Large GE Centercabs

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This page was last updated on November 13, 2010.

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Overview

Bingham & Garfield Railway number 802, built in 1943, was one of 19 very unique centercab locomotive built by General Electric. It was renumbered to Bingham and Garfield 900 immediately after delivery.

(Photo of B&G 900)

Between 1937 and 1945 General Electric built 19 unique centercab locomotives that were each equipped with two diesel engines, with a cab mounted between the two engines. These locomotives were in response to the growing market for locomotives that could do more work than the then-available diesel yard switchers.

These 19 locomotives were all custom built by General Electric to each customer's special order, with none known to have been built as catalog locomotives. These were all larger than the yard switchers being built by the partnership between GE and American Locomotive Company (Alco) to compete against the rapidly growing market domination by General Motors. The Alco-GE partnership was formed in 1940 but was soon limited to the production of switching locomotives by the War Production Board.

GE built its last large centercab of this midcentury era in August 1945. As the war was ending, GE and Alco designed and started production of the RS-2, a 1500-horsepower road switcher locomotive. The first RS-2 was delivered in October 1946.

Bingham & Garfield Railway was a wholly-owned common carrier subsidiary of Utah Copper Company, which became Kennecott Copper Corporation in 1941. In 1948 Kennecott replaced the mostly steam-powered Bingham & Garfield with the all-electric Copperton Line. The expansion included a new Baldwin road switcher (number 901 delivered in March 1948) and a new Alco-GE RS-2 numbered as Kennecott 902, delivered in November 1949.

Roster Listing

Builder
Number		 Original
Owner		 Builder
Date		 Weight Engines Horse-
power		 Notes
12161 Monongahela Connecting Railroad  150 16 Mar 1937 115T (2) Cooper Bessemer GN-6 engines 900 1
12229 Ford Motor Company 1000   3 Sep 1937 125T (2) Cooper Bessemer GN-6 engines 1000 2
12230 Ford Motor Company 1001 3 Sep 1937 125T (2) Cooper Bessemer GN-6 engines 1000 3
12506 Ford Motor Company 1002 2 Jun 1939 132T (2) Cooper Bessemer GN-6 engines 1000 4
12507 Ford Motor Company 1003 2 Jun 1939 132T (2) Cooper Bessemer GN-6 engines 1000 5
12508 Ford Motor Company 1004 13 Jun 1939 132T (2) Cooper Bessemer GN-6 engines 1000 6
12528 Monongahela Connecting Railroad 160 7 Dec 1939 126T (2) Cooper Bessemer GN-6 engines 1100 7
12529 Monongahela Connecting Railroad 161 12 Dec 1939 126T (2) Cooper Bessemer GN-6 engines 1100 8
12530 Monongahela Connecting Railroad 175 22 Feb 1940 126T (2) Cooper Bessemer GNL-6 engines 1500 9
12531 Monongahela Connecting Railroad 176 9 Apr 1940 126T (2) Cooper Bessemer GNL-6 engines 1500 10
12568 Ford Motor Company 1005 9 Mar 1940 132T (2) Cooper Bessemer GNL-6 engines 1000 11
12569 Ford Motor Company 1006 16 Mar 1940 132T (2) Cooper Bessemer GNL-6 engines 1000 12
12570 Ford Motor Company 1007 29 Mar 1940 132T (2) Cooper Bessemer GNL-6 engines 1000 13
13031 Monongahela Connecting Railroad 110 20 Sep 1941 100T (2) Cooper Bessemer EN-6 engines 680 14
13032 Monongahela Connecting Railroad 111 20 Sep 1941 100T (2) Cooper Bessemer EN-6 engines 680 15
15634 Bingham & Garfield 802 16 Mar 1943 128T (2) Cooper Bessemer GNL-6STB engines 1000 16
27630 National Supply Company 1 20 Feb 1943 100T (2) Superior PT engines 1000 17
27749 Monongahela Connecting Railroad 162 10 Aug 1945 128T (2) Cooper Bessemer GS-6 engines 1100 18
27750 Monongahela Connecting Railroad 163 23 Aug 1945 128T (2) Cooper Bessemer GS-6 engines 1100 19

General Notes:

  1. Roster listing furnished by Allen Copeland.
  2. The Ford Motor Company units were sold to a scrap dealer, then at an unknown later date were sold to Wellsville, Addison and Galeton Railroad; Ford number 1005 was not sold to WAG, and was said to have been used as by the same scrap dealer as an in-house switcher for another 20 years, until the 1970s. (information from Ray Grabowski, Jr., President, Lake Shore Railway Historical Society, via email dated November 7, 2010)

Notes:

  1. Mon Conn 150 was rebuilt to slug S150
  2. Ford Motor 1000 was sold to Wellsville, Addison and Galeton Railroad 1200
  3. Ford Motor 1001 was sold to Wellsville, Addison and Galeton Railroad 1300
  4. Ford Motor 1002 was sold to Wellsville, Addison and Galeton Railroad 1800
  5. Ford Motor 1003 was sold to Wellsville, Addison and Galeton Railroad 1400
  6. Ford Motor 1004 was sold to Wellsville, Addison and Galeton Railroad 1600
  7. Mon Conn 160 was rebuilt to slug S160
  8. Mon Conn 161 was rebuilt to slug S161
  9. Mon Conn 175 was rebuilt to slug S175
  10. Mon Conn 176 was rebuilt to slug S176
  11. Ford Motor 1005 was used for 20 years by the scrap dealer that bought all of the ex Ford units; later scrapped
  12. Ford Motor 1006 was sold to Wellsville, Addison and Galeton Railroad 1700; preserved and displayed at Lake Shore Railway Historical Society Museum in the town of North East, Pennsylvania
  13. Ford Motor 1007 was sold to Wellsville, Addison and Galeton Railroad 1500
  14. Mon Conn 110 was sold to Cuyahoga Valley 110; later USSteel number 2606 at Lorain, Ohio
  15. Mon Conn 111 was sold to Oregon, Pacific & Eastern Railway number 11
  16. Bingham & Garfield Railway number 802 was renumbered to B&G number 900 upon delivery at Magna, Utah; retired in the late 1960s; the frame and engine blocks remained at Magna as late as 1972
  17. National Supply number 1 remained at Ambridge, Pennsylvania after a name change to Armco Steel; later to Silcott
  18. Mon Conn 162 was rebuilt to slug S162
  19. Mon Conn 163 was rebuilt to slug S163

More Information

Bingaham & Garfield Railway diesel locomotives

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