Still going strong long after stateside C36-7's have been retired.
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| Posted by pjw1967 on December 29, 2017 | |
Based on the numbers, they were part of the first batch of 220 we carried from Newport News to China starting in 1984. One was dropped in the James River due to an equipment failure. It was recovered the same evening and shipped to Cleveland for examination. Eventually it too went to China for parts. If you look just above the jacking pads, you'll see 2 bolt holes. These were used to upend the frame during the manufacturing process (frame was placed upside down at the start) and later covered over.. When we visited Erie, we complained that there were not many places we could place lashings. But our senior port captain suggested leaving the holes uncovered so we could bolt on custom made plates that would accommodate lashing wires. There are many photos in the database showing export GE locos with the plates still being used for lashing on railcars. Another fun fact. We learned later on that Chinese children liked trains. They would sneak into the yards at night, and many times they would hit the red emergency shutdown button. The Chinese staff finally figured that out, and relocated the red button under the frame so it was less visible to the little tykes.
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