I noticed while taking pictures of Conrail 2233 this weekend while attending Trains and Troops that it has almost a full load of fuel. I figured the gauge was inaccurate and gave the tank a tap and got no hollow sound. Figuring my ears were playing tricks on me I looked at the fuel filler and sure enough there was fresh diesel fuel spilled on the fuel tank. I understand that the locomotive was somewhat operational when it came to the museum being told that the prime move ran but the locomotive would only load in reverse. My question is, while it was in Roanoke, did they fire the engine up while it was away?

Conrail 2233 is in operational condition, I'm not sure why they would have a full tank of fuel. If Kurt Bell is still on the is board He might know.

Wasn't she down in VOT for that photo shoot?

Maybe when passing through a terminal it was simply fueled up with the other power. There is still enough Conrail power floating around that they probably fill blue locomotives on a regular basis. So guy working the fuel rack might not have known it from road power.

Absolutely. Remember, the other GP30s (N&W and SR) were actually running.

The more interesting question is, who gets to pump out over 1,500 gallons of fuel, and then who gets to keep and use it?

(I'm reminded of the times I filled a couple railroad lanterns for a night photo session at the railroad's own diesel pumps--in one case, at the Strasburg!)

While Conrail 2233 may be operational, unless an electrician has spent some time on it, it suffers from an intermittent electrical problem that trips the ground relay, usually at the worst possible moment. I ran the unit occasionally when it was in service on the West Shore RR, and the GR would trip when accelerating from a stop or slowdown, but not always. Sometime it would lose power while rolling along with a light load -- or not. Sometimes it would trip when the throttle was closed. Sometimes it would trip when shutting down. Sometimes you could hit the ground relay reset and all would be well, but not always. I'd hate to have it out on a main line somewhere!

Easy fix. Repaint it back to Penn Central colors... consider it properly restored :)

Conrail GP-30 2233 was built in 1963 as Pennsylvania RR 2233. Penn Central didn't come along until 1968.

I think Mr. Storzek's joke was that, seeing it's current dilapidated condition, painting it in PC colors would give us an accurate depiction as to how PC locomotives were kept up.

I would suspect that that is the case, and it probably happened when it was on it's way home. As far as we knew down here, she was not operational. The fueling did not take place at East End Shops. 2233 was dead in tow for the trip up the Valley. For the horn blowing session, air was piped in off of 2594. Maybe the RRMPA can make a good deal with their neighbors across the street for the fuel, FOB the tank, and then send a nice letter to NS thanking them for the cash value of the donation.

Gary, I was thinking the same ...

The Nice Neighbor

I would say that is exactly what happened with 2233 getting a full tank of fuel! Alot of the NS terminals have fuel truck drivers,even at Bellevue,Ohio they have them for fueling engines on run thru trains that go in the yard and even fuel some that are parked that don't need to go to the loco shop for service.The fuel truck drivers don't work for NS and are a subcontracted company.Same goes for down at Portsmouth,Ohio.

I'll get on trains going from Bellevue to P-town that may have more or less than 3000 gallons.All your wide body engines will hold 4500 gallons of fuel.Depending on your tonnage and how many units you have on line you'll typically go thru about 500 gallons of fuel on a 202 mile run on the lead unit.When you get to Portsmouth the truck/semi is waiting trackside and will basically top off all the units and for the most part you have between 2-4 units on a train.It doesn't matter if they are NS units,some lease units,or foreign power.If the yardmaster tells the fuel truck driver to top off the units on train 18M or whatever train it is the driver tops them off as he doesn't know or care what color or RR the units are from.About the only trains that don't get refueled at P-town are the intermodal trains.

Even when i get called to take a train back to Bellevue,some will run thru up there going to Ft.Wayne,Toledo,Cleveland ect.or go in the yard.The fuel truck driver at P-town will top off those units on your train.It is the engineers responsibility to conserve fuel when running so if you have a 6000 ton train with 3 units you sure as hell better not have more than 2 of them on line.If the temp.is above freezing that 3rd one better be shut down or if it's freezing running and isolated.

So if 2233 painted as Conrail ran thru with a couple of other NS units at a terminal where units are fueled by a fuel truck.The driver was probably just doing his job filling the units up.The yardmaster may not have known 2233 was from a museum.He may have assumed it was just another old Conrail unit!

I just now had a flashback of a time over a decade or so ago when I was working as an "expediter"/escort for the owner of a group of locomotives being transferred a couple states away. The locos in question were coupled between the head end locomotives and the rest of the train. In spite of the fact that the units were dead-in-tow, placarded as "freight in transit," had the windshields plated over, and the fuel caps sealed, I still had to dash up and "shoo off" a fuel truck driver that was in "zombie mode" and was just "refueling 'em all," apparently.
Now, I could certainly understand trying to top up a shiny GP30 in somewhat familiar paint. (Some of the leasers have similar paint, after all.) A GP9? Sure. A U-Boat or F40PH, maybe even an Alco C424? Meh.
But a pair of E8's with a baggage car between them?????

You're lucky he didn't try to fill the baggage car, too.

Hate to steal their story, but since none of IRM's diesel guys has chimed in...

When the C&NW donated the first GP-7, C&NW 1518, to IRM, they were nice enough to remove the chop-nose and install a high short hood, a cosmetic restoration that didn't include any of the innards. Not that it mattered, when the unit went through an engine terminal, someone flipped open the sand filler and put a healthy dose of sand in the empty short hood. There was sand leaking out of cracks and crevices for years.

I'd forgotten about that incident!
The sand tank was there, but no piping, and when it was filled, close to a thousand pounds of sand poured onto the short hood floor, until the pile on the floor finally plugged the hole in the bottom of the tank.

Most of IRM's diesel locos have arrived at Union with full fuel tanks, regardless of condition, paintjob, etc.

Jeff