Burlington Northern E60CF Project
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In 1973 and 1974, according to
the 1974-1975 BN Motive Power Annual published by Motive Power Services, Burlington
Northern
undertook a study to determine the feasibility of electrifying the
line from Lincoln,
Nebraska to Sheridan,
Wyoming in anticipation of an
increase in coal traffic. Both General
Electric and Sweden's ASEA,
which had licensed EMD
to manufacture its locomotives in the U.S.,
participated in the study. Unfortunately,
the economic downturn that began in 1975 put an end to those plans, as well as
to those of many
other railroads considering electrification at about the
same time, including Union Pacific, Illinois
Central, Southern
Pacific, Canadian Pacific
and Southern. In the 1975-1976 BN Annual is
an artist's concept by Ron Hatch of a General Electric E60C
in BN paint. It was, along
with a model manufactured by American GK, the inspiration
and starting point for this locomotive project--the "What If" factor.
The
prototype E60C locos were built in 1973 for the Black
Mesa & Lake Powell Railroad, an isolated 50KV(as designed, automated)
coal
loader-to-power plant line in northeastern Arizona. The power plant, the Navajo
Generating Station, is just outside of Page,
Arizona.
The BM&LP has (had)
all 6 of the E60Cs. Five are being (have been) replaced by E60C-2s
formerly of NdeM. The 50,000 volt
electrical gear from the E60Cs will replace the 25,000 volt gear original to the
NdeM units. Bachmann produced a somewhat
accurate
although a not good-running model of the E60C,
but that's another project--I have several of them and they will become BM&LP.
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Black Mesa & Lake Powell Railroad E60C 6005
leads an ex-NdeM E60C-2 on the eastbound empty train |
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Bachmann E60C. |
The AGK model (later manufactured by Walthers
until 1989) was not actually of this version, but rather of a second generation
version,
never built, based on data obtained from GE (according to Railroad
Model Craftsman). It shared characteristics and some dimensions with
Amtrak's E60CP and
E60CH. The American GK model utilized an Athearn
EMD SD9 frame with Athearn GE C trucks. I had the rounded
portions of the SD9 fuel tanks milled off at a machine shop. I built up the
sub-structure (battery boxes, air tanks, etc.) using styrene,
based on the BM&LP E60C prototype.
The BM&LP is no more. The last coal delivery to the power station was on August 26, 2019. The Navajo Generating Station was shut down at the end of December, 2019.
3 of my BN E60CFs under construction.
BN
E60C artwork by Ron Hatch from the 1975-76 Burlington Northern Annual (Copyright
1976 by Motive
Power Services).
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American GK Locomotive Works started offering the E60CF in
1976. |  |
Select the instructions and catalogue images for larger views.
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The freight E60CF and the passenger E60CP (actually, an E60CH)
appeared in the 1976 Walthers Catalogue with real and imagined roadnames. Notice
that AGK also offered BART cars. |  |
By 1979, more imagined roadnames had been added to both the
passenger and freight locomotives. AGK also marketed a P30CH and what they called
an F30B freight version of the P30CH. I'm not sure that anyone ever saw either
one of these models produced. |
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By 1984, Walthers had purchased the molds for both the E60CF
and E60CH and was marketing them under their own name. |  |
An E60CH appeared on the cover of the 1985 Catalogue! |
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In full color! |  |
By 1989, some new paint schemes appeared, but others were
gone, most notably, the BM&LP. |
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By 1991, the E60CF was gone. The E60CH was now offered in
only real paint schemes. | Walthers Catalogue images are from my collection and appear with the kind permission
of | |
I rough-drafted a BNSF (BM&LP) E60C with Heritage I (yes, I know, the trucks and bat boxes should be silver, but that's a lot of work):
Line Drawing of BM&LP GE E60C by Julian Cavalier courtesy Railroad Model Craftsman April, 1973 issue:
