Ex-PC GP38 Donated to West Chester RR (Pa.)

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:15 am

Snipped from Trains Newswire, as reported by Brother Laepple there:

http://trn.trains.com/Railroad%20News/N ... ation.aspx (paywall for subscribers)

Quote:

Volunteers at the West Chester Railroad, featured in the December 2012 issue of Trains, received a 130-ton holiday gift last week, ex-Conrail GP-38 No. 7706. Exelon Corp., which used the locomotive to switch its Cromby Generating Station near Phoenixville, donated the unit.

The Geep, still wearing its faded Conrail blue, arrived in West Chester last week. No. 7706 was built by EMD in 1969 for the Penn Central and was sold to Exelon about 15 years ago. The power plant closed 18 months ago.

Some photos: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/LocoPi ... ?id=149236

http://www.trainweb.org/crcorp/7706.jpg

The railroad has, for the time being, restored the formerly painted-out Conrail logo and name.

A recent Google aerial view of the plant reveals that a center-cab switcher (GE?) was also in the plant until recently. Anyone know what happened to it?

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:27 am

Oh, wait. This gets better. How did this happen?

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012 ... =fullstory

Quote:

After hearing about the Cromby closure, West Chester Railroad volunteers approached Exelon, the current owner, about the possible donation of the locomotive last year.

“It was a fluke thing, I was bored one night looking at satellite photos of the Phoenixville area, saw something and said, ‘Hey, there’s an engine down there,’” Slifer said.

After some discussion, the locomotive reached its new home of West Chester in November, 18 months after the original inquiry.

According to Bill Swahl, director of operations for Exelon, the company was planning on getting rid of the locomotive until the West Chester Railroad contacted the company.

“We thought we were going to sell, people were offering to buy it and we thought that was the way we were going to go until Derek came by and asked about it,” Swahl said.

After seeing how the volunteers restored other locomotives, Swahl said Exelon wanted to donate it to help the community.

“I mean that’s something we always love to do, it’s something we want to be part of,” Swahl said.

Proactive, folks. Proactive.

Now, I understand that there's this quarry not that far away......... I wonder if the Google/Bing aerial imagery has gotten better lately........ }:-]

KevinO · **Joined:** Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:59 pm **Posts:** 114

I'm glad to see the preservation of second generation power starting to become more common. It is possible that this may be the only pure non-rebuilt GP38 ever preserved since rebuilding/upgrading seems to be the norm on these and the GP40s still in use by so many roads.

We all seem to "cry" over the loss of rusted out hulks of F units or other early EMDs while we as a collective community have tended to pretend that nothing in the railroad industry happened after the late 50's. Sure, we can't save everything. But we also cannot ignore an entire generation of equipment just because it is "too modern" to the current crop of leadership at so many museums around the country. We can't sit back and wait for a coup, or an entire age group to die off before our museums and historical groups move progressively forward in more ways than one.

Take this for whatever you want. I'm just another one of those next generation types that knows what its like dealing with the current leadership types that want to play with their 1:1 model trains.

Kevin O

Ed Kapuscinski · **Posted:** Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:07 am

Is there anyone on here from the West Chester?

freewheelin_freddie · **Joined:** Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:32 pm **Posts:** 29

I'm a member of the WCRHA and past WCRR crew member. I was involved with their acquisition of the MLW C424 ex CP 4213 several years ago. They have been working on donation of the GP-38 for some time.

Fred Heilich

tomgears · **Posted:** Tue Dec 11, 2012 3:31 pm

Can you comment on the ownership of the equipment? It is my understanding the railroad is a for profit operation with a non-profit arm.

cood101 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2011 1:18 am **Posts:** 198

KevinO wrote:

I'm glad to see the preservation of second generation power starting to become more common. It is possible that this may be the only pure non-rebuilt GP38 ever preserved since rebuilding/upgrading seems to be the norm on these and the GP40s still in use by so many roads.

Actually, its the 3rd GP38 to be preserved. TVRM has Ex-NS Exx-SOU Nee-TAG unit 2879 and the B&O Museum has their Chessie GP38 3802.

filmteknik · **Posted:** Wed Dec 12, 2012 11:34 pm

IRM has an SD45, a U30C, and an SD40-2. Last I saw, all three were operable.

Steve

RCman2626 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:27 am

I headed up the project to get the 7706 to West Chester (in fact also the guy in the article to 'spot' it in the satellite images). We are very fortunate that Exelon was kind enough to donate this locomotive to us. We have lots of work ahead of us, but we have a good crew of volunteers to make this project come back to life and give this locomotive a second life.

Preservation comes in many different forms. We used technology as a medium to discover a new project for our group to preserve. For my age group, 1st and 2nd generation diesels are what were running around the railroads when we were young. Its our job to preserve equipment from this era.

Quote:

A recent Google aerial view of the plant reveals that a center-cab switcher (GE?) was also in the plant until recently. Anyone know what happened to it?

I've been told it was sold to an outfit out west to switch an industrial park. It had two rebuilt motors and was set up for remote operation.

ns2110 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:43 am

This is great story! What's the actual condition of the locomotive? Running? Non running?