The GE Universal Series is a series of diesel locomotives intended for the export market introduced by General Electric in early 1956. General Electric had previously partnered with Alco , producing locomotives for export using Alco's 244 engine , and provided electrical parts for Alco's domestic production. However, with the advent of the Universal Series, GE ended its partnership with Alco and entered the export locomotive market on its own.
24-512: The export-oriented Universal Series should not be confused with the "U-Boats" for the North American market, which began with the U25B . The Universal Series are built to a much smaller loading gauge (Bern loading gauge) and are significantly lower in weight when compared to US locomotives sharing the same engine and horsepower rating. Universal Series locomotives can also be identified by
48-574: A centralized air processing system that provided filtered air to the engine and electrical cabinet, thus reducing maintenance. The U25B was also the highest-horsepower four-axle diesel road locomotive in the U.S. at the time of its introduction, its contemporaries being the GP20 (2,000 hp) and the RS27 (2,400 hp or 1,800 kW). Though many were produced and sold, the only remaining U25B locomotives are in museums, as many were retired or scrapped at
72-630: A manufacturer of diesel switch engines and were introducing their first diesel road locomotives. They were successful in building locomotives for switching and short-haul applications, having introduced the first road-switcher design in 1941 (which would supplant the carbody design developed by the Electro-Motive Corporation by the mid-1950s) and gained a 26% market share as of 1946. Alco-GE's efforts in main line road locomotives had not been successful at breaking into EMD 's dominant position in that market, although they introduced
96-436: A successful gas turbine-electric locomotive to market in 1952. In 1953 GE went independent from Alco in locomotive production, with their new subsidiary GE Rail taking over the gas turbine-electric venture while they sought a supplier of more reliable diesel engines suitable for road locomotives. Production of Cooper-Bessemer powered Universal Series locomotives began in 1956 and some 400 export locomotives were sold before
120-609: Is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet . It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration , a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people for decades from the first half of the 20th century and was widely referred to by the initials SAR&H (SAS&H in Afrikaans ). Customer complaints about serious problems with Transnet Freight Rail's service were reported in 2010. Its head office
144-829: Is in Inyanda House in Parktown , Johannesburg . Railways were first developed in the area surrounding Cape Town and later in Durban around the 1840s. The first line opened in Durban on 27 June 1850. The initial network was created to serve the agricultural production area between Cape Town and Wellington. The news that there were gold deposits in the Transvaal Republic moved the Cape Colony Government (supported by British Government) to link Kimberley as soon as possible by rail to Cape Town as part of
168-571: The American Locomotive Company (Alco), a company dating back to the steam era. GE had developed internal combustion-electric generating, control, and drive systems in the early 1920s, which provided the foundation for the use of internal combustion engines in railroading. Early applications were in motorized railcars and switch engines. The 1930s saw that technology adapted to high speed mainline locomotives. In 1940 GE partnered with Alco, who by that time were well-established as
192-488: The American Locomotive Company . In 1956 the GE Universal Series of diesel locomotives was founded for the export market. The U25B was the first attempt at the domestic market since its termination of the consortium agreement with Alco. The U25B (nicknamed U-Boat ) is the first commercially successful domestic diesel electric road locomotive designed, built, and sold by General Electric after its split with
216-543: The Natal Government Railways to form the South African Railways , which is now Transnet Freight Rail. Transnet Freight Rail is a freight logistics and passenger transport railway. It is the largest freight hauler in Africa . The company comprises several businesses: Transnet also formerly owned Shosholoza Meyl , the non-luxury long-distance passenger rail service. Shosholoza Meyl was transferred to
240-882: The Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway were taken over by the Imperial Military Railways under Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Girouard . After the war had ended, the Imperial Military Railways became the Central South African Railways in July 1902, with Thomas Rees Price as general manager. With the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the CSAR was merged with the Cape Government Railways and
264-546: The South African Railways . No U18B was produced, and the few UD18 locomotives built were exported to Mexico . GE U25B The GE U25B is General Electric 's first independent entry into the United States domestic road switcher diesel-electric locomotive railroad market for heavy production road locomotives since 1936. From 1940 through 1953, GE participated in a design, production, and marketing consortium ( Alco-GE ) for diesel-electric locomotives with
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#1732793477813288-538: The U25B was offered in the United States. The U25B was announced by General Electric as a domestic model on April 26, 1960. It was the first locomotive powered by GE's highly successful FDL-16 engine. The U-Boat put GE on the road to becoming the top locomotive producer in the U.S., much to the chagrin of EMD . It introduced many innovations to the U.S. diesel locomotive market, including a pressurized car body and
