Maine Central GE U18B Locomotives (MEC 400 - 409)

Have any survived?

Please see what I wrote on the previous page of this thread.

MEC 400 & 406 in northern Maine, 1991:

Video by "fmnut": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMFdYoV2flY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks to railroad.net member "690" for the link!

I drove by CAD a couple days ago and couldn't see either U18B, at least not whole. There was a test bed locomotive next to the highway that looked suspiciously like one of them.

I have a good view of CAD because I go by on the train on the Adirondack Sub. Us D&H guys had a few years hiatus from running into St. Luc Yard. Since the return, I have not seen them. They had been parked on a stub track right at the bottom of the fill which CP runs on, right at the bunter where the track ends, against Highway 20.

Video by "MaineRailFanner":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Z2MjupUXs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Photos by Roger Puta:

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/605760/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/605560/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Does anyone have photos of the two locomotives supposedly remaining in Canada?

The smart money is on both finally being cut up at CAD last year.

D

RGlueck wrote:Does anyone have photos of the two locomotives supposedly remaining in Canada?

Dick,

I did some looking around last year for those engines and came to the same conclusion as GP40MC1118. It's never "for sure" until there's evidence but this appears to be the case.

Looked a little deeper into my roster notes and found:

Scrapped sometime in 2012 per Canadian Trackside Guide.

D

Were those the last two surviving baby boats from the MEC or did the others go to Perkins or something?

All MEC U18's were scrapped by Guilford except for the two that went to CAD.

The P&W's sole U18 went to the SRNJ and is up on blocks and derelict near Winslow Jct, NJ.
http://rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.a ... RNJ&mid=65" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Pickens Railroad has 8 ex-SCL Baby Boats:
http://rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.a ... ICK&mid=65" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

D

So, did anyone find when the nose was replaced? I've has quick look through http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/Locopi ... px?id=7144" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; but the differences aren't obvious. What I could spot from http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2643067" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; from 1989 is that the little lights (what are they called) are set further out on 404 than on 406. Is that a signifier of the the U25 nose?
In this pic from 1983 http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3015899" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; the lights look further in and in this http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1192359" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; from 1987 further out so I'm guessing that the nose job was between 1983 and 1987.
http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos. ... newsort=12" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; has far less photos so isn't much help

talltim wrote:What I could spot from http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2643067" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; from 1989 is that the little lights (what are they called) are set further out on 404 than on 406. Is that a signifier of the the U25 nose?

They're called classification lights — or class lights — and yes, that is how one can tell the difference between the original U18B nose and the transplanted (and shortened) U25B nose.