Railway Preservation News :: View topic - Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?

GE did build some locos at Schenectady but that was very early in its history. Once the Erie plant was opened, virtually all loco production occurred there. This is especially true of diesels. So don't believe everything you read on a GE builder's plate. Until some time in the late 50s, they all still said "Schenectady" simply because that was the location of GE's head shed.

The 24" ga locos were built at Erie. GE in the 1950s dabbled in the small loco business for a while, turning out such oddities as 5 ton gas/electrics in both 24" and 36" gauges and a 10 ton diesel/torque converter model for a chemical plant in MS.

According to personnel once associated with the Rogers Brothers Co. of Albion, PA, around 1955-56 GE management decided such small locos, which often involved a lot of custom design work for each order, weren't in their business case. Thus an order for 15 five ton gas/tc locos for the Army's Baraboo Ammo. Plant became Rogers' first order for their locomotive production. Rogers competed a total of 27 locos in about 6 or 7 different designs between 1957 and 1960 before deciding that this business was not profitable and they too quit, leaving the field to Brookville and Plymouth.

Author:	railfan44 [ Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:40 am ]
Post subject:	Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
The Maine Narrow Gauge RR Museum in Portland has one. I posted four pictures here.

Author:	scottychaos [ Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:05 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
Nice pics! number 1 is looking good..(although I cant imagine why a tourist railroad would purposely choose a boring black paintscheme..but still..) Much more info and history on the three locomotives here: http://gold.mylargescale.com/Scottychao ... esel1.html Scot

Author:	Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:11 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
scottychaos wrote: Nice pics! number 1 is looking good..(although I cant imagine why a tourist railroad would purposely choose a boring black paintscheme..but still..) It's a variation of what the Boston & Maine used on their earlier diesels: http://www.atlasrr.com/HOLoco/hohh600a.htm

Author:	daylight4449 [ Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:26 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
Last summer, my aunt and I went, and found, the Whitin Machine Works facility. You could follow the roadbed up to the P&W line. Looks like the works is being used for some offices at the moment.

Author:	filmteknik [ Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:39 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
I rode behind her years ago. So does GE still build industrials? If not, when did they stop? Steve

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Author:	David H. Hamley [ Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:33 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
GE did build some locos at Schenectady but that was very early in its history. Once the Erie plant was opened, virtually all loco production occurred there. This is especially true of diesels. So don't believe everything you read on a GE builder's plate. Until some time in the late 50s, they all still said "Schenectady" simply because that was the location of GE's head shed. The 24" ga locos were built at Erie. GE in the 1950s dabbled in the small loco business for a while, turning out such oddities as 5 ton gas/electrics in both 24" and 36" gauges and a 10 ton diesel/torque converter model for a chemical plant in MS. According to personnel once associated with the Rogers Brothers Co. of Albion, PA, around 1955-56 GE management decided such small locos, which often involved a lot of custom design work for each order, weren't in their business case. Thus an order for 15 five ton gas/tc locos for the Army's Baraboo Ammo. Plant became Rogers' first order for their locomotive production. Rogers competed a total of 27 locos in about 6 or 7 different designs between 1957 and 1960 before deciding that this business was not profitable and they too quit, leaving the field to Brookville and Plymouth.

Author:	filmteknik [ Mon Jul 02, 2012 2:35 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
How about small railroad locomotives like 44 & 70 tonners, etc.? Steve

Author:	David H. Hamley [ Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:12 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
So far as I know, all 44 and 70 tonners were built at Erie, as were all of the industrial diesel line and, since the early 1960s, all the mainline diesels.

Author:	filmteknik [ Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:44 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
But when did that production end, or has it? Steve

Author:	tomgears [ Mon Jul 02, 2012 4:46 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
Jones & Laughlin Steel in Pennsylvania had 46 ton 0-4-0Ts. I would love to have seen those beast running.

Author:	railfan44 [ Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:59 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
filmteknik wrote: But when did that production end, or has it? Steve To the best of my knowledge, GE has not made an industrial locomotive for many years. If a light industry has a need to move cars around their facility they use a Trackmobile, a Pettebone, or the like. If they need something bigger they try to find an SW1 or the equivalent. Most GE XX-Tonners seem to be in RR Museums though no doubt there are some not yet captured.

Author:	David H. Hamley [ Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:02 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
Any quantity production of "small" (i.e., 25 and 35 tonners) diesels by GE pretty much ceased in the 1970s. They didn't decide not to build them, it's more that the market for such small locos disappeared. While GE offered electric drive exclusively by them, other builders had cheaper models that employed torque converter or hydrostatic drives that filled the niche for moving one or a few freight cars on level track. Such applications were also ideal for the Trackmobile concept, further lessening the market for small diesels. Another factor is that the vast number of existing small GEs--that could be overhauled more or less indefinitely--made the purchase of a new loco of the same model very uneconomical in the eyes of many buyers. All these factors combined to kill off the small diesel-electric loco market. One result, fortuitous for the preservation hobby, is that the ubiquitous GE 25 tonner has become the defacto "museum switcher" at many facilities. They are still very supportable, thanks to the existance of parts suppliers such as Western Star Rail in Newark, OH. Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is in the final stages of overhauling a 1953 25 tonner as our switcher, rescue loco, and eventually, snowplow. Ours will be unique in being Broad Gauge, a change that proved to be quite challenging. We expect to have it operational during this year's season.

Author:	scottychaos [ Tue Jul 03, 2012 10:26 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
David H. Hamley wrote: GE did build some locos at Schenectady but that was very early in its history. Once the Erie plant was opened, virtually all loco production occurred there. This is especially true of diesels. So don't believe everything you read on a GE builder's plate. Until some time in the late 50s, they all still said "Schenectady" simply because that was the location of GE's head shed. The 24" ga locos were built at Erie. GE in the 1950s dabbled in the small loco business for a while, turning out such oddities as 5 ton gas/electrics in both 24" and 36" gauges and a 10 ton diesel/torque converter model for a chemical plant in MS. According to personnel once associated with the Rogers Brothers Co. of Albion, PA, around 1955-56 GE management decided such small locos, which often involved a lot of custom design work for each order, weren't in their business case. Thus an order for 15 five ton gas/tc locos for the Army's Baraboo Ammo. Plant became Rogers' first order for their locomotive production. Rogers competed a total of 27 locos in about 6 or 7 different designs between 1957 and 1960 before deciding that this business was not profitable and they too quit, leaving the field to Brookville and Plymouth. David, thanks for the info! :) but unless you have definitive proof, instead of saying "The 24" ga locos were built at Erie." you should say "In my opinion, it is most likely that these 24" ga locos were built at Erie."..Because you dont know it for a fact.. Im still not convinced..there are similar small GE diesels, from a similar era, that do say ERIE on the builders plates, not Schenectady..So why would some plates say Erie, and others say Schenectady, if they were all built at Erie? The jury is still out...IMO, it seems more likely these three small 2-footers were built at Schenectady, not Erie, when all the available evidence is gathered together..But as far as I have have seen, no one can yet prove it 100% one way or the other.. Scot

Author:	Chris Salmonson [ Tue Jul 03, 2012 10:29 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Ever See a 2-foot Gauge GE 23 Tonner?
I think in back in 2003 I saw one. I was in a town in Maine. I followed some tracks near the water that appeared to be narrow gauge on standard gauge ties. Then I went into a museum where they spun tales of a locomotive that ran on one overhead rail.

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