I'm skeptical you'll find any further details.
At that time when almost new EMD power was all but destroyed, it was commonplace to send it back to La Grange for "rebuilding" (Even if it was in multiple gondola loads). Even if she received a new carbody and mostly new components, officially she'd of been the same unit with the same builder's number.
Often the only clues that something like this happened are pictures of a severely wrecked unit like you've discovered and roster data showing a retirement date years after the wreck.
Canadian Pacific ECO rebuilds are a similar modern example.
New engines, new cabs, and new frames, but they are considered 'rebuilds' for accounting and emission compliance purposes.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Leo_Ames I'm skeptical you'll find any further details. At that time when almost new EMD power was all but destroyed, it was commonplace to send it back to La Grange for "rebuilding" (Even if it was in multiple gondola loads). Even if she received a new carbody and mostly new components, officially she'd of been the same unit with the same builder's number. Often the only clues that something like this happened are pictures of a severely wrecked unit like you've discovered and roster data showing a retirement date years after the wreck.
All true, there are few other confirming details. There is a roster note about the E2A in a 1970 C&NW roster in Extra 2200 South. The note is that the wrecked E2A was retired before 1953. That would indicate some type of primary source roster used in the compilation. The other known fact is that the unit never left the roster as shown in multiple rosters, the 4084C continued on as if nothing ever happened to it.
In the interest of accuracy does anyone have a 1952-1953 photo of the 4084C? A photo post rebuild might confirm details such as the presence of an oval EMD builder's plate or any phase differences between the original and the rebuilt unit.
Ed in Kentucky
#4084C (EMD #8573, Frame #E1188-A26) became #415 and was retired in 1985! Pictures of CNW 415 (rrpicturearchives.net)
BEAUSABRE #4084C (EMD #8573, Frame #E1188-A26) became #415 and was retired in 1985! Pictures of CNW 415 (rrpicturearchives.net)
No, have you seen the wreck photo? All the histories of this unit are wrong as of the July 4, 1951 wreck. Frame #E1188-A26 broke behind the cab in the classical fashion of Es and Fs. A second 4084C was built, the question is was it an EMD or a C&NW rebuild.
OK, you don't want help
Western Pacific to name one was known to repair severely wrecked F units in-house. They even had to cut a F7B in half and replaced all the damaged truss work in approximately half of the unit in one instance, not very long before EMD's unit replacement program likely would've made her a goner.
While I've not seen the wreck photo of this C&NW unit, the damaged WP unit I'm referencing looked completely trashed in the photos that I recall seeing. Reminded me a lot of the photos of the Erie Mining F9 units that were destroyed in a runaway back in the late 1990's. Yet Western Pacific's shop crew still put her back together.
While I'm not aware of a F or E unit ever being repaired after the crash protection did its job behind the cab to protect the crew by absorbing some of the impact forces, I suppose it might've happened (Although I wouldn't be surprised if Branson Scenic's F7 had some structual damage in that area that had to be repaired when she had a Via Rail FP9 cab grafted on after her late 90's collision). EMD presumably would've willingly sold a new streamlined cab for the repair job, just as they did when TP&W rebuilt a F3B to a F3A.
I'd bet money though that EMD just built a new F unit carbody with some select reconditioned components from the trade-in pool installed aboard her to qualify her for tax purposes and such as having been rebuilt. That seemed to be the typical approach to handling something like this during that era.
I hope you're eventually able to get an answer on this. Maybe send Preston Cook a private message over at Railway Preservation News? He'd be one of your best candidates for an individual that might actually be able to answer this question.
BEAUSABRE OK, you don't want help
A serial number inventory doesn't do anything to push the research. The original serial number was reused when the rebuild was done to an F unit that was about 20 months old. You have the anomaly of a single unit number, builder's number, and order number for a unit that is built on two different underframes, how can that be?
Hopefully C&NWHS has something in their archives that will explain the rebuild.
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