312-487: The Universal Series used Caterpillar 375 (8-cylinder), Caterpillar 397 (12-cylinder), Cooper-Bessemer FWB-6L (6-cylinder), Cooper-Bessemer FVBL-8 and FVBL-12 (8- and 12-cylinder, respectively). Later models substituted higher-power Caterpillar engines for the smaller locomotives or GE's own 7FDL8 and 7FDL12 engines for the larger ones. Unlike EMD , GE never had a 16-cylinder engined export locomotive model in
336-577: The Universal series. Based on the March 1989 GE Locomotives catalog, the following models were offered at the following specifications. UM22C 62,700 lbs (UM22C) Upon introduction in 1956, nine locomotive models were offered, as follows: Data Sheet Data Sheet The evolution of Universal Series locomotives is complex due to the frequent model name changes and the reusing of the same model names for different locomotives. One method to understand
360-898: The colonial dream. The Central South African Railways ( CSAR ) was from 1902 to 1910 the operator of public railways in the Transvaal Colony and Orange River Colony in what is now South Africa . During the Anglo-Boer War , as British forces moved into the territory of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic , the Orange Free State Government Railways , the Netherlands-South African Railway Company and
384-572: The end of their service life by the end of the 1980s. Four Southern Pacific U25Bs were rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen with a Sulzer V-12 prime mover . These locomotives, designated M-K TE70-4S, operated from 1978 to 1987. The experiment proved unsuccessful, and no additional units were rebuilt. Two Southern Pacific U25Bs were rebuilt by the Southern Pacific Transportation Company themselves at their own Sacramento Shops into GE U25BE locomotives. Only SP #3100
408-842: The first and second updates, the Cooper-Bessemer engine was replaced with 7FDL8 engine. The body style was also changed with a low short hood and Hi-Ad trucks replacing the high short hood and outside-equalized trucks. A variation of the U18C was the U18A1A, built for the Indonesian railway . These locomotives had the same C-C trucks but one fewer traction motor in each truck, and downrated to 1650 horsepower. Most of these locomotives have been rebuilt to U18C standards. (2000 hp) (2000 hp) (2600 hp) (2150 hp) Data Sheet UM22C (double-ended cab forward) Data Sheet (3000 hp) As with
432-442: The growth and development of the Universal Series is to divide the nine original models into three groups: 1) small locomotives, 2) intermediate powered locomotives, and 3) high powered locomotives. Data Sheet (540 hp) Data Sheet (640 hp) (950 hp) Data Sheet (810 hp) Data Sheet (950 hp) (1000 hp) Data Sheet In this table, and the following two tables, asterisks indicate repeated model numbers Between
456-560: The initial models and the first update, the Caterpillar 375 and 397 engines were replaced with 379 and 398, respectively. The UM6B was a narrow-gauge variant of the U6B, built for South African Railways. The 6-cylinder U9B and U9C models were an evolutionary dead end, and no uprated versions were produced. (1300 hp) (1300 hp) (1500 hp) (1700 hp) (1300 hp) (1300 hp) (1500 hp) (1400 hp, 1700 hp) (1800 hp) (2000 hp) Between
480-402: The intermediate powered locomotives, the Cooper-Bessemer engine was also replaced with 7FDL12 engine. The differently-rated U22C, U26C and U30C models were offered at the same time. The U18C and the earlier U20C model had a variant with an additional non-powered leading axle in each truck, resulting in a lower axle loading and a 1C-C1 wheel arrangement. These locomotives were only purchased by
504-407: The lack of battery boxes usually found under North American locomotives' cabins The designations of the Universal series describe the locomotive model in compact form: U for Universal, followed by the engine's nominal horsepower rating in hundreds, and finally the number of axles; B = B-B (4 axles); C = C-C (6 axles). An 'M' indicated a modified version of the base model. Along with their development,
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#1732793477813528-499: The same numbers were often reused by different locomotive models. Even the same designation could be shared with domestic locomotives. For example, both the U18C and U20C model numbers refer to different locomotives offered at different dates with different engines (8- and 12-cylinder); and the export U30C model shared the same model number with the US U30C , but had a 12-cylinder, rather than a 16-cylinder engine. The initial models of
552-471: Was painted in an elaborate red, white, and blue color scheme in celebration of the nation's bicentennial ; it was later renumbered and repainted in standard SP livery and was donated to the museum . The 3100 is fully certified to run on any of the nation's railroads and is frequently used as motive power for offsite work trains. Several more examples survive, all in varying states of preservation: South African Railways Transnet Freight Rail
576-546: Was preserved while SP 3101 was scrapped in 1987. Six U25Bs are known to be preserved today. Of these, only one remains in operating condition. Southern Pacific 3100 is now on permanent exhibit at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California . Built in 1963, this locomotive was first numbered SP 7508. Later numbered SP 6800, it became a goodwill ambassador for the railroad in 1976 when it
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