RCT&HS Acquires Former Reading GP39-2 3412

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:59 am

Former Reading EMD GP39-2 #3412, built December 1974, was delivered by the Reading & Northern to the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg, Pa on Saturday, Sept. 28th, still wearing its last identity as CSX 4317.

In an arrangement not that unusual for the mid-1970s when so many Northeast railroads were bankrupt, the Chessie System had actually acquired 20 of the GP39-2's, then leased them long-term to the Reading. When Conrail was formed and the D&H expanded to Sunbury, Pa. with trackage rights to Potomac Yard in Alexandria, Va. in April 1976, the lease on the GP39-2's was passed to the D&H, and 3412 was renumbered 7412 but retained Reading green paint. When Canadian Pacific acquired the D&H they cancelled the lease, and the locos were returned to Chessie System successor CSX in 1991. CSX kept the loco in service until recently, last numbering it 4317. Unusually, the loco served as a Reading loco for less than 16 months, but will be preserved as a Reading loco.

Photos:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1041124 ... 423979468/

EJ Berry · **Posted:** Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:49 am

This represents the final generation of R.Co. locomotives: those leased during the bankruptcy. At the time it was an unusual move as most roads were getting GP-38-2's but the GP-39-2's gave you more horsepower and had better fuel consumption at lower power settings. Of course you had a turbocharger to deal with.

There were no trade-ins. RDG sold its used RS-3's and GP-7's for further use and the cash payment could go right to expenses.

Phil Mulligan

geep392 · **Joined:** Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:31 pm **Posts:** 38

According to ICC filings, dug up by an RCT&HS member, the GP39-2s were financed by First Pennsylvania Bank. After they were conveyed to the D&H, they were sold to them. With Chessie fronting the money, so they weren't "leased" by Chessie. Not as simple as some have been saying.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:06 am

You will quickly find that 99% of the railfan population only cares about what number, reporting marks, and paint scheme it has/had.

I chose not to crawl any further down the "rabbit hole" of precisely who "owned" the loco at whatever specific time than I did; even the convoluted history I hastily cobbled together is more than most railfans would ever bother with.

Besides which, the stereotype of railfans and model railroaders dating as far back as Al Kalmbach, Hal Carstens, and David P. Morgan proves true once again: the gravity of the technical or historical error made in an article, photo caption, or model is inversely proportional to how many others will hasten to point out said error.

Overmod · **Joined:** Thu May 24, 2012 1:37 pm **Posts:** 2492

All this nitpickery, and no one has celebrated that one of these relatively rare (and more significant to their era than I think commonly acknowledged) units will be saved in Reading livery, or mentioned how the locomotive came to the Reading technical group... presumably via either a donation or a special cheap price.

EJ Berry · **Posted:** Wed Oct 02, 2019 3:49 pm

The GP-39-2's were used in RDG passenger service.

They pulled at least one Baseball Special from Bethlehem to Philadelphia for a Phillies game. Consist was MU Trailers; no lights but A/C worked once you raised the window.

They became the go-to power to pull out-of-service MU cars after snowstorms had damaged the MU cars' electrical gear and to add extra capacity during the then-frequent SEPTA transit strikes. Usually these were West Trenton trains where the stations were further apart and the lower power to weight ratio was less of a factor. In this service they were under wire and one pan could provide lights and heat to the whole train through the rooftop bus connectors.

Phil Mulligan

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2625

It was common in the Seventies, when around half the US railroads were failing, for locomotives to be financed through schemes like the one described. UP owned the Rock Island's GP40s and U28Bs and leased them to the RI when it was trying to prop the RI up waiting for merger approval that never came, I believe many of the SD45s EL operated were owned by Norfolk and Western when it operated EL as a condition of the Nickel Plate/ Wabash takeovers. I have heard that Milwaukee Road sold all of their rolling stock to a leasing company, reported the sale as income, and then failed to notify the ICC or SEC about said transaction in violation of the law, so as to prop up their financials in an unavailing attempt to make themselves more attractive to a merger partner. None of that is the same as painting a preserved unit in a scheme it never wore in real life (e.g. the "Lehigh Valley" painted ex-C&NW units in MS) which bugs the h@ll out of me, and so IMHO it is completely appropriate for this unit to be preserved as a Reading unit.

geep392 · **Joined:** Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:31 pm **Posts:** 38

No "creative repaints" in the RCT&HS collection. All of the locomotives began life as Reading units.

via6309 · **Joined:** Sat Oct 10, 2015 12:21 pm **Posts:** 44

The acquisition of this is a noteworthy one, and put its in a very small category - 4 axle and Dash-2 EMD type. I also beleive that this is the only GP39-2 (including also non -2 models) preserved anywhere.

