I thought i'd post this regarding some of the old NS hump slug units.I'm a engineer out of Bellevue,Ohio and the other night while departing off 20 track wich is down by the old NKP roundhouse,there's a few stub tracks nearby that have had 5-6 GE C39-8's and about 3 old hump slugs sitting for quite some time.Anyhow i know nobody probably cares much about any old GE C39-8's but that night i noticed that one of the slug units had been cut up with pcs. of metal still laying all over the ground where it sat around it's 6 axle trucks.

I thought i had remembered some of the older rail friendly guy's on the RR saying years ago that some of the slug units were actually old F M Trainmaster units that were cut down and made into slugs? I know from working out of Bellevue for 18 years that there were in fact 2 different types of slug units used there and that they had different looking 6 axle trucks under the 2 types used at Bellevue.Over the years all the slug units have been renumbered at least once and they were previously 9900 series numbers and i believe they were classed as RP-F6Y's and RP-E6Y's the later only being a few of.The slugs were later renumbered to 900's wich i think they still are now?

I know that those 3 slugs parked down by the old roundhouse were some of the older units but don't know wich ones they are as it was to dark to see the numbers or trucks underneath.Back in the mid 90's i got to run a few of the hump units but alway's hated working in the yard so i never really paid much attention to them.I just thought i'd post this as i was curious if some of those slugs were really cut down F M's?

My son works in the loco shop at Bellevue and i asked him if he had heard anything about any of the old units getting cut up and he said no.If anyone is interested i could probably find out what units they were.I'm not sure if the other 2 slugs are going to be cut up or if any of the C-39-8's are?

If they are indeed FM frames/trucks under those two older slugs, I'd be extremely curious as to how NS and N&W kept those old things running. The FMs had either FM/Westinghouse or GE traction motors, and I'm sure the only way they could have run for so long was with GE traction motors or a refit of a compatible motor/gear. Any ideas from the NS/N&W/Virginian guys out there?

And is there not still another FM slug at Roanoke for some kind of preservation?
"NS/NW RP-F6Y slug 9914 (former NW H-24-66 174/VGN 174) is preserved at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA. "

The Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg, PA has an ex-VGN Train Master slug, too. I don't remember the number.

Walt

anyone have pictures of them? might be easier to ID them as FM's, or not....

The VGN specified GE equipment in their H16's and TrainMasters.

Cutting up those FM-based slugs would be an interesting proposition, given the use
of concrete as ballast by both FM and the N&W during the conversion.

And yes, NS is apparently beginning the en-masse retirement of the 6-axle 'Classic'
Dash-8's. For sale @ $105K a pop.

I cannot comment on the other units but this is photo of the FM slug the RCT&HS has in Hamburg.

Looks like a good fabricator could make a pretty nice RDG TM out of that slug. No, it wouldn't "run". A lot of the hard parts are already there: trucks, end plates/steps, etc. And there's lots of demonstrated and first-class talent for that sort of metalwork at the RDGT&HS.

Howard P.
Faux, CT

After seeing the photo of 9905 above some of those hump slug units at Bellevue had those same style trucks.The remainder of the other slug units at Bellevue had 6 axle trucks that were maybe EMD trucks? They sure resembled them.As for the one that was being cut up last week and the other 2 parked next to it.I'd have to get a closer look at them during daylight hours to see what exactly they were.

Here's what i have from a old 1992 NS loco list booklet on them.

9900 NW blt. 71 RP-F6Y weight 396,000 lbs.
9902 " 73 " "
9903 " 74
9904 " 74
9905 " 74
9906 " 74
9907 " 74
9908 " 74
9909 " 75
9910 " 75
9911 " 75
9912 " 75
9913 " 75
9914 " 76
9915 " 76
9916 " 76
9917 " 76
9918 " 81
9919 " 81

9920 " 82 RP-E6Y
9921 " 82 "
9922 " 81
9923 " 82

9950 " 76 RP-E6R
9951 " 77 "

Of the slug units used at Bellevue when i hired out in mid 1992 up until about 3 years ago they were only mated up to the following old N&W SD40's 1580 thru 1583 Now they use SD40-2's in the 6100 numbers on the hump and yard wich are now remotes.They got rid of the old ex NKP SD9-M's 50 number series units a few years back.

