General Electric U30C Road Switcher (Phase 3) - Burlington Northern

Description: The U30C was a 3,000-horsepower (2,240 kW) diesel-electric locomotive produced between November 1966 and October 1976, by General Electric. It has an FDL 16-Cylinder turbocharged engine. 606 U30C's were built for U.S. railroads. 600 were of the freight variety, with six more built with special cowling and equipment for passenger service.

The U30C was actually only a small improvement over it's poor-selling predecessor, the U28. GE tweaked the turbocharger to deliver 200 more horsepower. However, they company did almost nothing to alleviate mechanical and electrical problems that were inherited from the parent unit. The U30's were considered unreliable, and were disliked by both Mechanical Departments and train crews. However, at the same time the U30 was produced, EMD was having problems fulfilling order for it's popular 40 line of locomotives, so some of the railroads that were turned away came to GE for power. This made the U30 the best selling model for GE up until that time.

To GE's credit, they did not sit still on the problems that were being reported about the U30's. Over time, the unit became generally more reliable, and by the end of it's run in 1976, it easily led the way into the popular Dash 7 program.

These models of the U30C from Virtual Rail Creations are modeled as-acquired from General Electric by the Burlington Northern raiilroad. BN had by far the largest fleet of U30C's, totalling 186 units (182 ordered plus four from CB&Q). The Phase III units that the railroad owned were built between July of 1973 and June of 1975. The units that were ordered with anti-climbers on the front deck began delivery in November of 1973.

Off the 600 units total that were built of the U30C, the only surviving units are former Burlington Northern engines. A handful of the Cascade Green brutes went to the Lake Superior and Ishpeming railway in upper Michigan, where they are slowly being phased out for newer power. A lone survivor, #5383, also hauls revenue and passenger excursions at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union.

For your gaming enjoyment, these units come in both weathered and unweathered versions.