GE U23B

Specifications
Specifications
Configuration:;
• AAR	B-B
Gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Wheel diameter	40 in (1,000 mm)
Length	60 ft 2 in (18.34 m)
Width	9 ft 11 in (3.02 m)
Height	15 ft 4.5 in (4.69 m)
Loco weight	242,000 lb (109,769 kg)
Prime mover	GE 7FDL-12
Cylinders	12

Type and origin
Type and origin
Power type	Diesel-electric
Builder	GE Transportation Systems
Model	U23B
Build date	August 1968 – June 1977
Total produced	481

GE U23B
GE U23B
	Conrail 2728
Power type
Type and origin
Power type	Diesel-electric
Builder	GE Transportation Systems
Model	U23B
Build date	August 1968 – June 1977
Total produced	481
Configuration:;
Specifications
Configuration:;
• AAR	B-B
Gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Wheel diameter	40 in (1,000 mm)
Length	60 ft 2 in (18.34 m)
Width	9 ft 11 in (3.02 m)
Height	15 ft 4.5 in (4.69 m)
Loco weight	242,000 lb (109,769 kg)
Prime mover	GE 7FDL-12
Cylinders	12
Maximum speed
Performance figures
Maximum speed	70 mph (113 km/h)
Power output	2,250 hp (1,680 kW)
Tractive effort	90,000 lb (41,000 kg)

The GE U23B is a 2,250 horsepower diesel-electric locomotive built by GE Transportation from 1968 to 1977. It was one of the most successful models of the Universal Series, with 481 units built, including 16 exported to Peru. The U23B was replaced by the B23-7.

History

Featuring a 12 cylinder FDL engine, the U23B was a derivative of the U30B with a lower horsepower rating, producing 2,250 hp compared to the U30B's 3,000 hp.^[1]

A variant with 6 axles instead of 4 was produced, known as the U23C.

Original owners

Railroad	Quantity	Numbers	Notes
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway	49	6300-6348
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway	30	2300–2329	Blomberg trucks
Conrail	10	2789–2798
Delaware and Hudson Railway	16	301-316
Ferrocarril del Pacífico	10	537-546
Lehigh Valley Railroad	12	501-512	financed by USRA, to Conrail 2777–2788 in 1976
Louisville and Nashville Railroad	90	2708–2772, 2800–2824	FB-2 trucks
Milwaukee Road	5	4800-4804
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad	3	350-352
Missouri Pacific Railroad	39	668-674, 2257–2288	FB-2 trucks
Monon Railroad	8	601-608	to L&N 2700–2707 in 1971
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México	30	9100-9129	9114-9121 AAR type-B trucks, all others FB-2
Penn Central Transportation	77	2700–2776	to Conrail 2700–2776 in 1976
Southern Peru Copper	16	40-45, 50-59	FB-2 trucks
Southern Railway	70	3900-3969	High-nose, 3900–3914 with AAR type-B trucks, 3935–3969 with FB-2, all long hood forward
Texas Utilities	1	103
Western Pacific Railroad	15	2251–2265	Blomberg trucks

Surviving locomotives

Not many U23Bs still exist, but a few shortline and regional railroads still use them in everyday service. The Georgia Central Railway was one of the last U23B holdouts, rostering almost all of the remaining ex Southern Railway (U.S.) high short hood U23Bs. The Georgia Central as of July 2015 has all of its U23Bs off of the roster with the 3965 going to the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum in Oak Ridge, TN. Another U23B, CSX 9553, former L&N 2817, is preserved at the museum and is operable.

The Huntsville and Madison County Railroad Authority in Huntsville, AL, operates one of the last U23B's used in daily freight service, as of April 2020. HMCR 9554 was originally built in late 1974 as L&N 2800. The last U23B built, originally Conrail 2798, and more recently Providence and Worcester 2203, is in regular excursion service at the Naugatuck Railroad, operated by the Railroad Museum of New England in Thomaston, Connecticut.

Western Rail Inc in Airway Heights, WA currently has a U23B that is leased out to other railroads. It is numbered NIWX 2204 and is a Northern Illinois and Wisconsin locomotive. RJ Corman operates at least one, Road Number 2300, after acquiring the Lehigh Railway short line in Northeast Pennsylvania.

References

^ Marre, Louis A. (1995). Diesel locomotives : the first 50 years : a guide to diesels built before 1972. Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Pub. Co. p. 180. ISBN 0-89024-258-5. OCLC 34531120.

External links

Media related to GE U23B locomotives at Wikimedia Commons
Sarberenyi, Robert. GE U23B Original Owners

[1] Marre, Louis A. (1995). Diesel locomotives : the first 50 years : a guide to diesels built before 1972. Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Pub. Co. p. 180. ISBN 0-89024-258-5. OCLC 34531120.

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