This collection is an excellent overview of the RDG. The other types of the same generation for the RDG that are still around and have yet to be preserved, are the GP40-2 and the SW1001. Hopefully, they will be successful in saving either one of these.

Bravo to the RCT&HS for pursuing this unit for preservation.

Len

EJ Berry · **Posted:** Wed Oct 02, 2019 10:31 pm

I do hope they get an SW-1001 also.

The standard EMD SW-1000 rode high in the water like an SW-1500; RDG had to get the more compact SW-1001 because the SW-1000 wouldn't clear some of the places they had to go.

I believe NS is still running a couple of them.

Phil Mulligan

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2625

Overmod wrote:

All this nitpickery, and no one has celebrated that one of these relatively rare (and more significant to their era than I think commonly acknowledged) units will be saved in Reading livery, or mentioned how the locomotive came to the Reading technical group... presumably via either a donation or a special cheap price.

Absolutely. CSX has actually been quite good about donating units lately.

Nova55 · **Joined:** Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:09 pm **Posts:** 596

geep392 wrote:

No "creative repaints" in the RCT&HS collection. All of the locomotives began life as Reading units.

Quote:

The Reading Company Technical and Historical Society has added a historically significant locomotive to its collection with the acquisition of CSX GP39-2 4317, originally built as Reading 3412, one of twenty such units, 3401-3420, delivered to the railroad in 1974. These were the last roadswitcher type locomotives acquired by the Reading. The Society gratefully acknowledges the generous donation made by CSX Transportation.
The GP39-2, with its 12-cylinder turbocharged engine, was not a widely popular locomotive. Only 249 were built between 1974 and 1988, and did find favor with a few railroads and industrial users. They fit in with the four axle units already on the Reading’s roster. They proved highly efficient and reliable.
In 1976, Conrail was formed by the merger of several financially troubled railroads, incorporating the locomotives on the railroads’ rosters. However, the twenty GP39-2s were conveyed to the Delaware and Hudson Railway, and joined 20 more GP39-2s built new for the D&H. The Reading units were renumbered 7401-7420, eventually going to Guilford Transportation Industries, and then returned to the D&H in 1988.
CSX acquired the GP39-2s at the end of their lease in 1990, and numbered by CSX as 4300-4319, in no particular order. The former D&H 7412/Reading 3412 was renumbered 4317. While the D&H had repainted the GP39-2s in a number of different paint schemes, 3412 wore its Reading green with yellow stripes during its entire time on the D&H.
After working for CSX for 28 years, the 4317 will join the other former Reading locomotives, passenger and freight cars in the collection of the RCT&HS at their museum in Hamburg, PA. Plans are to restore this locomotive to its original Reading number and livery as time and funding permit. Donations to help restore this piece of the Reading’s history are greatly appreciated and welcome.
The RCT&HS is grateful to CSX Transportation for their generous donation, and also acknowledges Norfolk Southern for their cooperation in moving 4317 quickly and safely over their railroad, and the assistance provided by the Reading and Northern Railroad assuring the final delivery to the museum.

geep392 · **Joined:** Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:31 pm **Posts:** 38

GP40-2,SW1001? I understand that they're certainly on the "wish list", but as Sir Topham Hat says, they are "a really useful engine". CSX has both, but I think that t hey're out of the question for the near future, since they've been very generous already.

I heard that NS had an auction a year or two ago, they were asked about an SW1001, and the word was that it was too valuable to donate. Sure enough, it went for atrocious bucks. Some leasing company "had" to have it.

LeoA · **Joined:** Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:30 am **Posts:** 302

CSX no longer rosters any SW1001's. The last three were retired in the spring.

NS still has 5 of these Reading SW1001's on the property, but the plan is to retire the remnants of their switcher fleet soon. Only the pair that serve as shop switchers have a NS future and PSR may even have changed that plan. The other three are stored now as are 15 of the final 18 MP15's on the roster, with them unlikely to see next spring under NS ownership.

The CSX units though could still be on the property under CSX ownership. They went right around when this GP39-2 did, but disposition information is much tougher to come by and sales don't always happen quickly.

RCT&HS Acquires Former Reading GP39-2 3412

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