Nostalgia & History > F-Unit Friday - GM&O 880A

(Redo/Repost) The railroad's new name may have been Illinois Central Gulf, but many of its locomotives were still in their older paint scheme with the older name. Gulf Mobile and Ohio 880A is in Bloomington, Illinois on August 13, 1976. She is a chicken wire three porthole EMD F3A.
Bob



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/25 21:59 by refarkas.

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That's gorgeous, because of the wear and tear. Usually the grass/weeds would be a distraction, but they add to it. The effect of cleanliness between the rails, and oily gunge outside, would be a neat modeling effect on a layout.
Fred

GM&O/ICG #880A was built 12//46, rebuilt to MBTA FP10 #1152, to MNCR #413, now at the Danbury, CT, museum.  Gerry

How good it is to know that this old friend is still around!
Bob

Thanks for a fine shot Bob !  While I'm glad it's still with us ,  the rebuild at Paducah with the rebuilt body, new grills and the MBTA paint makes me appreciate the character  of a well worked GM&O 880A.

That's a nice photo of a tired old work horse that has seen many miles of hard service.  Thanks, Bob, for sharing the photo.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

GPutz Wrote:
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> GM&O/ICG #880A was built 12//46, rebuilt to MBTA
> FP10 #1152, to MNCR #413, now at the Danbury, CT,
> museum.  Gerry

This was one of the four units ICG Paducah rebuilt with steam generators.  All the rest had HEP.  These four were later sent to the CNW at Oelwein and rebuilt with HEP.  The CNW lost money on the deal and never again tried contract work.  Thanks for posting.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/25 18:58 by ntharalson.

Love the shot at Bloomington! Growing up in the 60s I had an aunt/uncle/cousins situation in Normal, the sister city just north of Bloomington. We made at least one family trip there every summer. I got to see a zillion GM&O trains! Great memories for a budding railfan… 😉

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Here she is in her MBTA days in 1981 or 82 at Wellesley Hills, MA.

Dave

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Great photo of 880A in her MBTA days.
Bob