After getting off duty this morning i drove down to where they are scrapping the hump slugs and took a few pictures of them for anyone that may be interested.Of the 3 that were there one is now completely gone with nothing left but a pile of stacked cubed concrete off to the side.Unit 998 is partly cut up with the concrete exposed at both ends on top of the frame while some metal work with the headlights and numberboards lay in a pile.The concrete used for added weight on the slugs must be hampering the scrapping process as i've seen these units a couple times in the past 2 weeks.Unit 995 sits coupled to the left/east of 998 waiting it's turn.From what i can tell the trucks under these two remaining slugs look like those on the picture of 9905 posted above by RDG Diesel that show the coil springs on each truck.

As for what previous number 995 and 998 used to be after being renumbered from a 9900's number i have know idea? Could they possibly be 9915 & 9918, i'm not sure of the renumbering system? Were all these cut down F M trainmasters ex Virginian units or did N&W also have some? Since i know little about them and have only been a engineer since 1994 how long did the RR's use the FM's before scrapping them or cutting them down into slug units? Was there a certain downfall of these units,were they just not popular,did they not perform well? Does anyone have a photo of one while still in use on the Virginian, or the N&W if they used them.I'm sorry if i'm asking a bunch of questions i'd just like to know since i didn't get to see any on the RR before i hired out other than the slug units here at Bellevue.

As for the C39-8's sitting down by these slugs getting cut up.The following 5 units are there: 8204, 8208, 8212, wich are ex Conrail units and NS units 8635, 8648.

Here is one other photo showing some of 998 pcs.in a pile.

Those slugs appear to be made from old Alco C636's.... Some N&W Alco's had FM trucks...

The NW got the Trainmaster's from the Virginian merger, they used them way up until the late 1970 seems like two of them, lasted until about 1980, I seem to recall. Their big downfall was just being the "odd units" with the FM-OP engines They where completely different "animals" from the Alco, or EMD prime movers. From what I have heard, they where well liked when they "worked well". But working on them was a bear.

From what I understand, the trucks, on the FM slugs, and Alco slugs are just flat, worn out, and parts are getting very scarce, with most for the FM trucks having to be made "in house"

The Alco C630 at the Virginia Museum of transportation, has FM trucks..

VMT, was also supposed to get a trainmaster, but the one sat aside for VMT, got cut up and converted into a slug by some "paperwork" accident.

No, those are both former Train Masters. Judging by the low end platforms, the one closest to the camera appears to be an ex-Wabash unit.

Walt Lankenau

"Their big downfall was just being the "odd units" with the FM-OP engines They where completely different "animals" from the Alco, or EMD prime movers. From what I have heard, they where well liked when they "worked well". But working on them was a bear."


And the Wabash TMs had been rebuilt by Alco about 6 months before the N&W takeover, with new Alco 251 engines. Sort of like a "C624" in a TM body... and no pesky O-P engine to worry about.

Howard P.
244-ville, CT

who's doing the scrapping?

I'm not sure who's doing the scrapping? Everytime i've passed by on a train close to where there at it's alway's been late at night! I thought that since it was finally a good daylight oppertunity to check them out after getting off work earlier today i'd run down and take a look,but being Sunday obviously whoever is doing the work was not around as was the case when i passed by late at night on a trains.

I would suppose it is contracted out? A few years ago they cut up several boxcars and a few hopper cars right down by the car shop as i saw those get torched up passing by,the funy thing about those were they looked better than some stuff running around on the rails! About a year ago at the Fairlane yard in Lorain,Ohio they had a old coach and baggage car cut up wich had been there for many years shoved at the end of a storage track.I think they were ex PRR or NYC cars? and a few months before that at the same location they cut up a old 40ft.NYC boxcar that had been used as a sand storage car wich was some kind of enviormental issue as i inquired about getting the trucks from it for a boxcar i have.

Back in 1993 they cut up a bunch of old N&W green MOW 40ft. box cars at the South Lorain yard.So i guess the RR does have some scrapping contracted out or possibly does it themselves in some of the yards.