Joe Cullum Wrote:
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> Why did they fail?

Bill Maltby covered just about everything (thanks, Bill!), so I'll just add a few things.

During the late Forties and early Fifties, the standard horsepower assigned by Santa Fe to the transcon passenger trains west of Kansas City was 6000 h.p., which equals a four-unit F3 or F7, or a three-unit PA/PB. As mentioned elsewhere, each engine of the repowered Alco set had 1750 h.p., or 5250 h.p. total, enough of a h.p. decrease to make a train performance difference. Thus, it was quickly learned to assign the set to secondary trains in Southern California (San Diegans, Del Mar race trains, excursions, etc.). By the early Sixties the set had been broken up, with the B units assigned to the general passenger pool with the other PB's and the two A's usually used with an Alco-engined PA on the San Diegans. It was in a two-unit det like that the 51C met its fate. On December 22, 1965, Train 76 with units 61L and 51C experienced a grade crossing collision with a truck in Anaheim, resulting in both units turning over. The hulks sat west of the San Bernadino shops for several years before being scrapped.

If this link works, you can read Engineer Jack Elwood's account of the incident (.pdf format):

[www.trainweb.com]

> They would basically be
> something like an E8 or F7...

No, not really. More differences than similarities.

> But apparently not. Did EMD redid the electricals?

Only to the extent necessary to be compatible with the EMD parts.

> I'm thinking it was a similar experiment than the
> OERM Perris Espee U25BR with EMD electricals after
> being wrecked...

Not quite sure what you mean by that, but I'll take a stab at it.

Major components from retired U25B's 6708 and 6724 were remanufactured at the Sacramento General Shops into U25BE's (not U25BR's) 6800 and 6801 as prototypes of a proposed recapitalization program for the U25's. Generally speaking, the units were brought up to more modern day standards, with as many parts as possible being compatible with those used with the U33C's. Accordingly, that increased the per-unit cost (for example, AAR control stands replaced the GE control stand and air brake pedestal; this wasn't necessary on EMD rebuilds). The cost/benefit was deemed unacceptable and with a salvage value of more than $10,000 per unit, no more were done.

I'm not specifically aware of Sacramento using EMD parts in the two rebuilds, but if they did, it would've been a relatively small number. When the 3100 was donated to the museum, a number of spare parts specific to that unit were included.