Railroad Trains for the Soul: More GE Super 7's
Previously, we talked about the General Electric Super 7 rebuild program starting with the four-axle Super 7-23B (or B23-S7) diesel locomotive for the Monongahela Railway. But there's also a six-axle option from the same product line. It is called the Super 7-30C (or C30-S7), which is powered by the 16-cylinder 7FDL diesel engine that can produce up to 3,000 horsepower. On the other hand, the B23-S7 is equipped with the 2,300-hp 12-cylinder engine. Regardless of their configurations, both models share the same technological characteristics inspired by the GE DASH 8 Series. Like the four-axle version, the six-axle Super 7-30C was initially built as GE demonstrator units. However, all production units of the latter model were exported to a Mexican railroad called FNM (Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México). Many of them were remanufactured from various six-axle Universal U-boats and Dash-7’s, which were originally built for the same country.
In this blog post, there are two Pentrex video previews that take place in Mexico and feature many EMD, ALCO, and GE diesels, including the Super 7's. On the next Facebook post, I will share a still photo of the FNM C30-S7 to give a better illustration of it.
Again, click on the links below for more info about Super 7’s:
Mexico's Pacifico Railroad
Northern Mexico Rails & Central Mexico Rails
Here's a closer look at General Electric's Super 7-30C remanufactured for FNM. Recall the spotting differences I explained for the four-axle Super 7-23B to distinguish them from a DASH 8 locomotive because the same things are true for the six-axle version. Aside from the wheel arrangement, the C30-S7 can be spotted by eight panels on each side of the engine compartment where the 16-cylinder prime mover is located. In contrast, the B23-S7 has a 12-cylinder engine, meaning that there are six engine panels on each side. Unique to FNM, this locomotive shown has a five-digit cab number as opposed to a number with four or fewer digits on a typical American locomotive. It even has the name Super 7 printed for easy identification. Very colorful paint scheme, too!
Facebook photo credit: Mark J Labrozzi
