Nostalgia & History > Poking Around Pocatello Idaho May 7 1994 PT 2

Featuring MARC GP40WH-2 #54 fresh from Morrison Knudsen in Boise, Id, rebuilt from a SD45? But not online yet? Sound is from other diesels working behind camera.
Plus CNW #6807 looking very fresh too, not sure if is,an MK rebuilt or just along for the ride?
Not sure if it is online either.

Then SF Kodachrome 8077 on a stack train getting ready for Takeoff (Hot Water admoshed me a few years ago for saying Takeoff is for Airplanes, Departure is for Trains but I always knew that anyway) or Departure from the yard, heading East/South

Then Pocatello Hump yard action,back when there was a hump yard in Pocatello.

Then SF Kodachrome 8077 departure from the yard part 1

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/20 22:20 by RailRat.

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Those were the worst colors for MARC and did not match the passenger cars at all.  I never liked those engines and I am so glad that they are gone.  Thanks for posting the video.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

ClubCar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Those were the worst colors for MARC and did not
> match the passenger cars at all.  I never liked
> those engines and I am so glad that they are
> gone.  Thanks for posting the video.
> John in White Marsh, Maryland

I did some research on these units, looks like the paint sceme changed from silver to all white maybe?

I was just simply impressed by the Old SD45 shell back then

But sure was an oddball sight up there in Idaho back then!

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/20 01:39 by RailRat.

Here's a roster picture of the one MARC kept, Brunswick, MD, 6/19/17.  Gerry

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The GP40WH-2 MARC (50-69) Locomotives were rebuilds from GP40's.  The SD45-like flared hood was to provide the extra radiator space for the HEP Generator, which also necessitated stretching the frame 39".  The units for rebuild were selected specifically for a sound straight frame (no wreck repair), and pre-war Blomburg trucks (from trade-in FT's).  The reason for the truck preference was that they were lighter than post-war trucks, and we had to stay within a very strict axle loading requirement imposed by Amtrak to allow the 110MPH operation for which they were geared.  That restriction is also the reason we could not use SD40/45 cores, which would have been our preference to avoid the frame splicing, because the frame pan and frame construction of those is much heavier than the GP frames.  The nose and cab were based on the F/FP-45 design, and at least 3 of the MARC units actually had components salvaged by MK from Scrapped F-45's.

As for the paint job almost no one at the MARC Train Service liked it except the Manager of the service at the time, who came from NJT.  He fancied himself an industrial designer and came up with the scheme.  For a very short period of time, it was was on the drawing board for the MARC-III Kawasaki cars and ended up on some road signs leading to MARC stations.  Fortunately, with a change of MTA Administrator and MARC Manager's departure, resulting in the return of a veteran MARC employee to the Manager position, the orange and blue scheme was revived.  Had the GP40-WH-2's been rebuilt instead of traded in on MPI-36's, they would have been repainted in a scheme more like the what the MPI's received.

Many of the MARC 50-69 Series live on in modified form at Sun Rail in Florida, and MARC 69 pulls a CSX Track Geometry Train consisting of ex MARC-1 coaches as CSXT 6969.  The remainder were held by MPI for other projects, and at least for a time, leased to the MBTA.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/20 09:57 by SilverPeakRail.

Thanks for the interestingredients info and locomotive model description, I will change my text to correct model number.

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA

ClubCar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Those were the worst colors for MARC and did not
> match the passenger cars at all.  I never liked
> those engines and I am so glad that they are
> gone.  Thanks for posting the video.
> John in White Marsh, Maryland

At the very least, the text could have covered the red lines, not the other way around...

Matthew