The Grafton & Upton in Massachusetts, which earlier attracted attention here for scrapping an Alco S4 and GE 44-tonner some years ago, is now (according to a Facebook post in the Railroad Photography group) preparing to scrap its F7a 1501, along with high-hood GP9 1750.

The 1501 was supposedly built as Bessemer & Lake Erie 720A, then later was Toledo, Peoria & Western 1500, and spent a spell around Utica owned by the Adirondack Scenic RR in the 2000's.

The railroad rosters a couple other Geep/CF7 rebuilds.

Any confirmation?

I hadn't heard any thing about it, but was the F7a a rather recent acquisition?

Seems like I'd read about it in the last 2-5 years. Also run in my mind that they thought they were the only railroad in the country pulling freight with an F7. That I could prove wrong with at least one example but I am sure there are more.


Ben True

Gettysburg Railway might still occasionally be adding its ex-B&LE F7, 401, to an occasional freight run on the line.

I'm just going to sit back and wait on this one... I know 1750 just sits in the yard in Grafton at last check, and 1501 was normal road power. But they really don't need all of the power they've got... I think at this point they have six or seven locomotives on the property. Three of them (one of the Geeps and the mother-slug set) can handle the hill at Snow Road, probably the heavier grade on the route (although I could very well be mistaken).

Assuming rumors are true, 1501 is giving her trucks to 1751 and they'll try to sell what's left. Which would be the entire locomotive. Don't know if she'd get 1751's trucks to sit on in the mean time though. Besides, it'll probably cost them more to cut up 1501 and truck her out in dumpsters... Scrap is still way low. For us, we cut up oil tanks and boilers we replace in houses and store them. Last run to the junk yard with our dumpster cost us something to the tune of $200... That was with twenty boilers, half a dozen furnaces, and who knows how many crushed oil tanks and water heaters.

I'd expect the shop crews to pull stuff off 1501 as needed where it's been a running unit, at least for now. 1750... Not so sure. She's been parked with the office car since the last time I checked, so who knows what's worth it on that one.

401 is/has been out of service for a thrown rod in the block. F7 402 (can't lay hands on heritage, believe C&NW) is stored serviceable but is used on rare occasions.

FP9 1755 is used more often than 402 but not as often as it once was.

Sister railroad Keokuk Junction in Illinois uses its 2 operational FP9s on a regular basis and even brings out the matching B-unit when traffic warrants.

I can't even remember the last time I posted on this forum, but here goes.

GP9R #1750 (ex-PRR/PC/CR/P&W/BCLR) is out of service with a blown crankshaft, and was moved to the West Upton yard about six weeks ago. (This is the same location where S4 #212 was cut up in March 2010 and 44T #9 in May 2008, though it is now much busier than it was back then.) A friend is a conductor on the G&U and told me around Christmas that her fate had not been decided at that point, but I got the distinct impression that it wasn't promising.

F7 #1501 was moved to West Upton about a month ago. (I drive by on my way to work.) The same conductor friend told me that #1501 probably would get fixed, but she was the bottom priority in terms of motive power. I don't know why she's OOS but it did not sound like anything that could be described as the kiss of death. That said, several of the people on the Facebook thread that I saw can be described as "in the know," and G&U management certainly could have had a change of heart with respect to the F7.

What may be the most telling to an outsider is that #1501 and #1750 were moved to West Upton (where two other G&U locos have gone to die), but the slug set and CF7 #1500 (both also out of service) have thus far remained at the line's headquarters in North Grafton.

Should we be concerned about the fate of the Conway Scenic fleet? As a rule, the CSRR has gone out of its way to find new homes for unwanted equipment, rather than scrapping them. Now that they are under the same ownership, I wonder if the Geep fleet on the CSRR is safe?

Rob

Rob,

G&U's deal to buy the Conway Scenic fell through. Conway is still under the former ownership.

Thanks for the correction, I did not hear that. Is Al Harper out of the CSRR picture, too?

Yup, totally out of the picture.

As for West Upton, isn't the yard fenced in? That would (to me at least) be a smart place to keep equipment, especially when some of the people in Grafton hate the G&U with a passion. The North Grafton yard isn't isolated or secure by any means. Sure, let's just leave one of the nicest looking assets lying around where some neighbors with a hair across their a** would gladly bust it up...

Hey, guess what? The sky isn't falling! Torches won't be lit over in West Upton at all. Per the Friends of the Grafton and Upton 1750 and 1501 are staying in the fleet. 1750 will get patched up in North Grafton and 1501 is to head down to the good folks at Seaview Transporation in Davisville for repairs. Now that the rumor mill has been stopped dead, back to the regular programming.

Reviving this thread from 9 years ago, because G&U F7A 1501 is now up for sale on Facebook Marketplace for the price of $35,000.




https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/4205401459689808?rid=9927640667302105&ad_id&rt=1&refID=0&refType=0&referral_code=commerce_attachment

And apparently, this is one of those, "If someone doesn't buy it, it's being scrapped" situations.

On the surface she looks pretty good! No obvious rustouts, etc.

From what I heard from the Adirondack guys (Adirondack had it before selling it to the G&U in '11) it was a very solid body that was pretty rust-free then but everything mechanical was pretty tired and required heavy investment that the Adirondack was bott incapable and unwilling to provide.