Former VGN/NH/CR E33 heading to IRM

[MQT1223]

A rare electric will be joining the collection soon at IRM. Conrail E33 #4601 currently in storage in Old Saybrook, CT and is one of only two surviving E33's in existence. The locomotive will be sent to NS's Altoona shops for cosmetic restoration. 12 E33's were built by GE for the Viriginian, but later found their way north to the New Haven and later Conrail. The other E33 is on display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Virginian Colors. Both E33's and Virginian #4, an 0-6-0 are the last three locomotives surviving from the Virginian. No diesel's made it past the torch. This one should be fun to see! Granted Virginian, New Haven and Conrail electrics never ran in Illinois, it is nice to see this old locomotive get some much needed attention. Granted you will have those people saying that it should go somewhere close to home, but what paint scheme do you put it in Virginian, New Haven or Conrail? I have not seen anything on the condition of the locomotive mechanically. If it is all there, imagine if it could run at IRM one day. I bet no one would've ever thought to see an electric that worked for the Virginian, New Haven and Conrail in operation again at a museum.

[SousaKerry]

Boy it must be nice volunteering for the IRM, and have a big enough budget and connections to have a locomotive restored by Altoona before receiving it...

Meanwhile back in Michigan at the SMRS our big project expenditure for the year is to have 1 grade crossing rebuilt.

[SD80MAC]

IRM plans to restore it to its Conrail appearance.

[CSX_CO]

Boy it must be nice volunteering for the IRM, and have a big enough budget and connections to have a locomotive restored by Altoona before receiving it...

Meanwhile back in Michigan at the SMRS our big project expenditure for the year is to have 1 grade crossing rebuilt.

I think IRM's eyes are often a lot bigger than their budget. They have a lot of absolute junk laying around...

[Saturnalia]

Boy it must be nice volunteering for the IRM, and have a big enough budget and connections to have a locomotive restored by Altoona before receiving it...

Meanwhile back in Michigan at the SMRS our big project expenditure for the year is to have 1 grade crossing rebuilt.

I think IRM's eyes are often a lot bigger than their budget. They have a lot of absolute junk laying around...

Just about every railroad museum does. Can't think of a single one that doesn't have some pile of scrap lying around. Nature of the biz

[MQT1223]

Boy it must be nice volunteering for the IRM, and have a big enough budget and connections to have a locomotive restored by Altoona before receiving it...

Meanwhile back in Michigan at the SMRS our big project expenditure for the year is to have 1 grade crossing rebuilt.

Hey you guys got some real gems that IRM doesn't, like #75, the GMDH-3 and #21.

IRM plans to restore it to its Conrail appearance.

That stinks, I was hoping for New Haven or Virginian. Still cool however!

[CSX_CO]

Boy it must be nice volunteering for the IRM, and have a big enough budget and connections to have a locomotive restored by Altoona before receiving it...

Meanwhile back in Michigan at the SMRS our big project expenditure for the year is to have 1 grade crossing rebuilt.

I think IRM's eyes are often a lot bigger than their budget. They have a lot of absolute junk laying around...

Just about every railroad museum does. Can't think of a single one that doesn't have some pile of scrap lying around. Nature of the biz

They've got fields of stuff that is so far gone it should be scrapped to provide funds for stuff that could be restored.

[MQT1223]

Boy it must be nice volunteering for the IRM, and have a big enough budget and connections to have a locomotive restored by Altoona before receiving it...

Meanwhile back in Michigan at the SMRS our big project expenditure for the year is to have 1 grade crossing rebuilt.

I think IRM's eyes are often a lot bigger than their budget. They have a lot of absolute junk laying around...

Just about every railroad museum does. Can't think of a single one that doesn't have some pile of scrap lying around. Nature of the biz

When u have a limited budget, this is what happens. However part of preservation also includes donating and parting out pieces that might be better of in somthing else. Just the nature of the business. Keep what you can and scrap whats left over. Don't scrap ALL of it.

[railohio]

IRM plans to restore it to its Conrail appearance.

That is false. Per a discussion I had with the executive director yesterday, the decision is not yet made.

[Typhoon]

I have not seen anything on the condition of the locomotive mechanically. If it is all there, imagine if it could run at IRM one day. I bet no one would've ever thought to see an electric that worked for the Virginian, New Haven and Conrail in operation again at a museum.

Unless they do some strange bastardization of the engine's electrical system, it will not operate at IRM. IRM's overhead is 600 volt DC, which is not what the E33 was built to run on.

