Just five months off the boat at Houston, German immigrant 4002 is being readied at Rio Grande’s North Yard for a helper turn to the Moffat Tunnel. Local fans are excited. Could this 3540-hp diesel hydraulic from Krauss-Maffei’s Munich works be a sign of things to come, a leap from the 1500-hp diesel-electrics that in April, 1962, still dominate American railroading? Alas, Rio Grande already suspects it made a mistake in ordering three of the units. Air intakes sucked in exhaust gasses in the road’s numerous tunnels, frying the valves and mandating corrective surgery. And the twin 16-cylinder Maybach engines, like a fine German sports car, require constant tinkering. In two years, 4002 and its two fellows will be sold to SP, which also invested in three of the locomotives.
Photos of North America's favorite First Generation locomotives. EMD, ALCO, Baldwin; essentially anything that represents the OG wide cab diesel locomotive
