621 mechanical woes

Looks like SD26 621 has hit the end of the line. The crankshaft fell through the oil pan on this unit at East Deerfield. It was smoking like no ones business, oil everywhere. It was on EDRJ. OK, so I didn't actually see it, I heard about it. But, it's very sad news for one the last four 6 Axle Units on Pan Am. It probably won't be repaired.

Quick! Raise funds to save her! Sad sad news

She was smoking pretty good a few weeks back when I caught her leading WAED west out of Waterville. It was quite the show, since the GP40-2 trailing was smoking just as much. Depending on the extent of the damage, the unit could be repaired. Guilford seems to be pretty tight on power these days and repairs would likely end up being much much cheaper than a replacement.

I could be wrong, but that wound seems fatal. Any guesses on cost?

Dave Becker

If Guilford kept a good supply of engine components from all the SD-26s that they have scrapped, they might have replacement parts on hand to fix the 621. Otherwide, it is probably "toast".

Dick

Sounds better than putting the crankshaft through the engine block, but I could be wrong.

Rumors? Someone told me it was online on EDRJ yesterday... that wouldn't be the case with a crankshaft. It its finally dead, all the better.. One less clunker to ride in!

Let's stick to facts, people. Just because you heard something from somebody doesn't mean it's true.

If anybody has proof that the 621 is truly "dead" and will not be repaired, then by all means, let's hear it. Otherwise, rumors just get people riled up over nothing.

Maybe this photographer is incorrect as well.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=197255

It looks in that photo like the trailing unit is smoking worse than the 621 here.

Dave Becker

"It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings."

Or in this case, "It ain't over 'til they paint a white line over the numbers."

Plenty of Guilford locos in far worse shape have come back from the dead. Let's wait and see what happens before jumping to conclusions.

Worst case scenario: it ends up at Waterville and becomes a parts source for the 643. That's not such a bad thing. The 643 has always been "the cream of the SD26 crop."

And that's bad. The 643 isn't worth its weight in scrap. It never loaded past 400 amps and other than that only pulled decent at 10 MPH or below.

Which just proves how desperate they are for anything that can pull at least its own weight, or die trying.

They should have kept the u-boats... at least those babies could pull!

uhaul wrote:Maybe this photographer is incorrect as well.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=197255

I was just going by the information on the lists. I have corrected the data.

Timmy Mellon's answer to mosquito control......

work safe
derail