I vaguely remember reading somewhere that GE's 44 and 65 tonners were practically identical, save for weight and some components. Has anyone built one, and what are the key, noticeable differences. I've looked at pictures but I cant decide if there is no difference, or if the pictures are mislabeled. Thanks for any help.
Modeling whatever I can make out of that stash of kits that takes up half my apartment's spare bedroom.
The 44-tonners were built for a specific reason. In the early days of diesels, the engineers' union negotiated an agreement with the railroad that any diesel under 45 ton would not require a fireman. The 44-tonner was designed specifically to be under this limit, thus requiring only an engineer.
65-tonners -- and other weights also -- were externally identical to the 44-tonners. They were weighted for maximum traction, but this was all "under the skin" so to speak.
There was quite a bit of variation over the years in these GE models, both 44- and 65-tonners. Thus, it's important to get photos of the particular unit you want to model to get either to look correct according to prototype. If you're a free-lancer, then all you need to to do make a 65-tonner out of a 44-tonner is to call it that..
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
mlehman The 44-tonners were built for a specific reason. In the early days of diesels, the engineers' union negotiated an agreement with the railroad that any diesel under 45 ton would not require a fireman. The 44-tonner was designed specifically to be under this limit, thus requiring only an engineer.
Non-common carriers like private industrial railroads weren't subject to this limitation. That's why you'd see a lot of heavier-than-44-ton switchers operated with only the engineer in the cab.
Here is a photo a private railroad's GE 65-tonner, from one of my favorite websites.
Mark
Mark,
Just curious...where is the "Bartlett" railroad located from as shown in the picture you appended?
Dean
Dean S May
Dean S May where is the "Bartlett" railroad located from as shown in the picture you appended?
where is the "Bartlett" railroad located from as shown in the picture you appended?
The Bartlett Mill is located in Statesville, N.C. Here is the company's website:
http://www.bartlettmillingfeed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26
The GE 44 Ton is 33 feet 5 inches over the coupler faces the 65 ton is 35 feet long. Other than that they look exactly the same.