A few of you remember the horrific Bayonne Bridge disaster of 1958, when two CNJ GP7's ran off an open lift bridge into Newark Bay. About forty individuals in three coaches followed the Geeps. The two Diesels were fished out of the water by Merritt-Chapman company and returned to the CNJ. CNJ returned them to Electro-Motive for a complete rebuild. Both locomotives ran up into the Conrail years before retirement and scrapping.
EMD must have taken photos and documented the rebuild process. Do any of these survive today, and are they accessible? Other than frames and trucks, what would have been rebuilt for reuse?

Out of curiosity, did they come back as GP7's? If so, that to me suggests some of the major components like the 567 engine block were able to be salvaged and reused.

If they reappeared as GP9's, I imagine little to no mechanical and electrical components were reused. Given circumstances like salt water, I imagine this was the case and they returned as essentially brand new GP9's with a few select items like the truck frames reused.

I believe they ran as GP9's, since they ran up until Conrail, but that's merely a guess.

EMD delivered two 1500-HP GP9 locomotives to CNJ in 1959, numbers 1531 and 1532. EMD orders 25447 and 25448.

Information might still exist at EMD but Progress Rail and CAT are normally not responsive to inquiries.

PC

To clarify, although everybody understood the event, the Bayonne Bridge is a fixed-span steel arch highway bridge connecting Bayonne NJ with Staten Island NY.

The bridge in question was CNJ's Newark Bay Bridge, a four track, two channel group of vertical lift spans connecting Elizabethport NJ with Bayonne NJ. Each span carried two tracks. Freight service ended in 1976 and passenger (a shuttle between Bayonne and Cranford) in 1978. The bridge was gradually removed as a hazard to navigation beginning in 1980.

The accident involved train 3314 from Bay Head on the NY&LB to Jersey City on CNJ, with a CNJ crew. Engines 1532 and 1526, both GP-7's, went into the bay after passing several signals and an open derail. Two passenger cars went in initially and a third fell in later.

The two GP-7's were recovered from the water and returned to EMD for rebuilding. They returned classified as GP-9's rated at 1500 HP. They lost their steam generators and HEP (train lighting only) and were geared for freight service. 1532 was CNJ's highest numbered Geep and retained its number while 1526 traded numbers with 1531 so the passenger engines were 1520 to 1530 and the freight engines were 1531 and 1532.

1523 and 1524 are preserved with the URHS.

Phil Mulligan

Good points, Phil. Thank you.

I think the common belief is that these units never again saw passenger service on the CNJ. That may be the case but I can attest that the 1532 did see passenger service soon after Conrail took over. See the attached shot.

I commuted on the CNJ/ex-CNJ for about 19 years starting May 1975. One morning, my morning train, 5408, had the 1527 and 1532 for power. I did not have my camera with me that day so I left work early to get my camera and hurry back to Fanwood for a shot. The 1527 was again in the lead. I suspect the units were switched due to the 1532 not having cab-signals for the ex-Pennsy part of the run.

Some interesting things happened when Conrail took over!

Dan McFadden

1531(II) and 1532 did not have steam heat or HEP (for car lighting) but by the 1970's NJ DOT had acquired a fleet of lightweight cars that did not need HEP and steam was not needed in Summer. After the GP40P's, the Geeps were CNJ's best passenger locomotives so it's likely the 1531(II) and 1532 would sometimes be called for passenger service.

You also needed pulse code cab signals for the NY&LB. I believe the inductive loop cab signals were long since removed from the Southern Division to Bridgeton.

Phil Mulligan

NOTE: having to use two different cab signal systems is why CNJ steam engines had two cab signal boxes.