Beverlyhelper Wrote:
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> I saw this quartet in the deadline at Eugene
> sometime back in the 1980's. Can anyone give us a
> brief history of these interesting units, and why
> they didn't work out for SP?
In 1976 Morrison Knudsen made a proposal to SP to re-engine SP's soon-to-be-retired U25B fleet with re-rated 2800 horsepower Sulzer engines. Four retired units were chosen to be the test beds. They also received other upgrades similar to the two U25B's SP upgraded in-house.
Although I had no first-hand operating experience with them, my understanding is that in service the engines developed chronic oil leaks. I'm sure there were other problems. (One of the four had to be set out on the units' "unveiling" trip to Southern California.) What with them being more or less mechanical orphans, it's not too surprising that they didn't have long careers. Apparently Santa Fe and UP didn't have much better luck with their units, either.
As an aside, the hulks of SP's four (stored in East Oakland, CA for years) were finally cut up in for scrap a year or so ago.
Here's MK's sales brochure (from the espee.railfan.net web site: [
espee.railfan.net]