Available Items
September 1, 2010 - M.T.H.'s O Scale U25B diesel locomotive featured in the Premier Line of the 2010 Volume 1 Catalog is slated for release later this year. Check out the model's details in both its U25 and U28 incarnations in the photos below or by clicking on the video icon on the left to see the engine in action.
By 1960, EMD — the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors — looked like the clear winner in the race to dieselize America. ALCo was running a distant second, Baldwin was gone, and Fairbanks-Morse was on life support. General Electric, having dissolved its partnership with ALCo in 1953, had seemingly settled into a secondary role as supplier of electrical gear to other manufacturers and builder of small export locomotives. What nobody realized was that GE had quietly been preparing a comeback of such epic proportions that in little more than two decades it would overtake EMD as America’s number one locomotive builder — a lead that continues to this day. GE’s comeback engine was the U25B.
Identical in carbody to the U25B pause 4’s, the U28B’s were built in 1966 and 22 of the locomotives were sold to the “water level route” of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad. The route that followed the Ohio, Beaver, Monongahela, and Mahoning rivers was the highest generating revenue per mile of any New York Central subsidiary at the time; giving the railway its nickname-the Little Giant. At 60’2” in length and sporting a slightly more powerful, 2800hp motor, the U28B could only be differentiated from its U25 counterpart by internal components. The U28B did not have dynamic breaks and rode on the standard AAR trucks that previous ALCO and GE diesels used. The hood air intakes now sat directly behind the cab and the radiator housing projects out from the hood over screen.
Frequently called the “U-Boat” the carbody of this locomotive was pressurized to keep dirt out of the machinery, and the locomotive featured an advanced wheel-slip system. These features helped define the second generation of diesel power, which would replace the F-units, Geeps, and other pioneering engines that were wearing out.
New for 2010, M.T.H. introduces our superbly detailed model of America’s first second-generation diesel. Available for purchase in Santa Fe, Erie Lackawanna, New York Central, and Great Northern U25 liveries as well as an uncataloged Pittsburgh & Lake Erie U28B with its later-production split windshield and sloping.
WHERE TO BUY
The Premier Line U25B Diesel can be ordered through any M.T.H. Authorized Retailer.