started? I never saw this unit in service.

B&OBill

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These are not the former BN units. MARC E8 60, 61, 62 and 63 are ex-NJT (4327, 4325, 4324 and 4258 respectively). 60 entered service on MARC in 03/1992. Actually, I think they were only leased by MARC.
/Ted

edited: to add 63 (ex-NJT 4258); and to correct MARC service of 60 only



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/20 11:26 by Theowhitey.

Theowhitey Wrote:
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> These are not the former BN units. MARC E8 60, 61,
> and 62 are ex-NJT (4327, 4325, and 4324,
> respectively), and entered service on MARC around
> 1Q1992. Actually, I think they were only leased by
> MARC.
> /Ted
You are partially correct Ted.  The story is these 4 units were privately owned by two brothers.  At the time they acquired from N.J. Transit, they were able to obtain a lease from MARC who at the time was short on locomotive power due to the large increase of ridership.  These units did not have any HEP.  The first unit was renumbered as 60 and painted in a close color of the B&O Blue, but not exact.  This unit was put into MARC service right away and the MARC decals were applied.  The other 3 units, which were renumbered as 61, 62, and 63 never actually got into service with MARC.  The two brothers had been looking for a track lease in the Baltimore area where they could bring in mechanics to get these locomotives into running condition once again.  Chessie either did not have a suitable place for them to lease or they would not give them a lease.  Somehow they found out that Railroad Passenger Cars of Baltimore, known as RRP, and had been leasing tracks over in Camden Station in Baltimore, and that they had been moved over to the Chessie Bay View Yard in east Baltimore.  This was due to the new Oriole Park being built and the fact that Chessie had sold the entire yard to Maryland DOT for the continued operations of the MARC Trains.  Anyhow, the owners of these E units contacted RRP about leasing some of their track space.  RRP could not sub-lease, but they offered to allow these locomotives to use some of their space as long as the owners would make donations to RRP on a monthly basis.  RRP was a non-profit organization.  When the 3 units that were still painted in NJT colors came into Bay View Yard, their owners approached some of the RRP volunteers about helping them get these engines into service so that they could lease them to MARC.  Several RRP members took them up on their request and they worked to repaint two of these engines, #61 & #62 into the B&O Blue with the yellow trim.  Meanwhile, the #60 continued to help power the MARC Trains.  Even though the owners of these E units spent money and got both the 61 & 62 repainted and in operational condition, neither of these engines went into service.  Something unknown to me happened, and MARC made a deal to purchase the 8 former Burlington Northern E-Units that had been retired out in Chicago and they soon arrived in Riverside Yard of the Chessie System here in Baltimore whereupon they quickly were given their new numbers, the MARC decals, and they went into service.  The lease with the two brothers who owned the engines 60, 61, 62, and 63 was terminated and the 60 was sent over to the Bay View Yard to be parked with the others.  They have not operated since that time but were eventually moved out to the Cleveland, Ohio area and have been sitting out there since that time.  I do not know officially if the two brothers still own them or if they too have sold them to someone else out in Cleveland.   I hope that this history clarifies the stories regarding these engines.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Thank you, John, for filling in the blanks. How I left off 63, I don't know--OFBH probably.
I've edited my original comment to include 63 and its NJT number, as well as the MARC service of 60.
As far as the "big picture" goes, I absolutely defer to you.
/Ted

Here is E-8 #60, in primer white in 10/1991 at the B&O Brunswick roundhouse, and in blue in 6/1992 at WB tower in Brunswick,MD.
This was originally IC #4023, and then NJT #4327. It ran on MARC until the end of 1992.
WW Jenkins photos

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Having worked with the MARC/CSX mechanical types at that time, the opinion was that they were junk. Sorry that was THEIR opinion not mine I'm not a locomotive mechanic. The mechnics didn't even like working on the former BN E9s as they were past their time. Of course we must keep in mind these were stop gap measures until deliveries of the MARC GP40Ps. Considering what they had to work with I think the CSX/MARC people did the best they could. While intentions may have been good sometimes things just don't work out.

CR

WM1977 Wrote:
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> Having worked with the MARC/CSX mechanical types
> at that time, the opinion was that they were junk.
> Sorry that was THEIR opinion not mine I'm not a
> locomotive mechanic. The mechnics didn't even like
> working on the former BN E9s as they were past
> their time. Of course we must keep in mind these
> were stop gap measures until deliveries of the
> MARC GP40Ps. Considering what they had to work
> with I think the CSX/MARC people did the best they
> could. While intentions may have been good
> sometimes things just don't work out.
>
> CR

As far as railfan photography goes however, this was the "happy hunting time" as the Native Americans would say. Would gladly go back to those times, you can keep all the rebuilt red-nosed GP40s, and whatever technotoasters they run now.