Eastern Railroad Discussion > W&LE Tunnel Motor Pic

Here she is, at the Rayland Dock on the morning of April 23rd

---

Cool! and many thanks for sharing. Do you think the W&LE will put a Gyralight back on the nose?

Phil

Tell those WLE Boys never to paint that engine!!

Nate

Phil wrote:

> Cool! and many thanks for sharing. Do you think the W&LE
> will put a Gyralight back on the nose?
>
> Phil

I join other railfans in thinking Gyralites are neat-o. But why on earth do you think W&LE would even consider doing this? They can\'t even afford to repaint their engines, much less add unnecessary accessories.

I tkink they can afford to paint their engines, I think they choose not to, especially the Ex D&RGW ones

Nice shot, my friend!

OHCR GP40 3262 (x DRGW 3062) had the gyralite removed, then it came back, has been even known to be on.

Here it is in 04/2000 on HPT at Miller Station Ohio, on the Panhandle.

---

SD80MAC4100 wrote:

> I tkink they can afford to paint their engines, I think they
> choose not to, especially the Ex D&RGW ones
>

The story I\'ve heard is that the GP35 rebuild program actually stopped because W&LE didn\'t want to cough up the cash for repainting them, its share of the project that was otherwise paid for by the leasing company that owns them. This may or may not be so, but except for the Ohio Bicentennial paint scheme unit, the repainting of ANY units into Wheeling livery does seem to have stopped.

As far as the Rio Grande excitement goes, I realize that fans who couldn\'t or wouldn\'t go to Colorado or Utah to see this stuff are overjoyed to get "D&RGW" units here, but I am no more a fan of these things in their current paint than I am of BN Bandits on the Indiana & Ohio. The sooner they\'re repainted Wheeling, the better, IMHO.

I was told, by someone on the inside that the rebuilding of the GP35\'s stopped because the Bank that owned the rebuilds decided that the market for rebuilt GP35\'s as Lease engines was near non-existant due to the glut of available newer power, such as GP38\'s and GP40\'s, in the lease market. This persuaded them to just drop the project, and go to just keeping the rest of the fleet running, and maintaining them as they are, and to use the money Earmarked for the rebuilds to purchase newer power that was already out on the market, such as the 5 Ex D&RGW GP40\'s. I was also told that this could change at any time in the future, if conditions change ----- the plan at the beginning of the rebuild program, was to lease out units that were going to go to storage during downturns in business.

Well, regardless of whose decision it was to halt the rebuild program -- and I agree, rebuilding GP35s in the current market would seem to be wasteful when there are more reliable locomotives available -- it would seem to me that the Wheeling certainly isn\'t going to waste money on Gyralites if it doesn\'t even consider paint worthwhile. Ditch lights are sufficient to meet federal visibility regulations and they don\'t have any moving parts.

I agree with you on the gyralight-paint point, Patch, the 35\'s were running around for 10+ years in the ragged SOU/NS paint, and I think the balance that is still out there will do the same, unless they find a way to get someone else to foot the bill for the paintjobs, as for a gyralight on ANY of the Ex-Grandes, I seriously doubt it, gotta admit, they DO have about the MOST diverse fleet when it comes to special paint jobs, The Ohio Bi-Cenntennial, the AC&Y, the P&WV, BoBo, The Rio Grandes, the Kodachromes, The Lynn Shook, and the Operation Lifesaver 102, gotta say, more than just about any other I can think of. Then look at the SD40-2 ex Leasers, they\'ve become a pretty colorful railroad, better than Black and white, on film anyways

The GP35s like the GP30s are getting old (40 years) and it would make better sense to rebuild newer model locos like the GP38 or 40. I also think that a rebuilt 645 engined loco would perform better than a rebuilt 567.

Phil

toledopatch wrote:
> As far as the Rio Grande excitement goes, I realize that fans
> who couldn\'t or wouldn\'t go to Colorado or Utah to see this
> stuff are overjoyed to get "D&RGW" units here, but I am no more
> a fan of these things in their current paint than I am of BN
> Bandits on the Indiana & Ohio. The sooner they\'re repainted
> Wheeling, the better, IMHO.

well, at least the unit looks tasteful. It\'s not
really a bandit, as nothing is painted out. Only
tiny "WE" initial above the number...nothing like
the MILW bandits that are still running on CP/Soo.
Those are just plain UGLY.