2830 class (U30B) radiators

If you've got the old Kalmbach "Diesel Spotter's Guide" (or, I think, the newer Historical Guide to Diesels), turn to the pages for GE U30 locomotives. There is a photo of the radiator areas of a pair of Norfolk and Western units, a U28B and a (1967-built) U30B, showing a change in the radiator design.
New york Central had two, 1966-built, U28B locomotives, 2822 and 2823 (2800-2821 were P&LE units, and of an earlier design). No problem there: they had the U28B radiator style. New York Central also got one of the first big orders of U30B locomotives, 2830-2859 built in January and February 1967 (and 2860-2889 later in the year). I have always assumed that these units (other than 2858 and 2859 which had "wingspan" radiators as a test for the design that GE was going to introduce on the U33 models) had the 1967 U30B style.
Not so! Looking at pictures on George Elwood's "Fallen Flags" railphoto site, I noticed that the first few had the earlier, U28B, radiator style. Assuming that GE built the new York Central units in order, units up through at least 2834 have the 1966-style radiators, and the 1967-style was introduced no later than the 2840.
It's a really trivial bit of history (obviously GE thought the design change was minor enough to make in the middle of a single order!), but if anyone has pictures of NYC U30B locomotives in the 2835-2839 series and can tell me just when the change was made....
--(signed) An Aging U-Boat Fan (in both senses!)

2830 - 2839 came delivered with the late U28B/early U30B carbody also they were on trade in FM trucks later replaced by PC ( maintenance reasons )
2840-2889 except 2858 & 2859 all were the next phase of carbody, flat screen shortened radiator intake, unlike the last phase that had a corrugated screening on the intakes, also note the 2858 & 2859 had flat screen intakes, production U33's had corrugated.
Also the the top of the radiator exhaust area had the raised center section on all but the U33's, later production U30's didn't have this.

Hope this helps.

Al i think your time line is a bit off.NYC had four order numbers for U 30b

2830-2839 bd 1-1967
2840-2859 bd 7-9 1967
2860-2874 bd 9-10 1967
2875-2889 bd 10-11 1967

from that i assume only the first 10 had the late U28 style radiator grills

charles

NYC-BKO--
Sorry to take so long in responding: I saw your answer to my question and MEANT to thank you, but i have been very busy the past few days. THANK YOU. That is precisely the information I was looking for.
RSD15--
THAT's information I WASN'T looking for, 'cause of I didn't know i didn't know it!!! MANY thanks! Chalk one up for the inaccuracies of the railfan literature. The latest version of "The Contemporary Diesel Spotter's Guide" (by Marre & ?) is from Withers Publishing, Kalmbach having replaced it with the (colorful, but maybe not as informative as it ought to be) book by Greg McDonell. ... Now, in general I am quite fond of the Withers version: it has more data in it than the Kalmbach editions, and photos of many more variants ("phases") and orders. But they goofed on this one: On the 30B page, there is a photo of an NYC U30B in the 2840-2857 series, and tha caption says it represents the first NYC's first order, 2839-2859, built in january and February. (I think I'd gotten a similar impression from some other book, but I'm not sure.)
Bottom line: So the change was NOT made in the middle of an order. But it still shows that GE design history is ... well, don't believe everything you read!
--
Thanks again, both of you. (There has been a reprise of the discussions of U28B etc development history on the Yahoo "Gelocos" forum recently.)

check out www.railtours-inc.com there's a pic of former NYC 2884, now RTIX 2001, taken in Jim Thorpe two years ago. sadly, it's recently been sold to the fine folks who export GE's to Brazil. so it's time in north america is limited, as is it's time on this earth... still around for the time being tho...

micah