Karl,
As I recall, one of the "junk" F's inadvertently got sent to La Grange as a GN trade along with some legitimate trade ins! The error wasn't discovered until it was too late. EMD had to give GN a credit for a future order. Guess the folks at Clyde couldn't tell a "good" unit from a bad one.
Bill Barber Gravois Mills, MO Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:26 am (PDT)
The GN power mentioned was always on #'s 97 and 88. This was the result of an agreement whereby Q E units would run through to Havre, MT. on #31 rather than change engines at St. Paul. In exchange, #88 would continue on to Clyde with GN "power" that would turn and become 97's "power" the next day, or as soon as Clyde Diesel shop could resuscitate them.
This was the classic JUNK power of the decade !!! Few trips on either train were completed without at least one catastrophic engine failure and, usually, MORE than one. On one memorable trip Charlie Wright and Art Krahn were commin' over So. River St. on 88 when everything went ta *****. Seems the pilot of their lead unit "fell off" the engine and they, of course, ran over it. While runnin' over the pilot they fell off the tracks and nearly ended up in the river. Some readers may remember a massive derailment that resulted in freight cars hangin' off the bridge over River St. and cattle roamin' the streets on the south end of Aurora. The stock cars were supposed to be set out on the Sheep Yard lead but never quite made it.
These "exchange" units remained on 88/97 'till the boys at Clyde got 'em runnin' again. When that happened they were replaced with a different bunch of units that were in the same shape as the previous set. I have had sets of these beasts on one of those two trains that had units that had blown up but were left in the consist for months. Rusty, oil covered walkways, piles of sand in the engine room and inspection covers everywhere. THESE were the GN engines we had to put up with in the 60's.
I hope this helps explain the presence of GN units in the 60's Chuck.
Karl
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