Eastern Railroad Discussion > Meridian Southern's Ex Conrail B23-7's

While out and about this morning, I heard the Meridian Southern moving around and was able to shoot a pair of their former Conrail GE B23-7's shuffling some cars around in the yard. MDS has 5 of these Former Conrail units, and 2 Santa Fe B23-7's. Of the 5 ex-cons, one is dead and is used for a parts source, and recently one of the former ATSF units was severely damaged by a runaway grain hopper from the neighboring KCS yard. The unit sustained severe front pilot damage and some frame damage. Sources within the company said that it is possible to repair the unit, but the current quote to do that is sitting at roughly $85K. Since the incident, KCS has loaned MDS one of their former CN GP40-2LW's for yard power until all of this gets sorted out. 

While on the subject of motive power for MDS, they recently purchased a pair of GMD SW1200RS' that belonged to the Red River Valley out of North Dakota. The pair was originally built for Canadian National. The B23's aren't going anywhere, they have been great units and will continue to run on the railroad for the foreseeable future. The SW's were purchased for yard and transfer work, but have made a couple of runs south to Waynesboro. 

Since MDS is about 2 miles from my home, I try to keep those who are interested updated as much as I can. Hopefully this will serve that purpose for those that have been wondering about this unique railroad. 

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nice i was going to the store for  a can opener

Very scenic image.
Bob

those two are very beautifully weather beaten

Nice to see a few xCR B23-7s still running😊
Any chance you got or can get roster shots of these gems?

Posted from Android

BNSF-4567 Wrote:
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> Nice to see a few xCR B23-7s still running😊
> Any chance you got or can get roster shots of
> these gems?
>
> Posted from Android

I've got some rosters of these units. I'll hunt them down and post them.