[MQT1223]

I have not seen anything on the condition of the locomotive mechanically. If it is all there, imagine if it could run at IRM one day. I bet no one would've ever thought to see an electric that worked for the Virginian, New Haven and Conrail in operation again at a museum.

Unless they do some strange bastardization of the engine's electrical system, it will not operate at IRM. IRM's overhead is 600 volt DC, which is not what the E33 was built to run on.

Ya I wasn't sure on their operating voltage, IRM's and the E33's. Thanks for the info.

[Bulby]

A fair portion of what is seen as "junk" cars at IRM (specifically the boxcars and reefers) are cheap warehouses on wheels, storing important parts. As true storage buildings go up, those are getting emptied and some of them may be cut up. Other hulks being kept are held around because they have components that will be reused later on other cars, and it easier to leave the donor car together than find places to put the salvaged parts. Once IRM's 2 new barns are occupied, the vast majority of what is considered the historic collection will be stored indoors.

Once something is razor blades it can't be restored!

The E33 ran on 11kV AC 25Hz feeding a now gone transformer to step down the voltage. Making it run at IRM would be essentially the same as making a GG1 run at IRM, in terms of needed parts, tools, and labor.

[penn central]

A fair portion of what is seen as "junk" cars at IRM (specifically the boxcars and reefers) are cheap warehouses on wheels, storing important parts. As true storage buildings go up, those are getting emptied and some of them may be cut up. Other hulks being kept are held around because they have components that will be reused later on other cars, and it easier to leave the donor car together than find places to put the salvaged parts. Once IRM's 2 new barns are occupied, the vast majority of what is considered the historic collection will be stored indoors.

Once something is razor blades it can't be restored!

The E33 ran on 11kV AC 25Hz feeding a now gone transformer to step down the voltage. Making it run at IRM would be essentially the same as making a GG1 run at IRM, in terms of needed parts, tools, and labor.

What do you think Bulby probably just a cosmetic restoration, Id love to see New Haven paint. Not many locomotives of that size in New Haven colors.

[Bulby]

My gut feeling says it will be like the GG1; a well painted display piece.

To make a E33 run on 600V DC is much more invasive and destructive to the historic features of the locomotive than say, changing an air compressor armature on a South Shore car. It's still the same air compressor model, it sounds the same as the original did; and that's all that needs to be done to make a South Shore car run on 600V DC instead of 1500V DC.

An E33 would need multiple static inverters to drive anything A/C onboard, along with the necessary hardware and software to control the inverters. In addition, you need to have a way of varying traction current and voltage to the motors, and power to any DC auxiliary systems would need rewired from where it was supposed to be feed from the rectifier bank.

Can an E33 be modified to run on IRM trackage? Yes. Is it a good idea from the standpoint of preservation? Probably not. IRM is a museum; which means preserving the equipment and conserving it after restoration is important.

As others wish to point out, IRM has a number of pieces that need attention; if we receive it painted and ready to display, why stop working on another project to work on this one?

[Dan Cluley]

For the record, I completely agree that an operating E33 shouldn't be much of a priority for IRM, however just for curiousity's sake, could the E33s run off of 600v 3rd rail?

I know some of New Haven's engines did, but not sure about these. If that was the case, it would seem that it would be "relatively" easy to convert to 600v overhead.

As for scrapping the "junk", I know that there have been recent restorations that started with bodies far worse than stuff that was scrapped in the early days becasue it was "too far gone" As long as it's kept in the back where it is not an eyesore to the general public, I can't see any reason to cut things up.

[Bulby]

For the record, I completely agree that an operating E33 shouldn't be much of a priority for IRM, however just for curiousity's sake, could the E33s run off of 600v 3rd rail?

No, in fact it would be more difficult, as I do not believe that E33's are equipped with third rail shoes. The main problem is the same whether power comes from third rail or overhead wires; 11kV AC is much different than 600V DC.

[dinwitty]

The E33 have a GE 752 motor, rated at 750 volts...ironically. You would have to look at the controls and wiring and see where you could patch in. But they have pantagrapghs. IRM had pan friendly overhead switches, but were removed.
They ran the Little Joe and were dropping pans over the switches. I don't think it would be impossible to operate, its how much you need to do to make that work. I think IRM is working on getting the engine prepped and onsite for now.

Perhaps you could push it with a diesel and MU it, they have done that with the DD40.